Big Discounts At Pen Chalet

Do you still need to finish up your holiday shopping? Pen Chalet is the place for new and experienced pen fans to get the best deals online. This week, there are big discounts just for Pen Addict readers AND you can get and additional discount off your order.

Ron at Pen Chalet has created a special landing page just for The Pen Addict. Hit the link, enter your email address to get the discount, and check out all of the great prices Pen Chalet has to offer on popular pens from Lamy, Pelikan, Pilot, and more. The coupon stacks with any discount, and shipping is free in the US on orders over $50, so Add to Cart and finish off your shopping list!

My thanks to Pen Chalet for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

Sailor Jentle Blue Black Ink Cartridge Review

I am a big fan of bottled inks, as the sagging shelf in my closet will tell you, but there is absolutely a case to be made for fountain pen ink cartridges. What you sacrifice in variety and cost, you make up for in convenience, and sometimes that is a price worth paying.

Sailor inks are some of my favorites, including the bottled blue black and both the black and blue black Nano inks in bottled and cartridge form. It was a foregone conclusion that I was going to try out the new Jentle ink cartridges, in blue black of course, and they work wonderfully.

All Sailor inks I have tried are well lubricated and flow smoothly in all nibs and in all nib sizes, and the blue black cartridge is no exception. I popped in into my medium nib Sailor Black Luster and it worked just as expected. The lines were solid and there were no flow issues at all. The only thing I noticed is that the color is slightly darker than the blue black ink from the bottle. This happens from time to time when comparing bottled inks versus the same ink in cartridge form. It's often not a dead-on match.

My only hope is that Sailor expands on this line to include even more colors. Pelikan has done this, adding matching cartridges to their Edelstein ink line, so hopefully this becomes a thing with brands. Yes, it is not as cost effective or environmentally friendly, but if the barrier to entry can be lowered even a tick I think it is worth it.

(JetPens is an advertiser on The Pen Addict and I received this product at no charge.)

"This end up" and a born on date. My kind of 12-pack.

Three Questions With Ben Kwok

Holy crap.

That was my first reaction when I saw Ben Kwok’s artwork online. The detail is mind blowing, and looking at the tools he uses, I knew I had to get him on Three Questions. Thanks Ben!

1. What role do analog tools such as pens, pencils, and paper play in your day to day life?

Analog tools play a major role in my life. I'm a professional illustrator, so I use analog tools on a daily basis, but I still use the computer to speed up the process. For a typical project, I will do a quick digital sketch on the computer. Print it out, redraw it by hand to get all the details and line work laid out properly. Scan it into the computer to resize it and I would transfer the image onto a Crescent 110 cold press illustration board. Then I would finalize the drawing with various fine liners like Microns, Copic Multiliner SP, and recently the OHTO Graphic Liner (recommendation from The Pen Addict Podcast). I will also use some watercolor and ballpoint pen for shading. All the fine liners I use are waterproof and archival which is important to me. Since I spend an average of 18-24 hours on each illustration, I want it to last.

2. What are your favorite products you are currently using?

My favorite tool at the moment is the Zebra Tect 2way 1000 Drafting Pencil 0.5. It has a nice weight to it and I enjoy the 3 rubber rings around the metal grip. Since I draw for several hours at a time, I need a pencil that's very comfortable, and this pencil delivers that. 

Recently purchased several higher end drafting pencils, but haven't had time to really test them. I'm sure I'll have a new favorite in a couple of weeks.

For the longest time (5+ years), I've been using only using the Pilot S3 Drafting Pencil 0.5. After listening to The Pen Addict Podcast, it reignited my curiosity for my tools. I've always hoarded lots of pens and mechanical pencils, but thanks the the podcast, I'm fulfilling their destiny and started using them.

3. What creation or design of yours are you most proud of?

Wow, that's a tough question. I'm proud of lots of my illustrations. It's like asking which child you love more. If it's okay with you, can I list 3 illustrations I'm particular proud of for various reason?

1) Ornate Elephant (See above)

This image was definitely a game changer for me. Started off as a rough sketch that sat in my bag for over 8 months. Eventually when I found myself out of a job and with some extra time on my hands, I decided to finish this drawing. Little did I know what an impact it would have made in the art, tattoo, and apparel community. With such positive feedback, I knew I was on the right track. This single drawing launched what I call, my "ornate" style artwork.

2) Ornate Owl Head

I'm proud of this image because it was drawn entirely with a black BiC pen. I was experimenting with different styles and medium and the way it was executed surprised me. I didn't think too much of ballpoint pens at the time. I knew I could shade with it, but not for an entire illustration. Many people have tattoos of this image, and I'm quite honored.

3) Lion

I love this image because I really pushed the shading and contrast. It was actually a happy accident. Spilled some ink onto the mane of the lion. Didn't want to start over, so I decided to add more shading to cover up the ink spill. Since I added more shading on the mane, I had to add more shading everywhere else. It really pushed the contrast of this drawing and made it pop. Suffice to say that I'm happy with the end result.