Pens & Inks

My hands are finally getting their coordination back. And hallelujah! It's great to be drawing on paper again, though I've been laying off the brush. It's just too much trouble and too messy to risk with my spazzy fingers. My medical travails, however, have once again sparked my interest in alternative drawing tools. Case in point: the recently discovered Kuretake brush pen, as seen on Ryan Andrews' excellent blog. After seeing what he did with it, I just figured I had to try one out. Amazingly, the thing makes lines that are surprisingly comparable to the ones I make with my favorite brush.

Kuretake-Sketches

The advantages are numerous. For one, there's no messy prep and no messy cleanup. You want to draw, you just pop the cap off and start drawing; when you're done, put the cap back on and put the pen away. No cleanup. No ink siphoning. The pen uses disposable, replaceable ink cartridges, so you'll occasionally need to replace these. But not every time you draw. Also, the grip is pen-like and a bit easier for my nerve damaged hands to grip. And because it's a pen, it's portable.

There are, of course, downsides as well. The Kuretake-plus-cartridge-replacement combo is likely a tad more expensive than brush and ink. And maybe not quite as expressive. And surely you can't use the brush pen to fill large areas of black as easily. But the primary downside is that the ink that comes with the Kuretake is not even remotely waterproof. This may be fixable, however.

I've since purchased Platinum Carbon Ink cartridges that are compatible with the Kuretake. The Carbon ink is reported to be extremely waterproof. I haven't tried it in my brush pen yet, but I did pick up a Platinum Desk Pen that uses the same cartridges and, if the pen is any indication, it does seem to be quite waterproof indeed.

PlatinumCarbonFoutainPen-Sketch

In addition to my brush pen, the Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen has been quite a revelation. I've tried nib pens, which I like, but which are finicky and suffer from all the same dipping and cleanup issues as brushes. I've tried Rapidograph technical pens, which are also a bear to clean. But this fountain pen is as good as any of them, and in true pen form, it's a snap to use.

What all this ease-of-use means is one basic, but very important thing: I draw more. And that's pretty awesome.

Recently Frightening Reads

I've recently finished two terrific books. Well, I finished one and sort of finished the other. My Friend Dahmer is Derf Backderf's amazing true account of growing up in the same town as, and briefly being friends with, the famed serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. It's a quick but chilling read that starts in high school and ends with Backderf's reaction to the astounding discovery when the news of Dahmer's ghastly crimes reached the press.

Backderf's background is in journalism, so, while it is a personal account, the book is well sourced and researched. Backderf's drawing style is deceptively simple but effective and compliments the material well. Backderf does a great job portraying high school from the eyes of high schoolers, a horror in and of itself. But what I love most about this book is that it gives us a glimpse into the horror not just of the mind of Jeffrey Dahmer, but also the environs that helped create him: 1970s suburban America.

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I've also finished — for all intents and purposes — Robert Kirkman's landmark The Walking Dead. The truth is, I read the first half of that thousand plus page tome and then skimmed the latter half. I took this approach both because I was so horrified by the story, and yet because I was so immensely compelled to find out what happens. It's not pretty.

My reaction to the book was surprisingly visceral. While the writing can be uneven at times, the art, the storytelling and the story itself are intensely compelling. You want to keep reading all the while wanting the book to end. As a friend described it, it's brutal.

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I admire The Walking Dead immensely, and I've been a big fan of the show. But The Walking Dead is a horror story in the most primal sense. This is a book not so much about zombies, but about what happens when people are completely dehumanized by the total collapse of a structured society. It's painful to read.

Kirkman masterfully weaves his fable around carefully crafted characters that perfectly express his thesis. It's brilliant, but stay away if you don't really like horror. It's truly disturbing.

Donkeys

Just got a job drawing donkeys. I'd never drawn donkeys before. It was fun!

Donkey Side 02

The donkeys were for banner graphics for Studs of Craigslist, a site that lampoons some of the more ridiculous personals entries on the famed classifieds mega-site.

Donkey Front 02

I really enjoyed working on these drawings. I made them completely on my iPad, and just sort of worked through them organically using some images from the web for reference.

Normally I do my own work for myself. There's something really refreshing about working with a client, though. I like meeting someone else's needs with a drawing for a change. It makes me feel, in an objective and tangible way,  like I do good work.

Anyway, go visit Studs of Craigslist. It's pretty funny.