Oh Hey! What Kind of Pen Do You Use?
We have so much in common, we both love pens and sketchbooks, we love stickers, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.
A few months ago, I was asked to talk at a local Adobe event in Portland. I know they asked my friend Aaron first, who wasn’t available, and then he suggested they ask me. He’s always been VERY generous with offering up my name for talks over the years, and I have always had a very hard time turning down things that he recommends me for. We were early internet friends, and I feel a deep allegiance to buds I met online in the early 2000s. I know I could and should unpack that more, but that’s not what this edition of the KBBBLOG is about. For the Adobe event, I talked about my favorite tools for making stuff, and I wanted to share a few of these since we are in Back 2 School Season (Hank starts tomorrow, and I am officially back on the Portland State contract on the 16th). Also, I love pens—and school supplies in general.
Hank and I went school shopping last week, and along with this school list of supplies, I also bought a reissued retro Trapper Keeper at Target to organize the many school papers he gets sent home with. They only had one design available, so I now own a galaxy-themed Trapper Keeper. Even though I haven’t had a Trapper Keeper in probably 30-some-odd years, the sound of the velcro ripping immediately sent me back to grade school.
This time of year also reminds me of one of my favorite memories of my grandma sending me a box of curated school supplies from her local drug stores/stationery shops in Kenosha, Wisconsin, every school year. She was an illustrator and loved school supplies and tools for making stuff. I grew up in a tiny town in Central Missouri in the 1980s / early 1990s. We didn’t have a HUGE option for testing pens, fondling bespoke notebooks, or scrolling endlessly on the internet for the perfect supply to make the thing you wanted to see in the world. My grandma lived in a much larger town with more stationery resources. She would send me stickers (usually Mrs. Grossman’s), notebooks, cute paper pads, smelly erasers, and colorful mechanical pencils throughout the year. Still, the back-to-school shipment was always the motherload. Recently, some of my parent friends told me that their school requests money, and they buy the supplies themselves. Talk about sucking the joy out of one of the best times of the year.
One of my more frequently asked questions is, “What sort of pen do you use?” I know this question slightly irritates other illustrators…like the pen is doing all of the work and not them. Still, this question has never bothered me because, as earlier established, I LOVE talking about pens. I have been exclusive to Faber Castell Super Fine Tip since 2008. I started my Daily Purchase Drawing project in 2006 using a Pilot V5. This had been my writing pen of choice. It was always around, and it was fine. It got the job done and didn’t bleed (very important).
I didn’t go searching for an alternative until we moved to Portland in 2008, when suddenly MANY more art supply stores surrounded me than when we lived in Mississippi. I also started getting hired for illustration jobs, so I took my pens even more seriously. This is where I fell in love with the Faber Castell Artist Pitt Pen Family. I was a Super Fine Tip girly from 2008 until 2022, and then they introduced the FH tip, which stands for Fude Hard. It’s like a short, hard brush tip, and I love it. I use the SB (Soft Brush) for the outlines on my paintings and the Brush for fills and for type whenever I need to draw lettering that needs to be vectorized (it transitions to digital cleaner than the Super Fine). I buy these pens in bulk and trust that Faber Castell is not giving me any money to sing their praises. I tried to catch their attention online a few years back by making a post telling folks that they could double the life of their brush pens if they took a pair of tweezers and tugged at the tip, then flipped it over, revealing another perfectly pointed brush tip. I did catch their attention, but in a way that wasn’t wanted, and they quickly told me that this should not be done or recommended for brush pen users. AND SCENE. My social media pen influencer dreams were dashed, but not enough to stop using these magnificent pens.
I was a failed sketchbook filler until I turned 40 when I made myself start and finish a sketchbook after years of buying blank books, filling a few pages, and then abandoning for a newer, sexier blank book that always seemed to promise better project planning, better drawings, better ideas, better writing, better EVERYTHING. When I turned 40, I challenged myself to leave behind 20 years of chronic sketchbook abandonment. A few things aided me in this process. A big one was stumbling upon the Shinola Sketchbook in Little Otsu, where I treated myself to an afternoon art supply touch and look session. And that’s where I saw this then 24-dollar hardcover sketchbook made by Shinola. The size was perfect (8 x 9.5), and the paper stock was great for pen and paint. The cover was made of book cloth (color options in black or orange), and I fell in love. Zoom forward seven years, and I am still in love and have filled many of these babies. The price is now 36 dollars a book (ouch), but it usually takes me, on average, three months to fill a sketchbook, so I consider ten bucks a month a good price for what I am hoping is a lifelong habit.
I have become a sketchbook prepper because I worry about Shinola stopping production since sketchbooks are not their primary jam. I also buy these in bulk but don’t get a cool discount. I love that running out of sketchbooks is higher on the worry list than not having a last will and testament, but here we are.
Okay, I will close out this installment of Tools for Making Stuff and Things™ by sharing Scale Labels, a website that exclusively carries grocery store and deli counter labels. A few years ago, I started making Scrap Packs, which are filled with my risograph test prints, misprints, zine pages, and random flat paper items that I find in thrift stores (game pieces, old stationery, playing cards, recipe cards, award ribbons, etc.). I found a pack of concession stand pretzel bags during one of my thrift store excursions, and that led me to go online to look for more flat paper food packaging to include in these packs (pickle bags! sub sandwich bags! hot dog bags! cheeseburger bags!) which led me Web Restaurant Store which is where I started thinking about deli counter stickers which lead me to Scale Labels. AND SCENE.
I love putting strips of these silly stickers in the Scrap Packs, and I love carrying a roll with me and handing them out to people as a funny conversation icebreaker. Oh, hi, do you want a Roast Beef & Cheese Sticker? I recently found an area on the internet where veterinarians order rolls of stickers that say “approach slowly” and “will bite.” Inspiration is everywhere, you know?
My writing time is running out, so I am wrapping this post up with last week’s Daily Purchase Drawings. You will see a drawing of my new galaxy Trapper Keeper (I fully admit it’s not as cool as the one my grandma sent me in 1987, but I don’t think I can be picky in the very sparse 2024 Trapper Keeper Landscape). You will also see my newest roll of novelty food stickers that say EGG. It was a good week.
Should I share some more of my Tools for Making Stuff and Things™? I could talk or not talk forever about my art supplies, and I will never tire of butchering that quote from Best in Show to make an even dumber joke. APOLOGIES TO YOU AND CHRISTOPHER GUEST.
Have a good week, everyone, and thanks for reading!
YES! Please tell us more favorite tools!!
I did a weekend with 4 other women one time so we could sketch together. Instead we spent the weekend comparing pens, paper, and markers. It was a blast!!