Author Archives: leslie

Review: Tombow Mono Zero Ultra Fine 2.5×0.5 mm Eraser

I love click erasers. I enjoy their plastic housing that holds a cylinder of wobbly eraser safe while I use the knock to ease out just a small amount of eraser. Inside the plastic housing the eraser stays clean, ready to clean up my drawings. Mostly, these click erasers work really well but are not all that easy to use to clean up detail areas. That is, until I picked up the Tombow Mono Zero rectangular ultra fine click eraser. This thing has a tiny slip of eraser, it’s 2.5×0.5mm in size (3/8×1/8 inches). In other words tiny.

IMAG1456The housing is also small. It’s black with a small tip of metal at the business end. The knock pushes out 0.7 mm of eraser per click. The eraser is Tombow elastomer eraser. It’s white plastic and the “crumbs” stick to one another and ever so slightly, the page, eliminating a lot of eraser mess. The crumbs can then be swept away with a soft brush or the side of a hand, depending on your preference. (A perfect use for those useless fan brushes IMO.) (This eraser also comes in a stainless steel or shiny metal looking body.)

 

This isn’t going to be the eraser you use to clean up large areas of page, rather this is going to be the eraser you use to clean the whites of the eyes in portraits, or reflections on glass. This is the eraser you’ll use to take care of the details. It might also be the eraser you use as an everyday carry with your pocket journal. This has been my use for this diminutive eraser. Because it is incredibly small and light weight I’ve been clipping it to the cover of my pocket journal and using it combined with a 2B mechanical pencil for sketching. The little eraser has been quite a workhorse for me. Cleanly removing pencil from the pages of my Field Notes and BanditApple Carnet. For small pocket sketching it’s been top notch.

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As for cleanliness of the erasing, it does well on smooth paper. In Field Notes and BanditApple carnet minimal ghosting was apparent. However on rougher paper, like the Staples sticky note, which is quite rough, ghosting is apparent. Is it bad enough to not get one of these erasers? I don’t know. If you work on rough paper with graphite you might want to go with a rougher eraser, like the Papermate Tough Stuff  Eraser Stick.

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While we’re at it, let’s talk price. I was able to pick up my eraser at Artist & Craftman for $5. I also bought a pack of refills for a few bucks, bringing my total to about $7. That’s pretty pricey, but I had been eyeing this eraser for a few months and in 2 weeks of frequent use I’ve used a very small amount of the eraser, about 2mm. The eraser is also available from JetPens for about $6 and Amazon for the same. Refills range in price from $2 at A&C to $5 on Amazon. Any way you look at it, it’s not a huge value, but it does a damn good job for what it is. In this case the function of this eraser makes it a worthwhile investment.

Over all, the minute form factor of this eraser is what really makes it worth the cash. Most other click erasers are encased in so much plastic that they are ten times thicker than the eraser encased inside. If you are putting together a pocket sketching and journaling kit, size matters.

Technique Today: Wax Crayons

Crayons are awesome. They smell nice and can be layered. Love me some crayons.

If you have issues viewing the videos here on my blog please click the title of the video on the upper left of the video and it will open up in YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

(More videos after the break, having all the videos load at once was making the page load slow.)

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Empower Vs Permission

I wrote a response to a comment a few days ago that sparked a flurry of thought in myself. Sometimes, comments give me a clarity of thought on a topic I’ve been thinking about for a long time. In this case, it’s the concept of permission

 

In my recent post I wrote about mass marketing hype in art journaling and how it has damaged what was once a small close knit online community. The reason we are seeing a mass marketing boom in art journaling is because people are looking for permission. Permission is a funny thing for us. I think women especially have a hard time giving themselves permission to do things for themselves. Men, seem to have less of an issue with this, but that is a whole other discussion and blog post.* Women seem to have an easier time making scrapbooks rather than art journals. I suspect it’s because scrapping is generally not done about the creator’s life, but of those around her. most of the scrapbooks I’ve seen deal with the creator’s children, family, and friends; rarely are they about the creator herself. Why is it so much easier for women to create about others, but not themselves?

 

Keeping an art journal/sketchbook/notebook/journal/ etc is, in my mind, a form of self love. When a woman decides to pick up a journal and begin to work in it, explore her ideas, feelings, and record the things that she sees as important well, that in and of itself is a transformative act. It's healing. It's saying to herself "I matter. What I think matters. I matter to me. I hope I matter to the future." Giving oneself hope in our future and weight in our present moment is a hugely powerful statement. This is also a statement that is, often, very difficult to make. We look outside ourselves for validation, for affirmation that we are in fact doing the right thing.

