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The new art supplies have arrived and thus the obligatory swatching.
The two Sakura Pigma Microns and the Staedtler are the only new pens, but I needed to compare them to my existing brown pens.
(For the record, the "caramel" Pilot ink is in the wrong pen. The caramel pen is only available as part of an expensive multi-pen set that I am too cheap to buy, but the refill ink is available for individual sale so I just bought the ink and put it in a black barrel.)
Each ink then got both a water smear test and an alcohol-marker smear test. The sepia Pentel seems to be the only one that smeared noticeably with the alcohol marker. (I suspect the carmel Pilot smeared, but it's just not really visible since its smear color is close to yellow.) The brown Sharpie Ultra Fine seems to be the only one that didn't react at all to water, but the Microns helped up quite well. (The Staedler smears dramatically enough that I'll play around at some point in the future with deliberate wash effects and see what that looks like.)
In the meantime, this means I have officially begun Sketchbook #13 ... despite not having completed #10, #11, or #12 yet. (I am on track to finish Sketchbook #11 by the end of the month.) But all these sketchbooks are different and better for different things and I need this colored-pencil one for the next project.
By the way, if the "sepia" Pentel looks black to you, it's not a trick of the light. I was so excited when I heard that the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen was newly (pre-pandemic) available in "sepia" and "gray" and ... so disappointed in the actual pens. Total waste of money. The inks are both basically just slightly different shades of black. The gray is barely lighter than the full black and, depending on the paper and the lighting, usually I can't even see a difference between the sepia and the black. I've had these pens for a few years now and I always forget why I don't like them. My brain refuses to accept that they're that bad so I'll dig them out again ... and I'm annoyed every time.
Am I crazy or is the sepia even darker than the black?
So does anyone want a spare Pentel Pocket Brush Pen? I now have three of them and I don't need that many. (You can still refill them with the black ink if you want.) The only thing that indicates the (alledged) color is the little dome on the top and a thin band around the middle of the pen so if you re-filled them with black ink, I don't think it would bother you too much that the pen wasn't 100% black on the outside.)
The two Sakura Pigma Microns and the Staedtler are the only new pens, but I needed to compare them to my existing brown pens.
(For the record, the "caramel" Pilot ink is in the wrong pen. The caramel pen is only available as part of an expensive multi-pen set that I am too cheap to buy, but the refill ink is available for individual sale so I just bought the ink and put it in a black barrel.)
Each ink then got both a water smear test and an alcohol-marker smear test. The sepia Pentel seems to be the only one that smeared noticeably with the alcohol marker. (I suspect the carmel Pilot smeared, but it's just not really visible since its smear color is close to yellow.) The brown Sharpie Ultra Fine seems to be the only one that didn't react at all to water, but the Microns helped up quite well. (The Staedler smears dramatically enough that I'll play around at some point in the future with deliberate wash effects and see what that looks like.)
In the meantime, this means I have officially begun Sketchbook #13 ... despite not having completed #10, #11, or #12 yet. (I am on track to finish Sketchbook #11 by the end of the month.) But all these sketchbooks are different and better for different things and I need this colored-pencil one for the next project.
By the way, if the "sepia" Pentel looks black to you, it's not a trick of the light. I was so excited when I heard that the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen was newly (pre-pandemic) available in "sepia" and "gray" and ... so disappointed in the actual pens. Total waste of money. The inks are both basically just slightly different shades of black. The gray is barely lighter than the full black and, depending on the paper and the lighting, usually I can't even see a difference between the sepia and the black. I've had these pens for a few years now and I always forget why I don't like them. My brain refuses to accept that they're that bad so I'll dig them out again ... and I'm annoyed every time.
Am I crazy or is the sepia even darker than the black?
So does anyone want a spare Pentel Pocket Brush Pen? I now have three of them and I don't need that many. (You can still refill them with the black ink if you want.) The only thing that indicates the (alledged) color is the little dome on the top and a thin band around the middle of the pen so if you re-filled them with black ink, I don't think it would bother you too much that the pen wasn't 100% black on the outside.)
