Kyubikitsy's Blog

[Reviews] Rhodia Webbie 3.0 + Giveaway [Closed!]

2010-08-30T08:31:55Z

While researching various blog and sites for great stationary recommendations, I had come across a small discovery: Pen enthusiasts, especially the fountain pen variety, are big fans of Rhodia brand notebooks.

Curious, I sought them out locally and found they seem to be in short supply here in Hawaii. I've only seen them at two shops and they seem to carry a very limited supply... and as much as I love grid-type and ruled books, I (personally) have a greater need for blank books. (I draw, afterall~ :D)

But then I came across a giveaway at Rhodia Drive for the brand new Rhodia "Webbie" and entered.

Lookie what arrived in the mail!

My thoughts?

[Update 2010.09.06] Giveaway closed for entries!

]]> This is the 5.5 x 8.5" -blank- webnotebook. I believe this marks the beginning of the blank-booked webbie!

First of all, why is it called a "webbie"?

There is a short story behind it at Rhodia Drive, but to sum things up, it refers to the "interconnectedness of ideas that can be found from surfing the Web". This is a "notebook", just like how a laptop computer is also "notebook". Pretty neat, yes?

From what I understand, Rhodia notebooks are made in France with Clairefontaine brushed "vellum" paper. If the Clairefontaine name sounds familiar, it should -- they're the same company that makes the paper for the Quo Vadis journals of which I also wrote a review last year.

So, in short -- the same great paper is in this book. 96 sheets in total with a soft, leatherette hard-cover. Similar rounded edges and elastic band to the popular Moleskine. I opted for orange, but they also come in black. (I like how the orange stands out~! Perhaps I'm just odd that way.)

The book also opens and lays flat, which is nice if you work across both pages as I sometimes do. Not to mention, there's a large paper pocket attached inside the back cover for any miscellaneous paperwork.

Only difference? The paper is an "antique" cream color instead of bright white, as seen below, against a bright-white index card.

You can also see the thickness of the 90g paper by the faint appearance of the grid-markings from the card beneath the page.

(I should note that this book is not necessarily categorized as a sketchbook, although I am using it for sketch purposes.)

So, how does the paper rate? Let's start off with a quick drawing test.

I often start with a really light under-sketch to draw the basic positioning and general details. Then, to test out the paper, I pulled out my Pentel Pocket Brush pen. It's a "wetter" pen than my other felt-nibbed type brush pens and sometimes bleeds thru the back-side of the paper, especially if the paper is more absorbent.

The paper held up nicely to the brush strokes with almost no feathering or bleeding. Then I added the finishing touches with my Pilot Prera. I chose the fountain pen instead of microliners to test how the nib reacted to the paper and if the ink would bleed thru.

In both cases, the paper held up really well~!

No seepage thru to the other side, although the image is visible. The fountain pen lines are smooth and clean - no feathering or bleeding. The nib just glides over the paper with minimal friction.

As for markers and any other wet-media, I would suggest nothing more than very light application. Strokes may seep thru to the next page, although there may be no feathering or bleeding on the surface.

All in all, I'm quite impressed! I've recently started doing more and more ink drawings from life when we go out (and posted to my personal tumblr). My current book, a Fabriano Classic Artist's Journal, is great and all, but heavy and bulky. I think this is my new on-the-go doodle book~ :D

If you'd like to grab one of your own, the Rhodia Webnotebook is about $20. Highly comparable to a Moleskine, but has a much larger advantage with the Clairefontaine paper!

However, if you'd like to try your luck at getting one from me, I have an extra Webbie 3.0 courtesy of Karen from Exaclair! (Exact same color, size, and type (blank) -- and completely sealed in its original plastic wrap!)

Tell me how you plan to use your new Webbie 3.0 and I will do a drawing on Monday, September 6th!

~~Just comment below!~~

Tallied 21 individual entries and ran them thru the randomizer!

And the winning entry is:

Congratulations, Mimo!

[Report] Anime Expo 2010!

2010-07-07T19:27:03Z

So, as some of you may have noticed, I was away from the studio for a good 5 days or so to hit Anime Expo 2010~!

It's been about 6 years since I had last attended and BOY have things changed. It's the 2nd (or 3rd?) year at the Los Angeles Convention Center and that entire area has really developed over the past 6 years. New theaters, new restaurants, new everything. o_o; I got lost too many times to count. I think I only got my bearings on the last day. :O

So here's the run down of my days in attendance!

]]> - Day One -

I was recruited to help out the American Cosplay Paradise with press coverage of the Mano Erina event taking place at Club Nokia (not associated with AX, but an event taking place in the same area). It was a smaller event, with a private press conference and an open screening of her new movie, Kai-Ki: Tales of Terror from Tokyo. We were treated to a mini concert of her singing "Uchi e Kaerou ~ Going Home" (in both Japanese and English) and her hit single "Sekai wa Summer Party".

We were also invited to a VIP "mixer" of sorts in the upper area where some of the more mainstream press had an opportunity to speak with her on camera. Here you see Stu, the head of TokyoPop's new venture -- "America's Greatest Otaku" TV show, interviewing Erina in Japanese. :D

We left shortly after, without an autograph, but funny enough, spotted her outside a few minutes later in "civilian" clothing roaming around the convention area with her management! (Sorry. No photos.)

Next up? The AKB48 concert.

