Mega Brands The Write Dudes Retractable Ballpoint Pens and Highlighters Spotlight

I just used the remaining two carded items from the last bundle of Mega Brands samples as mini prizes during the ongoing ARTScool Cartoon Sketching class this week. The retractable ballpoint pens were loaded with a very smooth ink that was also praised by one of the High School interns that distributed the pens to the young students in the summer art camp. The high viscosity ink felt as smooth as Japanese gel pens and started flowing freely after removing the protective tip from each pen.
The design on the highlighters barrels suggest that they are intended for female students. Yet since they yielded fairly bright colored marks that dried quickly, they should prove useful to anybody in need of highlighting some text for their studies this upcoming school year. Both the highlighters and the retractable ballpoint pens laid down marks smoothly and were readily accepted by the Elementary School-age kids in this week's art class.

The Write Dudes Wooden Pencils Spotlight

The second batch of samples I received from Mega Brands also included some wooden pencils: one pack was clearly designed for girls given their glitter-covered barrels with spiral motifs decorations, and the other fun pack was obviously meant for boys given their racing car designs. Both packs were made in China.
Sample doodle on Maruman Croquis sketchbook. The graphite lead was smooth, slow wearing, and closer to your average H grade in darkness.
The sparkling wooden pencils equipped with the Fashion Grips for a wider more comfortable grip during long note-taking sessions.
For school age boys, this Wooden Pencil Fun Pack would make a nice classroom prize. It included a couple of racing car erasers and matching sharpener. The sharpener did a fair job initially cutting the wood away, but its blade broke and snapped off the graphite lead a couple of times before I decided to sharpen the whole lot with my trusty Classroom Friendly crank sharpener. The erasers worked well enough for making writing corrections, but left a faint blue hue on the erased area. thus I would recommend using a dedicated white plastic block eraser for making corrections while drawing with the racing pencils. Both varieties of wooden pencils featured functional erasers on their end caps, whimsical designs tailored to each gender, and strong smooth-writing graphite leads that were also adequate for sketching. Worth trying for school use.

Mega Brands The Write Dudes Smooth Sticks Dry Gel Highlighters Review

We finally got to the last item from the first batch of Mega Brands samples: a carded pack with four Smooth Sticks Gel Highlighters that I decided to test on a handy Maruman Croquis Sketchbook.
The blue gel highlighter crayon fully extended. The tip length can be adjusted by simply twisting the end cap just like a twistable crayon.
Their smooth feel also reminded me of crayons, but they laid down some brightly colored translucent swatches quite effortlessly. The pink and blue ones crumbled a bit, but they were easily cleaned off the paper. These Smooth Sticks gel highlighters should prove useful to students that highlight their textbooks and study materials. For doodling and paper crafts, they would make fine "lightsabers", "laser blasts", and "explosion" highlights. Recommended as a fun addition for a kid's sketching kit.

Mega Brands The Write Dudes Super Gel Metallic ink pens and SRX Color Sharp Metallic permanent markers Review

Continuing the review of the Mega Brands samples I received recently, I tested The Write Dudes Super Gel Metallic ink pens and SRX Color Sharp Metallic permanent markers on a Maruman Croquis sketchbook, a Cachet sketchbook with black sheets of paper, and sheets of 67 lb toned card stock. Both metallic ink products were made in China according to their labels. Full photo coverage can be viewed in my Flickr photostream: photo 1 through photo 11.
The Super Gel Metallic ink pens were pretty smooth with their 1.2 mm tips and glided effortlessly on all the 3 supports tested. Their bright colors remained strong on the white and light brown toned papers. On the black paper, all the colors seemed to disappear leaving just silver marks on the dark background. They would make for adequate sketching tools, but they are probably best suited for making greeting cards and adding decorative touches to other paper crafts.
The SRX Color Sharp Metallic permanent markers might resemble Sharpies but thankfully without their chemical solvent smell. Their nibs laid down rather broad line strokes smoothly and quickly, so they would be quite handy when making signs and posters. Both the metallic gel pens and SRX permanent markers would work nicely for decorating paper craft projects and greeting cards. I plan to add these two metallic sets to the pool of optional art materials used in my Cartoon Sketching classes to test their durability and gauge the students reactions to them.