Happy Halloween 2017

Traffic was light on Halloween night, so upcoming classes will get to use the extra Halloween pencils with skull-shaped cap erasers that remained by the end of the night.

Also got quite a few leftover custom sketchbooks that I made by hand, so each and everyone would  have a one-of-a-kind cover drawn with a white gel pen or pigmented India ink pen..

Compact Sketching Kit for under 10 bucks: Casemate Sketch Diary and Pentel Sharp P207 0.7 mm mechanical pencil bundle pack

Found this Casemate Sketch Diary (Made in India) at  Walmart. It features 70 letter size (8.5" X 11") sheets. They also carry the Pentel P207 0.7 mm mechanical pencil bundle with tube of 12 spare leads and 2 extra erasers.

You can customize its cover. By inserting your own drawing in the top-loading sheet protector front cover.

Sample pencil sketches.

A fairly common question in my classes:"So Mr. Lung, what kind of sketchbook do you recommend?"

Well grasshopper, that is a good question. Short answer: whichever kind lets you doodle and practice regularly. For starters, you could use a simple clipboard and a good supply of printer paper. Then as you gain confidence, you might want to invest on a sturdier sketchbook that you might conveniently haul around with you to practice at every free opportunity. If you prefer online shopping, I would recommend checking the selection of sketchbooks at Blick's. If you are looking for something unique and custom-made to your needs and specifications, you might want to check out Sketchbook Central (here is a link to my review post of some of their custom sketchbooks). Otherwise stroll over to the bargain section of your local mall bookstore, and you are likely to find a few value options. I actually have gotten the Hokusai's Wave sketchbook on both sizes a couple of times already, for I am pretty fond of that cover design.

You could also find some premium choices in the regular Art Techniques section.

Many larger bookstores have their own dedicated section of "Art Supplies and Sketchbooks" with artsy covers.

Some might even sport movie theme covers.

Even found a few more whimsical sketchbook options among the the seasonal offerings

on the display tables scattered around the bookstore.

Local retailers may also offer a limited selection of sketchbook and journals. The smaller Mead Acadmie sketchbook and sketch journal have a thinner card stock cover and a single wire spiral securing the 50 lb sheets together. The larger black sketchbook features a heavier gauge double wire binding, stiffer covers, and 70 lb sketch paper.

Some big-box retailers have a pretty comprehensive selection of art supplies in its own aisle.

In the Crayola section in addition to the usual paper pads, you might find a simple spiral bound sketchbook (Made in India) like the one shown above.

In the proper Art Supplies section you can find a selection of spiral bound Strathmore sketch pads. The top bound format can be particularly useful for sketching on location, for it makes it easier to secure the pages with a rubber band and keep them from blowing in the wind. It also keeps the ring binding away from your drawing hand (for both left and right handed artists).

In addition to the drawing and painting tools, there is also a large stock of Canson XL Drawing and Mixed-Media spiral bound pads that feature heavier papers that can withstand more vigorous techniques and repeated clean erasing.

Classic black Daler-Rowney sketchbooks in spiral and hard bound formats round up the range of options at this store. Hardbound journals will look a tad nicer on private library bookshelves documenting your artistic progress.

Spotted these display of hardbound sketchbooks and spiral bound sketch pads at AC Moore.
When selecting a sketchbook consider how you plan to use it, whether will you be working on a table or sketching mostly standing while on the go. Pick the optimal size that you are comfortable carrying on-the-go, or the biggest size that you are comfortable working on regularly either at your home studio or inside your vehicle. Most importantly, pick whatever size will lead you to sketch more frequently and regularly. Happy sketching!

Using Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens to color my Sketchbook sample for upcoming classes at the Art Center

Using my feathered dragon serpent cover for the sketchbooks that we'll be using in the class and camps starting this week at the Cary Arts Center. Decided to prepare a colored sample to have on hand, so I chose Faber Castell Pitt Big Brush Artist Pens to get the job done in a flash. Their larger brush nibs and juicy pigmented inks can cover smooth card stock pretty quickly and uniformly. The colors remain pretty vibrant since the pigment sits on top of the card stock instead of being absorbed into it like conventional marker inks.

Coloring one of the internal pages printed on 20 lb multipurpose paper was a tad uneven, but still the Pitt inks remain on one side and did not bleed through the sheet.

When held against the light, the image can be seen through the back. Unlike water-based markers, the Pitt pens inks do not seep through and barely cause some warping on the page when applied a bit more heavily. Regular kids markers would saturate the paper with dye ink that would be visible on both sides and even bleed through several pages.

Some Star Wars & Quick Miyazaki Sketches in the Car

Without having watched any of the movies yet, my six year old nephew has already developed a liking of Star Wars thanks to Lego sets mostly.

