Review by Tina Koyama Years ago when I was making abstract, mixed-media collages, one of my favorite media was Caran d’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax pastels. I don’t use them for urban sketching because the broad crayon sticks require larger paper than I want to carry, but I remember the fun of making huge scribbles,…
I recently realized I had accumulated quite a stack of sketchbooks to review. I was not sure the best way to present them so I decided to just review them altogether. There are EIGHT different sketchbooks from seven different companies and include different types of paper, binding methods, number of pages, price points and other…
Review by Tina Koyama Around the time that I had discovered the reasonably priced Moonman S1 fountain pen with a fude nib, I noticed another, even less expensive fude: the Hero 330 ($4; available in dark red, dark green and black). After some so-so experiences with other inexpensive Heroes years ago, I have hesitated about…
Review by Tina Koyama Back in the day, graphic designers and printers used “non-photo blue” pencils. Certain shades of blue that could not be detected by camera film (or copy machines), so rough drawing lines or notations could be left on the art and would not appear in the final form. Modern scanners can see…
Royal Talens Ecoline Brush Pens ($3.40 each or sets available at various price points) feature a large, soft, flexible fiber tip and each of the 30 available colors features Ecoline’s liquid watercolor ink inside. The tip is firm enough to allow both thick and thin lines. The colors in each pen can be blended or…
There are a lot acrylic paint pens and markers available (Posca, Molotow, Krink, Montana, Sharpie, etc) but the Archer & Olive Acrylograph water-based acrylic markers ($35, the set I bought is currently sold out but this link will take you to the page where the other sets are available) have been created and marketed specifically…
Review by Tina Koyama If you missed Part 1 of my review of the Stonehenge Legion Mini Artist Pad Sampler Set, you might want to start there. Part 1 gives an overview of the whole collection and includes a review of seven papers. Today I’ll cover the remaining papers. Although six pads in the sample…