 

This is why we are so ready to accept permission, in all it’s limitations, from anyone who will give it. ** Companies see this inherent uneasiness in women who want to create, and crave to create, and the need for permission to do so and use that as a tool to sell us shit we don't need. Because we are now bombarded, daily, with ads online for more classes, more tools, more of this and that; it's hard to get past the idea that we don't really need permission and that once we start, we won't want to stop.

 

What we really need is empowerment, not permission. You might see that as a semantic difference, but frankly, it’s important. When I give you permission to do something, I’m retaining power. I’ve got the control, and I’m not relinquishing it. When I help to empower you, I’m never in control, I’ve handed you your very own steering wheel and said, “It’s all yours.” There is no option for me to take control again.

per·mis·sion   [per-mish-uhn] noun

1. authorization granted to do something; formal consent: to ask permission to leave the room.

2. the act of permitting. (dictionary.com)

 

em·pow·er   [em-pou-er]  verb (used with object)

1. to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means: I empowered my agentto make the deal for me. The local ordinance empowers the board of health to close unsanitary restaurants.

2. to enable or permit: Wealth empowered him to live a comfortable life. (dictionary.com)

Starting an art journal/journal is a powerful first step in taking control of our lives and learning what empowerment feels like.

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Review: Parker Quink Gel Ink Refill

A few months ago I won a Retro 51 Hex-o-Matic retractable pen. The pen is perfect for sketching while I’m on the T. With all the lurching and sudden stops of the T, I’m afraid I’ll jam a fountain pen and break the nib, so rollerball pens work best. I managed to burn through the refill in a short amount of time. After looking around online I realized I needed to look at the refills to figure out what would fit the pen. Basically, I learned it takes standard Parker type refills which are available just about anywhere. I headed into Bob Slate Stationers in Cambridge, Mass to look at their rack of refills and figure out what I liked.

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I ended up buying a package of Parker Quink gel refills and a package of Quink Flow roller ball refills. I’ve not yet tested the Quink Flow refills but the initial testing of the Gel Ink has been quite favorable.

IMAG1433First the ink is very black. The tip lays down a very even line of ink. There is very little skipping. The only skipping I found was when I was writing at an extreme angle and over areas where there were fingerprints on certain paper. It wrote flawlessly in my Field Notes, Staples composition notebooks, and on scrap paper. The only paper it skipped on was my BanditApple Carnet and that only occurred in areas where I’d held the paper in place while drawing, so over my fingerprints. There was some light skipping over pencil line, and only the softer pencil. It wrote well over H and even HB pencil but not well over 2B or 4B.

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Once on paper, the ink is relatively waterproof. I was able to lift a small amount with a waterbrush to get some light shading. Which is really cool but it also means that watercolor washes will lift and be “dirtied” by the ink. I have to say that the ink is neutral black and won’t dirty watercolor that much. I really like the idea of adding a thin waterbrush to my on-the-go kit.

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If you are looking for an ink refill that is a sheer joy to write with, this is a go to refill. I’ve been using it for note taking in my graduate classes. It’s smoothness glides over the paper without skipping or slowing me down. If the Zebra Sarasa is my go to gel ink pen, this is one step behind it. (I’ve recently found Zebra Sarasa refills on Amazon, so I’m now stuffing those into every pen body I own. Sadly, they don’t fit into my hex-o-matic.) I’ve found myself reaching for my hex-o-matic over my fountain pens for the last few weeks, that should tell you how great this ink is for writing.

Anyway, these refills are quite nice, very affordable, and available just about anywhere.

Now you just need to pick a  decent pen to put them in, they will fit into a great number of pens. The classic Parker Jotter, the Retro 51 Hex-o-Matic, and a great number of other pens. I could go on and on about how wonderful it is to have a refillable pen and how much better it is for the environment.

Technique Today: Rubber Stamps

Rubber and foam stamps are awesome, especially when you carve them yourself.

If you have issues viewing the videos here on my blog please click the title of the video on the upper left of the video and it will open up in YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

(More videos after the break, having all the videos load at once was making the page load slow.)

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Ruts

I’ve been talking about ruts lately. On facebook, in my journal, with friends. It might surprise you to know that I go through ruts. I think that a rut is the mind’s way of saying, “I need a break from all this thinking, just for now.” Sometimes, a rut lasts a night, or a day, and sometimes you feel like you can’t get out of it. Sometimes you power through it because you have an order and you have to get it done. Some people have few of them, some have more.

 

Here’s the thing, ruts are okay. And sometimes you have to get help to get out of them. You need a little push. I’ll share with you my favorite “pushes.”

