arts ink – Page 20

Letters by Lydia: Monami Plus Pen 3000

November 16, 2022November 16, 2022 lydnas Leave a comment

We’re finally bringing back the pen reviews this week, so get excited!

This week we’re taking a look at the Monami Plus Pen 3000:

Before we get into my opinions, let’s introduce these guys. The Monami Plus Pen 3000 (I know, a bit of a ridiculous name) is a fine tip pen. It’s also a felt tip, although I would argue it’s closer to a plastic nib (for felt tips, think Papermate flairs–these are a lot sturdier and skinnier). Even though they have a fine tip, they have enough give to them to act as a pseudo-brushpen if you want them to. I use these more often to color in small things or write, though. You can see some different ways to use these in the picture I included. One thing to note about the ink, though, is that it can be a bit splattery. It’s not juicy enough where it will leak or splatter enough to stain things, though, it’s just worth noting because sometimes it can be hard to get clean lines.

The pen body isn’t my favorite–these guys are really tall and thin, and feel kind of cheaply made, which makes sense because they’re known for being super affordable. They’re also known for coming in a huge color selection, including a lot of pastels, fluorescents, and muted colors. The set of twelve I have is mainly just classic bright colors, but I’m obsessed with the case it comes in–it’s super satisfying to unclasp it for some reason, and it’s super convenient to keep in my bag.

As for purchasing information, I got this set for around $6 on stationery pal (great website for affordable stationery stuff). If you want some for yourself, the site is currently having a sale that puts this set at $2.60, which is insane, so definitely check that out!

Overall, this set isn’t anything that stands out a lot to me, but they’re still nice pens, and the super cheap price and color range sets them apart enough that I’m definitely glad I added them to my collection. I would highly recommend these to any beginners or people who don’t want to spend a ton of money on pens, as well.

As always, thanks for reading and have a lovely week!

Letters by Lydia: The Process

November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 lydnas Leave a comment

Hi y’all! Hoping everyone had a good Halloween and enjoyed the lovely fall weather today 🙂

Instead of a pen review, this week I thought it would be fun to talk about my artistic process. So, as a way to welcome the new month, I’m going to show you how I made this piece.

I don’t have a super strict way of doing things, so my process usually involves a lot of experimentation. But, to start, you need a concept. Sometimes these come to me super quickly, and other times I need to exhaust my Pinterest or Instagram feeds to get a spark of inspiration. Either way, I usually come up with the word first, and then the visuals. Today I kept it pretty simple with “November”, and once I picked the word, I knew I wanted to involve autumn leaves and stick to a fall-themed color palette (warm, earthy tones).

I started by testing colors and playing around with how the leaves and letters interact. I liked the idea of using negative space, so I experimented with that for a while. As for the pens I used, I found that wider tips worked better for coloring in the large leaf areas, so I mainly stuck to Tombow Dual Brush Pens, Staedtler Marsgraphic Duos, and Pentel Fude Touch Pens (let me know if you’d like a review on any of these!).

Once I had a concept, general plan, and a satisfying set of markers, I began the actual finished piece. First, I drew in the letters with pencil. Because this is just for fun and all freehand, it took me a few tries to get the spacing right. After that, I drew in outlines of a bunch of different types of leaves. Using references was really helpful here! As you can see, adding in the leaves kind of created a jumbled mess, but I was able to fix that a little bit through erasing.

A bit about erasing: it’s important to erase the pencil lines because once you color over them with marker, they’re permanent. But, you don’t want to erase so much that you can’t see the lines at all. To do this, I like to use kneaded erasers (they have a texture kind of like silly putty) because you can erase by just pressing it on the paper instead of rubbing back and forth. This way, you can lighten the graphite without getting those streaks or worrying about erasing too much.

After all that, it’s finally time to color! This part took the longest, mostly because I kept getting confused about which leaf was what and how it all connected. I also tried hard to make sure the colors were dispersed evenly, and that there weren’t any big empty spaces. But, after an episode or two of Vampire Diaries in the background (guilty pleasure), my work was done! Finish up with some extra erasing, cleaning up some lines, and there you have it! Here’s the unedited finished product (with kind of bad lighting, apologies) which you can compare to the edited final at the top.

