About once a year I set aside a page in my sketchbook, or bullet journal, to do a marker test. I go through every pen I own including Sharpies, highlighters, Bic Permanent Markers, Crayola markers, Stabilo pens, Expo dry erase markers and everything in between. I document the quality and determine whether to keep or toss the utensil. I find it’s easy to collect art materials, especially when you’re like me and switch mediums regularly. It’s important to know that when I reach for a certain pen or marker, it’s going to work the way I want it to. I do keep a page at the back of my sketchbook open for testing mediums, but it’s an important part of the process of creating art to go with the flow and just draw.
"English as She is Spoke" is a delightful example of incompetence and bad judgement. Jose da Fonseca and Pedro Carolina set out to write a Portuguese-English phrasebook. The only problem was that they didn't speak any English. They did know some French and armed with French-English phrasebook, dictionaries and enthusiasm they brought forth this book. Mark Twain was an early admirer of this book. "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect, it must and will stand alone: its immortality is secure."
My first ballpoint pen person. This was a lot more time consuming than I expected, but I'm glad I hung in there and finally finished it. The reference for the drawing was a Getty Image.
Sometimes I lurk around RedditGetsDrawn and doodle the people there. This has ink, watercolor, acrylic, and then more ink. I don't know when to leave well enough alone.
M is for Masstransitscope. Masstransitscope is a zooetrope made by Bill Brand in 80s. Now restored and enjoyed on the B line going from Brooklyn to Manhattan. It never fails to make me happy.
(2B pencil on a 139mm x 87mm postcard) A spoof of the old comic-book adverts. It was usually the novelty and joke companies which sold nasty little items that nasty little kids could torment others with. They certainly knew their market well!
