For the last 4 months, I've been building up some new art supplies!
Let me share with you
Faber-Castell Pitt Graphite Matt Pencils
... with a highly anticipated 14B
I'm slightly underwhelmed with this one
It's not as deep as I'd hoped for
For pencil work, I normally use ...
Faber-Castell Graphite 9000
Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black
Royal Sovereign Wolff's Carbon
Love this as it blends smoothly with no crumbs
These three can cover all my value range needs
In terms of the blackness, I think it fits in between Graphite 9000 and Lumograph Black
It offers matt finish but still maintains the beauty of graphite
Apart from the 14B gimmick, the set is wonderful
Schmincke Horadam Aquarell Super Granulation Volcano
For this new release I got the 15ml version
It includes two single pigmented colours
Volcano Yellow (PY159) A neutral yellow leaning slightly warm
Volcano Red (PR108) A beautiful warm red that granulates nicely
Here is my swatch card
Flat wash on dry
Wet on wet
Not as saturated as the packaging but they're lovely paints
From the five sets I have from the last release ...
... I noticed one of the Deep Sea tubes had nearly set hard
It's 953 Deep Sea Blue (PG50, PV16, PB29)
The same thing also happened on a tube from Glacier
It's 962 Glacier Turquoise (PG50, PV16)
Could be due to both of them having PV16 Manganese Violet Check on them if you have them!
New Schmincke empty palette - pity about the epic dent
I was making up a granulation palette when I discovered the dry tubes
Here's the swatch card
I only did a small fill to try
These are the two I rescued ...
... all in Meeden half pans
Glacier Green is my favourite!
Two more sets to complete the collection
Staying on the watercolor theme
This Roman Szmal palette is my latest pleasant discovery
Selected by Jane Blundell
I already made a good dent in them
Especially Cobalt Turquoise (PB36) It's beautiful
Here's how they look, I made a swatch video
Since they are so good, I'm exploring the single pans ...
Here are some of the Roman Szmal single pans
105 Green Earth (PG23)
339 Viridian (PG18)
342 Hooker's Green (PY150, PB27)
229 Chromium Green Oxide (PG17)
341 Cobalt Green Light (PG50)
336 Shadow Violet (PG50, PB29, PV19)
I'm waiting on a few more to come back into stock at Jackson's Art
Continuing the watercolour theme
Here are my newest brushes
Roman Szmal Synthetic Squirrel large mop
Escoda Chronos is a synthetic mix of 90% Toray fiber and 10% red sable
Escoda Versatil is a pure synthetic sable brush
Namura Norme is also a synthetic sable
Here they are with sizing removed
The mop is elongated and very different to other mops I have
Chronos has a very promising tip
Versatil looks good, but may develop a hook on the tip as happened with my travel set
Namura has the softest bristles of them all
I'll let you know how I get on after using them for a while
Rhodia Calligrapher Pad Simili Japon
Can take brush marker, designed for ink calligraphy
Made from Clairefontaine Simili Japon 130gsm natural paper
All Rhodia pads are perforated at the top
Feels like a good quality product I'll be using it mostly for ink sketching
Leuchtturm 1917 sketchbooks
I regularly get these for my copics
These are from a local store and I noticed the paper is a little different to ones I got from Amazon
Let me show you
This is the pocket format from a while ago
Copics blend smoothly on this paper
The paper in this one is cooler
This new batch is a lot brighter and whiter!
These are the best sketchbooks I've found for copics Let me know if you've found something else interesting
Artway Brown Kraft Sketch Book
Comes in a pack of 6 for less than €10
An example of trying to save money that didn't work out
The colour is dark reddish brown reminding me of brown bags from the farmers market
I tried and found the paper to be very coarse and harsh on fineliner tips
The colour is too dark to see your pencil sketch! You'll need some great eyesight to work with this
Also, it's so coarse that white pencil can't blend
Compared to other toned papers ...
Common kraft cardstock
Derwent Pastel paper
Strathmore Toned Tan
Hahnemuhle Cappuccino Book
It's really not an ideal sketchbook for me
Hahnemuhle's Expression Watercolour paper
This one can easily be overlooked as the packaging is near identical to the Harmony line ...
... but the Expression line is 100% Cotton
Keep it sealed until ready to use
Pentel Brush Pen grey pigment ink FL3L
There are many ink variations, ordering by code is the best
Pentel have the most amazing brush tips
The size of the barrel is perfect and comfortable to hold
My old one in Aquash Water Brush is running out
They have the same brush head
These are great products
The Kuretake Cartoonist White Brush pen
With an ultra fine tip
The tip dries out very quickly
When it's dry, the manual feed backs up
Need to wash the tip after every use
Akashiya Extra Fine Brush Pens
Water based pigment ink
Can be used to outline prior to watercolouring
With a very fine tip
Comes in a set of 5 muted traditional Japanese colours
As they are pigment ink I hope they're lightfast ...
Unlike these ZIG Clean Color Real Brushes
Their ink flow is "thrifty" and about a quarter of them are not lightfast
The colours visibly fade within weeks
Perfect for projects you need to self destruct in 5 weeks
Hoping these will perform much better
Kuretake Fluid Graphite
This is totally new to me and I haven't had a chance to play yet
A high-viscosity ink that combines graphite with synthetic resin
As it can mix with watercolour I look forward to seeing the effect
It should give a different effect to just mixing with black
Can also be used for calligraphy
In Kuretake's standard ink bottle This one should be very interesting
Lastly ...
Robert Ingpen's illustration book "Wonderlands"
For me, he's one of the most inspirational artists
Incredible illustrations from many books he's worked on
He set the fundamental tone for so many classic tales and ideas
I especially love his graphite work
That's all folks. Until the next supply haul ...
Happy sketching, painting and creating!
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