Got this Prismacolor Premier Portrait Set of 24 colored pencils on clearance for under 10 bucks at a store closing a while back but did not get around to reviewing until now.
Color chart drawn on Global Art Flexi-Sketch sketchbook. The pencils have a fairly smooth lay down, but they also have a tendency to crumble a bit. It was necessary to brush off the lead debris several times while drawing these color chart. If using the pencils at home on a flat surface, the plastic trays that they are packaged in are an adequate storage option.
If you plan to use them on the go in a field sketching kit, it would probably be more practical to transfer them to a pencil wrap where each pencil is secured individually in its own elastic loop and the whole set can be kept chromatically arranged under any working conditions.
This Prismacolor Portrait Set is a handy selection of colored pencils for drawing and coloring faces. Leads are soft and creamy, but they can also be easily damaged if the pencils are dropped on the floor. The light umber pencil in this set was probably damaged during transport. Its lead kept breaking off after repeated sharpening attempts with different sharpener models (electric and handheld). At least I was able to sharpen it with a utility knife saving about 50% of its original length. Most of my Prismacolor pencil sets have had a couple of duds with extremely brittle leads that rendered entire pencils unusable. Yet they are often easy to replace since many stores carry this brand in open stock. They are worth trying if found on sale or at clearance prices.
While keeping an eye on a nearby thunderstorm, the team managed to primed and traced the main dragon outlines on Sunday night.
We had to fill the holes on the walls right before painting them.
Getting the painting supplies ready on Monday morning.
Terri Wegman painting the Day Dragon wall.
Heidi Saletko and Cesar Aguilera working on the Night Dragon wall.
Patti Smith painting the Day Dragon's eye. From photographs the walls seemed taller, and it was hard to accurately judge the proportions of the walls to be painted. Thus the large dragons designed by Cesar ended up with a lot of empty space on either side of the wall. So baby dragons were hastily added to balance the composition of both walls.
Me finishing up a purple baby dragon.
During recess. it was great to hear how much the students and staff were enjoying the new art in their courtyard. Several of them were students that had attended my holiday cards and cartooning classes the last school year and were quite excited about the possibility of continuing their lessons later on.
Baby dragon close-up shots.
Finished Night Dragon wall.
Finished Day Dragon wall.
All done! This UAC mural project sure was fun with such a great group of volunteer artists. Working with latex paint was an interesting experience since it was my first time using it. Cesar mentioned that its consistency and handling made it ideal for creating Pollock-style drip paints.
Found this acrylic Paperchase Cook Book Stand on clearance at a Borders store, and it dawned on me that it could be quite useful when drawing from reference books.
This book stand can comfortably hold different book sizes like these recent additions to my personal library.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series):A very fine example of animation history and cartoon-style drawings that would make a great addition to any Avatar fan's collection and kid's visual reference library.
Really like this fold out sheet of concept art from The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Highly recommended for fans of this franchise.
This book stand can securely hold reference magazines and how-to-draw books at a comfortable viewing angle while protecting them with its large front acrylic panel from any stray paint and splatter that could be created while working at a drawing table.
Perhaps its only downside is that being a rigid design, it does not fold down for storage and always takes up a good amount of space.
Another Back to School clearance find at a big-box retailer: a tube of 8 Carolina Pad Sasquatch Earth Friendly No. 2 Pencils for a buck.
According to their label, these pencils contain recycled materials and were made in Taiwan. The card stock tube packaging with closing folds on both ends mirrors the pencil barrel colors and looks quite smart.
The first sharpened Sasquatch pencil produced continuous smooth shavings of two different tones since one the slats (the two pieces of wood that are glued together to make the pencil barrel) was noticeably darker than the other.
Apparently the wooden slats used for making these eco-friendly pencils were of rather uneven quality as shown by the "fuzzy" texture of the freshly sharpened Sasquatch pencil on the right. By contrast a pencil made with sturdier higher quality wood, the Tombow Mono 100 pencil on the left came out with a very smooth tapered point using the same electric sharpener.
The Sasquatch pencil features a ferrule with a green eraser that performed adequately on this test swatch. It does wear down quickly when erasing wide areas.
Test doodles drawn on a Piccadilly sketchbook. The Sasquatch pencil would be an adequate choice for writing and taking notes, but felt too hard and scratchy for my sketching style. While it made reasonably dark marks, it felt more like an H lead rather than a regular No. 2 or HB pencil. The tip of the Sasquatch lead dragged on the paper when compared to the smooth performance of Japanese premium graphite pencils that glide effortlessly on the same paper. So yes kids not all pencils are the same. While you can certainly sketch with the average pencil usually found at office supply and regular retail stores, a bit of online research can easily and quickly yield quite a few suitable sources of premium pencil alternatives that can make your drawing experience a lot more efficient and pleasant.
Started this session with a woodless pencil which facilitates making broad marks for quicker shading when used on its side. The Derwent 2B Aquatone sample sketches produced rather light washes when blended with the waterbrush.
The substantially larger Lyra Watersoluble 2B Graphite crayon was used to sketch this cartoon athlete. The dry marks were partially blended with the Aquaflo waterbrush. The moistened marks turned out quite darker than the Derwent 2B Aquatone example.
Some of my favorite 2 mm leadholders from my daily sketching kit. Comparison chart of Mitsubishi Uni graphite leads' marks. Demo video using assorted leads.
Doodling a sample comic layout on Georgia Pacific 110 lb white card stock with a 4B Lamy 3.15 mm graphite lead.
