pens: Noodler's Nib Creaper flex pen

Originally I wanted an Ahab, but at $20-$24 each, it was definitely more expensive than the $14 standard flex, and since this was my first flex-nib fountain pen, I didn't feel comfortable spending that much.

What is a flex pen? It's a fountain pen with a flexible nib, which is designed to give you as much variation in line as a dip pen. Noodler's is especially famous for coming up with an affordable version that is also adjustable.

Here is the pen:

I will draw a veil over the slight struggle I had with the adjustable feed and piston-fill mechanism, and move on to how it writes (and draws!):

(No, I can't write in Elvish, why do you ask?)

Noodler's Heart of Darkness ink in Daler-Rowney cartridge journal,
Winsor & Newton artist's pan watercolours.

I'm very pleased with it. It looked a bit cheap in the seller's pictures but feels nice and solid in the hand. There is a strange smell at first, which the Fountain Pen Network says is normal for resin pens from India, but I'm not too bothered.

It's quite tricky to use right out of the box though (look it up on the forums for instructions on how to adjust it to your own style), but for me it's a small price to pay for a fountain pen that draws like a Mitchell copperplate nib!

On the fly: Philippine holiday

I still haven't got the hang of travel sketching - I am still not very good at drawing on the fly; I am too nervous and hesitant. But here are some attempts.

Drive-by sketching in a Manila taxi. Copic Multiliner 1.0.

My cousin's friend had a gig at a club: it was too dark to see his face, and our table was off to the side a bit, but I did my best with pen and coloured it in later. Pen & Ink Sketch fountain pen with Lexington Grey ink, Faber Castell brush markers.

If there's anywhere I really love to hang out in my hometown, it's the Art District: a trendy area that grew out of the parking lot of a local department store. 

Bars, restaurants and clubs grow on top of one another, and street artists are invited to cover the walls with murals.

I went to an improv show and had some great mojitos in the lovely tropical weather. Didn't get much drawing done, but had a great time!

Fanart: Thorin Smokin'shield

So I never really noticed Richard Armitage until he played Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit, and even now I am weaker for the King Under the Mountain than the handsome British actor. So here is a watercolour sketch of Thorin peeling carrots. You're welcome.

Pen&Ink Sketch fountain pen with Lexington Grey ink,
Cotman watercolours with Koi waterbrush in Hand•Book journal.

I am especially pleased with his mermaid hair.

Calligraphy: if the eyes are the windows...what is the door?

Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Ecoline Graphic White ink
with Speedball C-4 and Leonardt 801 nibs on Muji craft paper.

Several years ago when I was obsessed with doors, I wrote this down in my diary. Then I made it into an artwork. Now that I am getting a little more serious with my calligraphy, I wanted to revisit and refine this thought.

So many people think of the eyes as silent communicators, and of the mouth as verbal. But when we choose to hold something back, to close the door of our mouth before the words escape, that can be just as great a sign of our character.

tree my valentine

Pentel brush pen and Chinese gouache on Muji scrapbook paper

For the determinedly single, and the happily attached. For the lovers, the leavers and the living. For the people who love Valentine's Day, and those who hate it, and those who don't care one way or the other.

marco polo

When I was in art school I had a project which was basically a multimedia fanfic of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Here are some collage comics of Marco Polo and Kublai Khan having nonsensical philosophical conversations.

Marco Polo: 'Time Flies'

(reverse of previous illustration)
Kublai Khan: 'Yes, but what does it mean?'

Kublai Khan: 'Don't you ever do anything properly?'
Marco Polo: 'What is "properly"?'

Marco Polo: 'Cities look different from outside...'
Kublai Khan: 'Tall?'

drive by comic

the city and the river

One of the first things you learn in history class is that cities usually grow out of rivers by necessity. In time the identity of the city and its river become inextricable. The publisher Thames and Hudson chose its name to evoke the strength and relationship of two of the world's greatest cities. 

Pentel sepia brush pen and washi tape in Muji notebook

 One of my favourite songs is The City and the River by The Rescues - history sung as a beautiful but tragic love story.

Staedler 2B clutch pencil in Fabriano artist's journal

I was walking around St. Paul's Cathedral and saw that it was low tide--a drastic difference, along the Thames! I went down to the rubbly shoreline and sat on a damp rock to draw. It was chilly but not really cold, and the sun came in and out. There was a tour that stopped by briefly, just long enough for me to learn that all the oyster shell fragments I saw lying around were actually discarded from the markets in older times, before the Victorians cleaned up the place. No oysters grow in the Thames, sadly. (Even if they did, I wouldn't want to eat them.)

ps. In related news, I have started a photo blog called London Is My Boyfriend. There may also be drawings in its future.

Noodler's doodles

Trying out different nibs with Noodler's Eternal Luxury Blue, a 'bulletproof' ink with a curious composition. So far it's best with Daler-Rowney Sketch, Cass Art Heavyweight Cartridge, and an old D-R 150gsm sketchbook of mine. This is D-R Heavyweight, at 220gsm, and the ink tends to feather and fade as it dries. An interesting effect, but better for doodles and sketches, not for planned projects like comics.

Collage journal: Smile!

This is for my friends who are seriously considering making t-shirts that say 'THIS -IS- MY HAPPY FACE'. No one owns your face or your feelings except you, and I love you whatever mood you're in.