  1. I reread Kerri Smith’s book “How to be an Explorer of the World .” Yes, it’s a kid’s  book. It’s one of her first but in my opinion it also one of her best. If I could gift everyone I know with a copy of this book, I would. Get it. read it. Allow it to change how you view the world.
  2. I get out one of my small 3.5×5.5 inch notebooks. Either one I made myself, or a Field Notes, Moleskine Cahier, or BanditApple Carnet PeeWee. then I start to fill it. I observe and write. I observe and sketch. It doesn’t matter if the drawings are “good” this notebook is for me, and I fill it full of crappy quickly sketched stuff that I don’t show people. Seriously, the stuff I show you on here, that’s the good stuff. Perhaps the next zine I do should be a full copy of my recent mini journal. If you aren’t inspired to draw anything try the following: bottle caps, beer caps, watch, clock, flashlight, brush, pen, phone, knives, scissors, dollah dollah bills, headphones, books, lighter, ink bottles, camera, stapler, binder clips, chapstick, paint tube, light fixtures, chair, computer, laptop, tablet, etc.. That’s just a quick list of the crap around me right now. Once when I was in a rut I drew used tea bags and stacks of bottle caps. I filled a crappy $5 B&N sketchbook with them. Filled it.
  3. I write. If I’m not feeling the art vibe I write. sometimes it’s observations about whatever is around me, sometimes its stories from my past, sometimes it’s stories about now. Occasionally I’ll make up stuff about people I see on the train. I imagine their lives and make up a story about them. More often than not this gets the spark going and I want to draw.
  4. I sit down with a couple of my old sketchbooks and art journals and a cup of coffee and look through them all. Feel the pages and think about what was happening when I made them. Generally, this will break me free.

 

Those are my go to rut pushes.

 

Generally, I think that ruts are usually formed through events and changes in our life. 9 times out of 10 when someone tells me they are in an artistic rut they have just moved, broken up, lost a parent, or had something else happen. (This is the budding art therapist in me breaking through.) So, I think it’s a good idea that if your rut lasts longer than a month or so that you consider what it is in your life that came before the rut and if perhaps you should talk to someone about it. Joining  a local art class can be enough to help.  I think the important thing here is to know that you aren’t alone in rut-dom. It happens to a lot of people and there are lots of ways out. You can try some of my techniques, seek out someone professional in your area, but know that eventually you’ll reach for that journal again.

With the recent mass marketing hype focused on art journaling I think more and more of us are feeling less and less connected to our journals. What was once a safe place to escape now has the weight of expectations and comparisons with other artists. Where once we shared our pages in online groups with only other art journalers we now have an influx of people who are just starting out and are tryign every brand new product on the market. This has taken a toll on the small,close knit community. there’s a lot of pressure to take a “famous name” mass class at great expense. People are doing art journaling haul videos. While I think all the new products are helpful and fun, it’s hard to remember that to art journal all you really need is a pen and a journal.

Journal Flip 3

I can't tell all the types of media. Pencil, ink, paint, stencils, OH MY! A stunning example of a well used and abused pocket notebook turned journal. That cover has stories to tell. It's plain but has a story. Love it. (NSFW, some boobies)

 

Here's another well loved journal. Again, lots of writing with collaged in bits of travel adn daily life. By far I love those daily bits of life more than anything else. Doodly bits and pieces. Dated writing. This guy will look back at this journal for the rest of his life with happiness.

 

 

Technique Today: Gouache

Gouache is one of those things no one talks about, or isn't talked about often for art journals. Some of us love our gouache, I'm one of them. Gouache is a watercolor-like paint that is opaque and can be layered like oil or acrylic to achieve a different sort of look from watercolors. It has a chalky finish that distinguishes it from watercolor.

It's often used (or was often used, before the advent of computers) by graphic designers to lay down a swatch of color that photographed well for ads. It's lovely matte finish lends itself to being photographed. When artists use it, the look can be totally changed.

It's a great tool for use in the art journal, and one of my favorites.

If you have issues viewing the videos here on my blog please click the title of the video on the upper left of the video and it will open up in YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

(More videos after the break, having all the videos load at once was making the page load slow.)

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Journal Flips 2

The first video is of an art joranl, a lot of paintings and drawings in a moleskine. Watercolor, ink, acrylic, and a variety of other media are used. It's a lovely journal. (She really ought to wax her pages though.)

This one uses nothing but black ink, sakura pigma to be precise. He draws from life and makes no notes or observations but for the drawing. It's another style of journal. It's gourgeous. Blow it up big on  your monitor and LOOK at that hatching.