While I started this sample page with the Worther 3.15 mm Shorty leadholder, decided to switch to the Mitsubishi Uni H 2 mm lead for narrower clean lines.
Second H lead sample doodle page.
Third H lead sample doodle page. Middle character inspired by a customer having lunch across the room.
By the fourth page, the point of the H lead still remained quite sharp and functional. Good choice for long drawing sessions in the field since it requires less frequent sharpening.
The HB lead sample doodle.
The B lead sample doodle. This lead grade got blunt quickly and required more frequent sharpening. Still like the rest of the Mitsubishi Uni graphite leads, it is quite smudge resistant. These 2 mm graphite leads are non-crumbling, of uniform darkness, and smooth throughout without any surprise scratchy bits that could interrupt your work flow while sketching.
The penciled outlines can easily be inked and later erased. This pencil dragon sketch was inked with Sakura Pigma 05 black pigment pen and labeled with a couple of color pens with the same size nibs.
Demo video 1. Trying out different graphite pencils on regular Georgia Pacific 20 lb Copy paper: Mitsubishi Hi-Uni 10B, Paper Mate Classic No. 2 HB, and Derwent Graphic H pencil.
Quick comparison of the marks drawn with H,10B, and HB pencils. With its higher clay content, the Derwent Graphic H pencil produced the lightest marks in this example. Harder H pencils were traditionally used for drafting purposes (in the days before AutoCAD), since they produce light clean lines that are fairly smudge resistant. They also retain their sharp points longer requiring less frequent sharpening. They are also a good choice for carefully rendered drawings where you build your shapes and shadow gradually. When working with harder pencils, it is advisable to pick thicker strong papers to avoid ripping your drawing surface with their sharp tips. For my style of speed sketching, I find many brands too dry and scratchy for my taste. Thus I seldom use anything harder than a 2H pencil.
Demo video 2 using a Stad One Push holder and a Mitsubishi Hi-Uni 10B pencil. Sketching with a very soft B pencil, you can produce very dark marks quickly. Its drawbacks are that the lines are susceptible to smudging and that the pencil tips tend to get blunt rather quickly.
The Mitsubishi Hi-Uni 10B pencil might be the softest graphite pencil in my collection. Its high graphite content makes for a very sleek well-lubricated pencil point that allows for the quick lay down of rich dark tones while speed sketching.
Demo Video 3 comparing relative darkness of 3 pencils. Graphite grade scales are not consistent and do tend to vary between different brands. Thus the Tombow Mono 100 2H pencil laid down darker marks than the Derwent Graphic H pencil. The Paper Mate Classic No. 2 HB pencil was the darkest of the three in the picture above.
Comparison chart between Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and Derwent Graphic pencils. In general I prefer the darker marks and smooth feeling of a 2B or 3B Hi-Uni as my single choice for a sketching pencil. Yet nothing beats experimenting on your own with different pencil brands, graphite grades, and types of paper to figure out what actually works best for you. IMO part of the fun of being an artist is to play with as many different options as possible to discover your favorite tools. Though please remember that drawing and practicing often with whatever tools you have readily available to you is more important.
Well (sigh) already retraced my steps checking where I might have forgotten it, and it does indeed appear somehow I managed to lose an entire roller crate loaded with art supplies, pop-up card templates, and cartooning assignment sheets. So time to streamline the amount of sketching gear and reference materials I take to class and events. For the past year, I have kept the bulk of my course notes and master copies of handout sheets in this Case it D-145 Large Capacity Zipper Binder. Thus it dawned on me, that with bit of tweaking it could become my customizable sketching kit for short classes and small birthday parties. Figured better to limit the cart use until I can keep better track of it.
Coincidentally found these suitable matching accessories at a Target store Back-to-School clearance section. These Case it Add+Ons would be a good way for students to add a couple of basic sketching tools to their regular school binders: a nice board suitable for taking notes and sketching on site, and a customized art supplies/sketching kit in its own case to take advantage of any free time to get a practice doodle or observation sketch done.
The Clip CLP-60 Add+On accessory is just a tad shorter than regular letter size clipboards, so it fits neatly within the main ring binder case. Now I can carry everything I need to teach a class in a single loaded binder case.
The back of the clipboard features a large nylon pocket that should come handy for holding handout sheets and stray sheets of paper.
The Case Add+On PEN-06 empty. It should help me customize the tools selection for a given lesson while keeping them separate from my main sketching kit. Best not to place too many tools in a single case. Should it get misplaced or lost, it would hurt far less if their contents are easier to replace.
The front of the case features two compartments: the smaller one is secured with a zipper and the larger one closes with velcro. The velcro strap features a pocket probably meant for a flash drive, but I am inclined to used it for holding one of my short stubby leadholders.
Loaded and closed rear view.
The mesh pockets on the back are large and elastic enough to comfortably hold a wide range of tools.
This pen case really can hold a lot of supplies in its front and back pockets. Of course when it is so over-stuffed, one would have to carry it separately from its base case.
Also got another transforming pencil case to hold the spare pens and markers that have been rolling freely on my drawing table lately. While I almost never rely on them, it also features a couple of elastic loops so it could also be secured within a ring binder.
Really like these Five Star Stand'N Store pencil cases for their large holding capacity and versatility. Now I have four of them with tool selections customized for different lessons. These additions to my tools collection should help keep the work flow more smoothly and hopefully reduce the chance of my losing another cart full of art supplies in venues when loss prevention can not be easily achieved.
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