2024—Year of the Pen
and other art supplies I received!
Hi! I’m Kayla Stark, an illustrator working primarily in the children’s publishing world. You’re reading “Odd Thoughts”, my blog/newsletter where I talk mostly about illustration, process, publishing, and anything else that’s tangentially related in my life. Join in! Everyone’s welcome!
Happy New Year!
We are in 2024, wow! Another year to plan and to hope for. May our inboxes be full of well paying jobs, and may all our pencils stay sharp!
Aaaaand speaking of sharp pencils, I coincidentally1 have an art supplies roundup to share this week!
I received most of these as holiday gifts, but I also snuck in a couple things I got in the fall. :)
Blackwing Pencil Sharpener - it claims to create a perfect, long point with minimal effort or something like that. So far, yes! I just haven’t figured out how to empty it yet…
Liquitex Acrylic Marker (in Parchment) - I first saw this mentioned on Rebecca Green’s Patreon, and wanted to try it. It’s good for laying down nice, big background shapes to draw over. It doesn’t have the smoothest texture (kinda streaky) but I’m okay with that.
Platinum Carbon Ink - it’s to use in the fountain pen (or with my dip pen). I read that it’s waterproof, but I haven’t tested it yet. If it truly is, it will be great for using alongside gouache and watercolor. :)
Ink Converter - you put the (above) ink in this to use in the fountain pen. I don’t know how it works yet; as you can see I haven’t opened it. In theory, it should be great for loading any ink I’d like to use in the fountain pen.
Tombow Fudenosuke Pen - I found this pen at my favorite local shop, Gift Horse. It called to me from the pen wall, “hey, psst, over here—try me, I’m a pretty dope little brush pen”. And I said “okay”.
Blackwing Matte Pencil - a Blackwing with a dark side. The lead is soft and much darker than other Blackwings I’ve tried.
Blackwing Pearl Pencil - not as dark as the matte, but not as hard/light as the 602
Blackwing Natural Pencil - writes like a buttery comparison to your standard No. 2 Ticonderoga. I’ve only barely used the “Pearl” and the “Natural” so don’t listen to me too closely on those.
Sailor FUDE Fountain Pen - I couldn’t wait to try this bad boy. Inexpensive, check. Seems to work okay for a lefty, check. A nib/dip pen-ish look, but better for sketching outside of of my house, CHECK!
What good is a static image of art supplies without a few more static images of sketches made WITH the art supplies?
I compared the two pens (Tombow Fudenosuke and the Sailor FUDE) by sketching two, not quite identical but fairly similar, pages. (a couple drawings and a lot of markmaking)
The Sailor FUDE (above) has a learning curve, especially for a lefty like me. Right away I am loving how varied I can make the line weights. Very thick to very thin in one stroke depending on angle and pressure. It’s such a PLAYFUL little pen, look at those ragged edges on some of the lines 😍! The only con so far is that it smears…but, to be fair, most pens smear when I draw. (the left handed smear curse)
The Sailor FUDE fountain pen is going straight into my sketch bag staples—it will be perfect for quick sketching! Though I’m sure I’ll end up using it in some “final” pieces too. :)
The above page shows the Tombow Fudenosuke pen—my little, lizard brain loves how uniform the marks are AND it’s easy peasy to control. You’ll notice the line weights are less varied, especially when compared to the Sailor FUDE. While you can get some slight variation, this pen is better suited for a more “monoline” look.
It’s labeled as a brush pen, however the tip is pretty rigid. This is not a bad thing (for me), I was pleased. I bought this pen back in late Oct, early Nov, and immediately did a couple of Ronald Searle and Bill Peet studies. It was great for those—I’ll share them in a future post!
As a little treat, here’s a bonus page of me playing with the Sailor FUDE fountain pen. :)
Moving on down to pencil town—
To be 100% honest, I was a little tired of drawing the same thing over again. So the pencil test was shortened to 1 page and 2 pencils (half a page each). You still get the point. (eh? eh?🤓)
The Blackwing 602 (top) is my go to sketching/drawing pencil. It’s smooth, easy to erase, an all around top choice pencil. There is a slogan embossed on it “Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed”; I don’t know what that means for pencil usage, I just needed you to know.
The Blackwing Matte (bottom) has a buttery, soft lead. This feels nice, but means you end up sharpening it more often. If you plan on erasing, think twice—this sucker is dark and will leave it’s ghostly marks behind. I need to widen my value range so I’ll be incorporating this pencil into my drawings/sketches for the darkest areas.
Other Noteworthy Bits
Hungry for even more pen talk?!
has a three part series on drawing with fountain pens!
- posted about the Sailor FUDE fountain pen a little while ago. There’s A LOT of good info in the comments.
2023’s Crafted Ornaments - every year (since 2020) Brad and I have made ornaments for our tree that convey something about the year. Here are this year’s, both made out of air dry clay and finished with acrylic paint.
A lion for me (with a loaf of bread) as a nod to the picture book dummy I’ve been secretly/not so secretly prepping
And a snail for Brad—he starting managing a ceramic studio full time this year and each kiln firing includes a “good luck snail”. This one happens to be painted like the Yazoo Brewery mugs, a big production order they landed this year as well. :)
In my secret desk drawer (the paid section, but I like the image “secret drawer” conjures)
Catch up on my Purposeful Practice Challenge before I post the next roundup.
Coming later this week - the very seasonally inappropriate process video for Vroom Broom. Where I talk about the illustration process for the “Ode to a Scarry Halloween” series, answer a few questions, and discuss some of my hopes/plans for the new year.
Talk soon! Now go forth and try a new pen or pencil, then let me know how you like it!💛
Not a coincidence, I planned the whole thing! Premeditated.
Yay! Art supply talk!! <Arsenio Hall-style arm pump> And I *also* make an ornament every year--loved to see you used air-dry clay! (I will ponder that for this year!) I usually do needle felting, like this year's raccoon: https://www.instagram.com/p/C1D9jxVOBvO/?img_index=1, but it would be fun to mix things up!
oooh that sharpener is SHARP!