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek at my process! If you’re also an artist, I’d love to hear about your process too!! See you next week 🙂

LOG-015: YOUR HELPFUL ASSISTANT

October 30, 2022October 30, 2022 Traveler Leave a comment

There was something odd about Unit 004. Sure, it was old — it was one of the earliest Synthetic Intelligence Robotic Assistants ever produced — but age didn’t explain its quirks. Neither did its programming; on the surface level, its software didn’t display anything abnormal for a model of its age. In fact, it was very normal: it had somehow avoided all of the common mutations and defects that evolved in early SI models. Yet there was something very eerie with its occasional memory glitches. Sometimes upon reboot after a long recharge cycle, the unit expressed clear disorientation with regards to its identity and purpose, sometimes becoming wary and nervous. After its actions escalated to hostility towards humans, the unit was decommissioned and recycled for parts.

Letters by Lydia: A Good Place to Start

October 26, 2022October 26, 2022 lydnas Leave a comment

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all having a lovely week 🙂

For this week, we’re gonna look at a good set of markers to start with if you’re new to lettering, and talk about some lettering basics at the same time.

This week’s star: Mondo Llama Classic Washable Markers

As you can probably tell, these are technically supposed to be for children. But who cares? If you’re new to art/lettering or on a budget, kids art supplies is the best place to start. The quality is usually pretty high for what you’re paying, you pretty much always get a solid set of rainbow colors, and there’s no reason to feel guilty for overusing them or not taking care of them.

When talking about kids markers, Crayola is obviously the most popular, and for good reason. I plan to do a separate review on Crayola Supertips, because they’re too beloved in the handlettering community to only get a brief mention (so if you don’t know what that means, just stay tuned!). However, this Mondo Llama set does the trick just fine for your basic, broadtip marker. In this specific set, you get 10 colors (swatches below!), and I believe I paid about $2.50 for them, which is ridiculously cheap compared to higher end brands. I actually bought this set at the Target on State Street, too, so it’s super accessible if you’re on campus here.

Getting into the nitty gritty of it, let’s talk about what you can actually do with these. Broadtip markers have a large, conical tip that differs from a brush pen in that the entire tip is firm as opposed to being bendy and flexible. These really in only exist in kids markers, as far as I’m aware, because they’re great for coloring in big spaces. However, you can also use them as a sort of beginner brush pen! A broad tip is firm, but it’s still flexible enough that you can get quite a bit of line variation. You can also tilt the marker so you’re writing with the side of it, which gives you the thickest line. This allows you to do tons of different kinds of handlettering with them, which I showed a bit in the picture above. I know we haven’t talked about lettering styles yet, so that’s more just so show you how versatile these are. Below is a little doodle I did with these markers, just to show you can make some pretty neat stuff with them!

As you can see, they hold up really well in comparison to more expensive art supplies! That said, they are cheap and for children, so they aren’t perfect. I highlighted a few examples of that below. You can see that it’s really difficult to get precise, clean lines with these. They also don’t layer very well, so if coloring in a large space, it might look patchy and have some sections end up lighter than others. These are also water based and pretty juicy, so sometimes they bleed on the page or when interacting with each other as well.

Overall, though, these are a great set of markers that are absolutely worth the small price tag! I hope you enjoyed reading, and see you next week!

LOG-014: The Kaleidoscopic Machine

October 20, 2022May 24, 2023 Traveler Leave a comment

An advertisement for the “Second Life Experience” Immersive Entertainment Package, 2084.

[Transcription: BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE TODAY / Tired of the everyday tedium? Ever wonder about what else the world has to offer? Wish for a vacation from your life? Now you can! / UNDERGO A TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEY WITH THE / SECOND LIFE EXPERIENCE / spend a day in someone else’s shoes — literally! / Kaleidoscope Technologies, LLC]

With the commercialisation of mind-transfer technology came a thrilling new prospect for augmented reality enthusiasts. Pioneered by Kaleidoscope Technologies, mindswap entertainment clinics temporarily transferred the consciousness of customers into new bodies in a radically new “entertainment experience,” which allowed them to experience life as a completely different person.

Within a decade, however, rumors of unsavoury practices started cropping up. Conspiracy talks about where exactly Kaleidoscope Tech sourced the empty bodies and their equipment ran in endless circles or died unceremoniously. The company became notorious in the public eye for both their ultimate fantasy fulfillment services and their secrecy, and abruptly shut down twenty-three years after the “Second Life Experience” debut.