My current mechanical pencils

These are the tools I'm using these days for drawings with pencil. 

I don't think softer than 4B is needed in this paper. And for the hardest, 2H in 0.3 size is great. It needs time to control but I love the feeling in its lines.

Recently I'm adding more mechanical pencils to my collection. Did I say collection? It was not my intention, but it's happening.

Vans

Vans gives you joviality +5 and aesthetic +10.

Emerald Pool in Krabi

As usual, these kind of places are great but the experience is a test of patience. A reminder to avoid tours in tourist places 100% with no exception.

At least everything is a pleasure in Thailand. Good (and tropical) atmosphere and nice feeling is a constant layer which brings happiness.

Starship launch and other notes

I’m often surprised how much information can be compacted in a couple of pages. Most of the notes are irrelevant anyways. However Starship launches these days are not. Huge thing in every sense.

3I/Atlas

I drew this sketch a few weeks before the arrival of 3I/Atlas. I’ve tried to use Pulsomagic to predict its looking and here is the result. Let’s see.

Mixed notes from Ao Nang, Krabi

I like these tiny drawings with watercolor background as a visual summary of my days in Ao Nang. 

Faster and more fun than writing a long text. Adding an extra page is always an aesthetic element. If I keep adding pages I will never finish the notebook.

Koh Hong, Thailand

Koh Hong, in Krabi, is a paradise-category place. Definitely one fo the best islands I've visited. Staying there is not possible and booking a one day tour by boat is mandatory, but that is always a pleasure in Thailand. Full tropical feeling.

I will finish this page one day soon I hope. At the moment it’s good to have a paper which can stand watercolours. However I miss the texture and cream color of my previous paper.

Kim Wan-sun

Sketch from today. Kim Wan-sun is hypnotic.

Space Molly and other notes

Having fun today with mixed notes in no particular order hoping randomness somehow brings aesthetic.

Bang Kachao, Bangkok

Bang Kachao a relaxing is area.

Simple life, humble feeling. People are calm, walk slowly and do not make sudden movements. No screams but a lot of ice creams. Abundance of excellent food, green everywhere. Definitely Thais understand life.

Mega Space Molly is supervising the spread :)

New pages with Midori paper

I think I will need time to get used to it. Less texture makes lines thicker and miss that grain feeling. Also it looks so different in the picture.

But definitely it’s great for watercolor. This hat drawing has a lot of water on it, zero wavy page. No way I could do the same in the previous laid paper.

 

Mooncake season

Just avoid durian (read each label carefully to be safe from a fatal disaster). The one I ate yesterday said “8 deluxe ingredients”.

As for the watercolors, the new limited palette is ok for desaturating colors. Or just use Payne’s Grey for that. For some reason it’s a kind a tradition for me always include Yellow ochre, Burnt sienna and Turquoise.

Tiny watercolor box for this trip: Since the new Midori paper is so great standing watercolor (no wavy pages at all) I will use more water from now on. The box is very light but the plastic isn’t quite good for mixing color.

Cadmium yellow
Yellow ochre
Indigo ❤️
Burnt sienna
Turquoise
Payne’s grey 

Phra Ngang (พระงั่ง)

Some years later and I just realised my favourite amulet is not activated!

His name is Phra Ngang (พระงั่ง). But he came without instructions manual. Super cute and also super enigmatic. He obviously hides something. To be activated I need to find an “Ajarn” (?) or a monk with advanced knowledge. And more complex things I’m discovering.

Is this my new paper?

Many people ask me what paper I use. As some of you know, I love my 100g/m2 laid paper in cream color but I have huge problems with it in tropical places, probably because of humidity. I can’t recommend it.
I tried many kind of papers in the past and maybe it’s time to start fresh, with less texture therefore less prone to humidity issues, I hope.

Midori Thick looks good quality paper, around 145g/m2 as my calculations (they don’t show the weight) and it holds up very well with fountain pen ink. Even heavy drops of ink! (see the black ink). Also ok for small watercolors. Zero see through. Just small feathering with the first Rohrer & Klinger ink, in one area, which surprises me.

It’s not as creamy color as I’d like but overall maybe it unblocks my current limitations.

And it definitely spreads a Japan vibe: simplicity, quality and well done. In the end these intangible qualities are the most important if they make you love it and write/draw more, which is the goal.

Have you tried this one? How did it feel in your hands?

So… let’s use it and see! And now the question is… how could I replace the unused pages in my current notebook for this one? Binding again.