Not surprisingly, troopers and droids tend to be popular subjects for many kids his age.

I keep a spare sketchbook in the seat pocket of my car at all times, so that I can doodle when I'm stuck waiting in it for any length of time. Got a few Miyazaki inspired sketches in my current one, and Mateo has taken to copy some of them while riding in his car seat. Thus his version of "Haku" from "Spirited Away" is shown above next to mine. I think it is quite good considering that he drew it in the moving car while I drove him home after school.

He also added a couple of Kodama to this sketch page. Keep sketchbooks and pencils handy at all times to foster regular sketching habits in your budding artists. I keep a leadholder in my glove compartment since it does not require sharpening and it is always ready to be used. Unlike pens and markers, a graphite tool can withstand the extreme summer heat without adverse effects like drying out.

Daler Rowney Simply Sketching Set spotlight

For beginners, you would be hard pressed to find a better value than this Daler Rowney Simply Sketching Set that I picked up earlier at Jerry's Artarama. The hardbound sketchbook was made in China. The pack of Drawing artist trading cards (ATCs) was made in England. The KUM magnesium wedge sharpener was made in Germany. The HB drawing pencil was made in Austria. The paper feels a bit rough for markers, but it works just fine with a graphite pencil and colored pencils. 

While not meant for wet media, the watercolor pencils and waterbrush combination worked ok on this  support. It did warp the paper a bit, so I wouldn't recommend it for wet media experimentation. Still this value pack should meet the needs of budding artists and provide an adequate platform for doodling and practicing with pens, graphite pencils, crayons, and colored pencils.

Good Bye Borders - Perhaps time to Stock Up on Sketchbooks and Paperchase Stationery

I knew from an e-mail that the Borders store in Naples was closing shortly after the company announced they were filing for bankruptcy last month, but I was a bit surprised to discover that their store in Ft. Myers was also closing. So much for hoping that they would be able to reorganize and keep at least one store open in the area. Thus I got the loot above in a bit of an impulse considering that this source of sketchbooks and pencils will probably not be around much longer.
Ok so maybe I didn't need that many new sketchbooks, but with the passing of this chain there are now fewer sources of value priced sketchbooks available locally. Whatever stock I don't get around to using personally will make fine presents for relatives or prizes on any of my drawing classes.
Got a few 8.5" X 5" Pentalic Classic hardbound sketchbooks from the bargain section that were further discounted with an extra 20% off. They feature 220 pages of 70 lb (114 gsm) paper in a pretty sturdy and portable format.
Embossed brand on the back.
Open flat.Mechanical pencils test page.Test page with sketching fountain pens and Kuretake No. 13 brush fountain pen.
If you enjoy using Paperchase pencils, you might want to get a few sets to save for later use. I don't know of any other outlet for them in the USA other than Borders.
Eraser toppers pyramid. When they look this adorable, I supposed their erasing performance is unimportant.
these festive pencils will become prizes for some students in my cartooning classes.
The black and natural finish pencil sets were manufactured in Korea.
Freshly sharpened and ready for some doodling.
I suspect that most remaining sketchbooks and stationery items should prove quite sufficient for sketching and keeping visual journals. I asked the clerk, and they do not have a set date for the complete closing of the stores. Guess it will depend on how long it takes them to sell off all their discounted merchandise (currently between 20-40% off throughout the stores in Naples and Ft. Myers). Yet ultimately there will not be a single Borders store left in SW Florida, so you might want to stock up on some sketching supplies while they are still around.

Winning Sketchbook Projects

These are two of the sketchbooks that won a price for the month of November.

Students have already started work on their next workbook assignment for December: the Manga Comic Jam Sketchbook.
Some started working by themselves with some guidance.
A couple chose working as a team to bounce ideas off from each other.

Testing and selecting a Sketchbook for upcoming cartooning classes

Couple of sample sheets colored with Prismacolor markers to use as cartooning examples during ARTScool presentations.
Getting the class supplies ready for the ARTScool summer classes.
Already got most of the sketchbooks that we'll need for use in class after conducting the different doodle tests shown below.
Creapen brush pen tests.
Pigment pen doodle tests.
Pencil tests.







Several test pencil doodles were drawn on the sketch pad to make sure that wooden pencils and leadholders worked adequately on this support.
We'll have a few pre-printed pages with different panel layouts to speed up the lay down of different comicbook pages.



The 50 lb sketch paper is thin enough so that panel templates and reference images can still be seen clearly through each sheet. Thus I plan to have a few sketching worksheets for tracing exercises on these class sketchbooks.
This Canson Field Sketchbook features the same 50 lb (74 gsm) paper spiral bound with hard covers. The sturdier format makes it the more practical choice for use on-the-go and sketching on location. The lightweight Canson sketch paper readily accepted graphite pencils and pigmented drawing pens.