Scrawlrbox June 2020

OOOO I love this box! although I feel we've just had a watersoluble box (april) so I didnt think we would get one again so soon. But I dont care as I love watercolours!!!!!!

Excited by the colours and prompt for this box and I already have an idea for it (and its not a skull hehe)

Oh and I must get on and do something with Mays charcoal box, I got a bit distracted with my idea for that and never went back to it. Charcoal is messy....

March Scrawlrbox

Yay March's Scrawlrbox arrived last week and I like the look of these supplies, I have already been using the pencil to sketch and write stuff. I don't know how I feel about having a whole range of colours to use, I think I like being restricted to a certain colour pallete. Anyway the prompt is Enchantress so its a person and we all know I cant draw people so I don't know what I will end up drawing.

Scrawlrbox and Art snacks

So I've been a bit busy with restocking the shop that I haven't had time for the last 2 months of Scrawlrbox and also updating this blog lol.

So these pens were September's box, perfect for Inktober (which I also didn't do) and the prompt was Jazz Noir.

And this box was October's box, nice Derwent pencils and some coloured paper, the prompt is Washed ashore.

Novembers box hopefully will be dropping through the letter box soon.

I also for a trial signed up for the american Artsnacks:

So far I am underwhelmed, the box doesn't come with any paper nor a prompt to work on or an artist to inspire you. I'm also pretty sure its more expensive then the Scrawlrbox. However because of the size of box it comes in (it doesn't fit through the letter box) it can have pots of paint, like the Liquitex acrylic gouache in this months box. I'm going to give art snacks another month to wow me and then I will probably cancel the subscription.

Scrawlr box April

Ok so apparently I haven't photographed the April Scrawlrbox contents separately from the art. I am really pleased with this box, so much better than last months, I can actually make some art with the supplies! 

The box had Derwent Graphitint pencils in and I know they are water soluble but we weren't supplied with a brush so I wasn't sure about leaving them as is or adding water to them. So I photographed the picture before adding water in case I ruined my pic but I am so glad I did add water as it looks so much better! 

Scrawlrbox December 2017

Well Blogmas went well didn't it? lol, lets just brush that under the carpet and talk about December's Scrawlrbox:

I loved everything about this box, the gold watercolours (in 6 colours!) the wide water brush, the Derwent pencil and the Micron pen. They also gave us two different types of paper to use as the gold would look lovely on black. Though the box was essentially the same as November's box (gold, line marker, pencil) I didn't want to do anything that was too similar to my Koi piece.

The prompt was Mythical Creatures so I was going to do a dragon but I really wanted to draw a skull so why not a Unicorn skull. I couldn't do a gold circle as the background as the horn was already gold and it wouldn't stand out so I tried something different and not my usual style. Initially I didn't like it but after leaving it alone for a while it grew on me.

Anyway January's box arrived this week, already done something with the materials as I was super excited and inspired by something else I bought this week.....

October Scrawlrbox

So this was Octobers Scrawlrbox:

I was pretty happy when I opened the box, you know I like black pens  so new pens and ones I haven't used before make for a happy Michelle. I usually take individual photos of everything but as we are going into winter and there's less sunny or bright days, these photos I took shortly after opening it will have to do. 

I've used a white Graphik paint maker before and my best friend has a box of all the colours so I already knew this existed and had tried them before. Nice pens, they put down paint (acrylic?) so they are good for going on top of dark colours and still are nice and opaque. Use again? Yes

Zig Dual Writer pen, Nice black pen one end is for fine detail and other is a broad felt tip, however whilst drawing my picture when I went to rub out the pencil a lot of the paper lifted with it! arg! I think that was due to the paper though. Use again? its been added to my collection, I will need to test its waterproofness though.

Artline ergoline pen, Yay another black pen! however this one bled on the paper so I didnt get to use it, but it does write really well on my notebook so I have adopted it as my new writing pen. Use again? Yes

Staedtler Graphite pencil, I liked this pencil a lot, has been added to the pencil case. Use again? Yes

The little book we were given was an A6 Hahnemuhle book, I don't think the paper was suited for the pens in this box, well the Graphik pens did ok but they are paint and sit on the paper surface rather than go in the paper. Use again? Not likely

And here is the art I did: the prompt was equilibrium but I was more inspired by the featured artist's print which was a zentangle thing

Black Fine liners

I have a bit of an obsession with Black pens, and have collected a few over the years in pursuit of the perfect one.

My oldest pens are the Uni Pin pens, I use to use these all the time, they were quite good pens and not too expensive. Haven't used them for a while now as I am playing with newer pens so they are starting to dry out.

This is the Pilot G-TEC-C4, its a gel pen but the lines are nice and thin.

Another Pen I use to use all the time for larger areas of colour is the Paper Mate Flair. It does run out quickly and tends not to survive not being used for a while as its a felt tip

This pen I was given as a present have haven't really used it properly. Pentel Brush Pocket Pen, however I think I might start using it again as I have discovered its more waterproof then most of the pens on this page.

Derwent Graphik line Markers, I bought these pens 2 years ago and fell in love with how dark the black is, and then got the grey to add more depth to line drawings. The sepia and Grey come in 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 sizes whereas the black has 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8. Derwent also do a range of paint markers so you can get a white one as well for highlights.

Staedtler Pigment liners, I'll be honest these pens I have used the least amount compared to the rest as they are not as waterproof as I had hoped.

Ooooo I love the Zig Mangaka Flexible pen, it came with April's Scrawlrbox (I think) along with the manga 0.5 (which is a size I don't use often). I already have the replacement pen in my shopping basket on amazon ready for when it finally runs out (Which might be soon as I use it so much). Any pen work in the last few months has had this pen used on it :)

Another Scrawlrbox pen is the Stabilo Point Max. This one is not waterproof at all and limits its use.

Artline 200 again another Scrawlrbox pen and again not waterproof, but when you get it wet it kinda goes blue lol

Stabilo point 88 This months Scrawlrbox pen (August), I already have one of these, it came with 9 other coloured pens that I use for admin stuff with my Etsy shop. They are nice to write with, I've read that they run out quick but I haven't found that. 

Micron Pens the newest addition to my collection and I love them so much as they are waterproof so I use them a lot with the Mangaka flexible for a lot of my recent work (skull-a-day)

Anyway it's nice to finally test and compare all the pens against each other.

Inktober so far

Sketched up in pencil first, then I go over the lines with Staedtler fineliners or Derwent Graphik pens and in the case of the moon; Papermate flair pen. Some are better then others and some have more time spent on then others. Its a good challenge for myself, not only to try to draw something everyday but also trying to shade in pen (which you can probably tell I am not very good at lol). I am also trying to do different subjects as well like buildings, not just sticking to animals.