I used to pshaw at squares. Thanks to Instagram, I now like squares. Squares are stability, equal opportunity polygons, Chinese character perfection, quadrille, dot grid. My infatuation with squares continues with the Fabriano Quadrato Artist’s Journal. I have the 6×6 version (there’s also a 9×9). The cover is a textured deep gray board. Inside, there …
Is it anything like the Pentel Pocket Brush pen? No. What about the Kaimei or the Akashiya brush pens? No, not really. It is closest to the Pentel Aquash waterbrush in fine. Okay, now that’s out of the way… I ordered the Noodler’s Konrad brush pen from Goulet Pens and it was a smooth transaction from …
It makes up for its lack of vowel with its presence of elastic closure. Lots of product benefit bullet points in there. I picked this one up from Kinokuniya in Singapore some time back. I think the brand is available in Fully Booked here in Manila. The cover isn’t attached to the spine of the …
It’s not every day my pens receive an invitation to appear in a magazine. They were excited. But when I showed them what the magazine looked like, they fussed over not being minty new and scuff-free. It’s hard to reassure inanimate objects, so I didn’t even try. I just wiped them clean, sent them off …
The beaked helmet keeps appearing. I wonder what it means? That I only know how to draw beaked helmets? I finished this two days ago. Yes, during the Philippine Graphic Design Awards judging. Watersoluble graphite in 2B and 9B, fountain pen ink, watercolor. I’ve never used pink and red tones this extensively before. (When I …
I mixed fountain pen ink with watersoluble graphite by accident (don’t ask) and loved the result. The graphite has a faint shimmer and the fountain pen ink adds patches of moody color. (This entry was an experiment with the Quick Photo feature in the WordPress iOS app. I had to go to the dashboard and …
I laugh at work-life balance. I laugh at balance in general, a life doled out in equal proportions and symmetry. Give me the roller coaster, the bumps and troughs, because the flatline will come for us all soon enough. Obsession and passion require a beautiful, terrible imbalance. However. A little Balance, in pen form, is …
“Do you dream about them?” “No. That’s probably why I don’t dream about them, because I’ve already drawn them.” “That sounds right.” Boom. Drawn first in pencil, then outlined with a Parker Lucky Curve with Sailor Tokiwa Mat green ink. Watercolor and ink bleed together, deliberately. Two pens, two inks: a Parker Lucky Curve with …
Plain, unassuming pens have a way of hiding surprises. Like the pen equivalent of a sexy librarian. I have many pens with flexible nibs, and many pens whose finish and function are artful. This Parker Duofold is not the most flexible or artful. Still, it has kept its place in the pen case. It must …