Friday Faves: Inktober

Every October, my Instagram feed turns into a wonderland of illustrations, doodles, and drawings from people at every level in their creative journey. Some are just dipping their toes in the water like fellow Desk contributor Laura Cameron who is taking her first forays into drawing this year to seasoned professionals like comic illustrator Mike Hawthorne who is using the Inktober challenge to spread a glob of ink on a page and use it as a way to force himself to “see” something in his Rorschach glob.

Some people work in pen and ink, some in color. I do enjoy seeing what tools people choose to use to set boundaries on the Inktober. It certainly helps to streamline the process. It eliminates one of the decisions that has to be made each day when planning your drawing and helps make the project a bit more manageable.

So I thought I’d share what I am using for my Inktober. I pared down from last year’s challenge which included learning to use Copic alcohol markers as part of my challenge. This year, I wanted to keep the challenge to black and white, though I am using some water soluble inks so that I can get some shades of grey.

Check out the hashtag #inktober2017 to see all the artists posting their work to Instagram this year. The variety is amazing.

  • Kaweco Special Black Pencil 0.7mm $50 (via Vanness Pen Shop)
  • Uni-ball Signo Angelic Color UM-120AC Gel Pen – 0.7 mm in White Ink $2.30 (via JetPens)
  • Uni NanoDia 0.7mm Color Lead in Red $3.30 (via JetPens)
  • Kyoei Orions 15cm Grid Ruler in Blue $1.80 (via JetPens)
  • Pilot Foam Eraser – Size 10 $1.65 (via JetPens)
  • Copic Multiliner SP Pen – 0.2 mm – Black $10.25 (via JetPens)
  • Platinum Carbon Black Ink (60ml Bottle) $20, also available in Platinum proprietary cartridges for $4 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Tombow Mono Zero Eraser $6 (via CW Pencil Enterprise)
  • Pentel Aquash Water Brush – Medium – Compact Body $5 (via JetPens)
  • Isabey Red Sable Travel Brush Round – Size 6 $26.40 (via Amazon)
  • Platinum Carbon Desk Pen Fountain Pen $9.60 , add a Platinum Converter for $6 (via Pen Chalet)
  • Uni Double-Sided Pocket Brush Pen – Fine & Medium $3.30 (via JetPens)
  • Nahe General Purpose Case A6 – Ivory $8 (via Amazon but I purchased mine at Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS)
  • YStudio Classic pencil lead box €13 (€10,74 Outside EU) (via Fontoplumo)

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6 comments / Add your comment below

    1. It’s actually aluminum and part of their “special” series. It’s a pricier item. I actually thought it was marked down quite a bit. The fountain pen version of the Special is closer to $100. It’s a matte finish and weighty. It doesn’t feel like a standard mechanical pencil and is a bit wider than a Staedtler or Rotring. But yeah, its not a cheapy.

      1. Sounds lovely and I bet I would love it! I tend to easily get carried away at all these lovely writing instruments and at some point have to give myself a reality check about what I’m doing. It happened when I found myself wanting to pay $50 for a pencil and I had to draw the line-as disappointing as that is. I will just whine about it now.

  1. You’ve got a great theme again! Ah, so you’re using water-soluble ink. . . it almost looks like watercolor. I’m doing a 4-color ballpoint, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to last. . . I might switch it up before the month is up.

    Tina

  2. I do love the Platinum desk pen for is very fine line. RE: Copic Multiliner SP Pen … staff at an art store told me that after she put in an ink refill, it never worked the same. Ink wouldn’t flow and then when it finally did it spit blobs. So I’ve hesitated to get one.

    1. There are two different refills with the Copic Multiliner SP, one for the finer tips and one for the broader tips and brush pens. That might have been the issue? I have replaced the ink cartridge on my SP pens several times and even switched colors (I really like the wine/burgundy color for linework). I just feel better not throwing whole pen bodies away though the ink cartridge is still a lot of plastic waste. So, I really just keep one around for colored linework and use my Platinum Carbon Desk Pen for black.

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