This was actually my main reason for attending... since I missed Morning Musume last year. XD;

No photos or videos of the event, I'm afraid, but I had excellent seats -- 2 rows from the front with all the serious fans. It was pretty intense. Next to me, Stephanie had brought her slew of glow sticks while Nelson and Kimi cheered behind us. XD;

The concert was fantastic -- it started a little late, but the girls put on an amazing show! I think my list of favorites have shuffled around a bit after seeing them in person. :3

Unfortunately, this ends my AX report about AKB48 as I had no luck at any of their signings and was not able to hit their panel either. I had to work.

- Day 2 -

I started off Day 2 early as I was also recruited to assist ACP with their Eden of the East promotion as a roaming Selecao.

If you were lucky enough to catch me on shift, I had the orange card that could be traded in for a really spiffy East of Eden T-shirt. :3

I also hit the TokyoPop Industry Panel on behalf of Deb Aoki, the manga writer for about.com. They talked about all the upcoming releases and projects in the works (including the above mentioned "America's Greatest Otaku".

Also scheduled on Friday was the May'n x Nakajima Megumi concert at the Nokia Theater. I was further back, but in the center section flanked by friends Caroline and Lisa. :D

Unfortunately, no pictures or video. AX was pretty strict about the whole thing.

BUT! The best thing about the concert? Yoko Kanno was the surprise guest!! She came out in the middle of NakaMegu's set to accompany her on the piano for a trio of songs. It was truly the highlight of the con for me. ;;__;;! I literally started weeping when she came out. It was so touching!

My Friday ended with a rather large tweet-up at Katsu-ya (an up-scale Japanese restaurant around Nokia Live... ya. $32 for 4 sushi. T_T;). BUT! I met a lot of really cool bloggers and media peeps from the area!

We ended up sitting and chatting over food and drink (water for me~~~) for hours about everything from manga, the art of blogging, random spottings, rumors, and more. XD;

- Day 3 -

Another day I woke up super early to check out the con. I finally had my first chance to check out the dealer's room and say hello to some of the fellow exhibitors from Fanime. :D

I also hit half of Christina Strain's (colorist for Marvel) Photoshop panel and then ran to the OEL (Original English Language) Manga Panel held in the convention hall theater on behalf of Deb (so she could hit the Hiroe Rei panel).

Pretty interesting stuff about what the industry is looking for in terms of submissions/portfolio review. Nothing terribly new as far as I could tell, but informative.

Also, friends had set up a surprise dinner party in Little Tokyo for a mutual friend. But long story short, she never showed up... so we had an awesome izakaya dinner at Honda-ya anyway. XD

And this was the highlight of the evening:

LOL.

- Day 4 -

The day how I wish I could have slept in. XD;

Yes, he is wearing a towel and underwear. You'd have to watch Eden of the East to understand. LOL!

Got up early again and hit the dealer's room for the FUNimation promotion and meet up with friends in the Artists Alley and in the dealer's room. Which include:

The Fat Rabbit Farm

Mr. Toast!

... and PMBQ, Spicy Brown, gem2niki, Konoe S., Peter S. Beagle (Last Unicorn anyone?), and a few others that escape my memory at this time. o_o;

It's hard to imagine that I'm probably going to see a good number of them in just a couple weeks for San Diego Comic Con too! Yeee!

So that's pretty much the entire weekend of AX wrapped-up in a nut-shell! Much thanks to Wayne, Henry, Stephanie, Kimi, Nelson, Caroline, Lisa, Kate, Chris, Nicole, Konoe, Nancy, Deb and roommates Chas, Saku, and Jessie for making it a great weekend!

[Random] Ai Kago in Hawaii

2010-06-18T06:47:09Z

So... I met Ai Kago on Thursday. o_o;

]]>
For those who may not be familiar with the name or face, in short, she's a Japanese entertainer (idol, singer, actress, song-writer) who debuted with Morning Musume back in 2000. (For more info, check out her wikipedia entry~)

She's a good 10 years older now and has ventured into new projects, including jazz -- which is why I think she's here in Hawaii, aside from doing restaurant promo work at local eateries Good to Grill and Burgers on the Edge.

I was lucky enough to find out about the appearance and filming this morning via twitter and the eatery was in walking distance, so I made my way down there around 1:30pm, when it was scheduled to begin.

There were a few other folks from Twitter there to greet her and thankfully she was kind enough to take some photos with us. :3 I also gave her a small gift that I threw together the minute I found out she was coming.

What was supposed to be a quick drop-by ended up being a 3-4 hour stalkerazzi fest. ^^;

I ended up staying through most of the filming to help document the event. I had a few words with her here and there and she was quite pleasant. ^^

And no. I didn't speak any Japanese. T__T; (My Japanese is quite terrible. I'm too embarrassed to speak it most of the time. At least she offered to answer in broken English. ^^;)

Hopefully she enjoys the rest of her stay here. From what I understand, she'll be doing a private concert somewhere (either Honolulu or a neighbor island) to promote her new jazz CD release. :D

ガンバレ〜　加護さん！

[Random] Akkanbe :P!

2010-04-09T21:01:54Z

It's not much of a secret -- for some reason, I really like J-idol music. The cuter, the better? XD;

The latest <3? Watarirouka Hashiritai's "Akkanbe Bashi."

This is a sub-unit from the larger entity of AKB48 - which was originally 4 members, but recently expanded to 5.

Yes, it's a children's folk song and the accompanying dance is really cute.

In fact, the participants at the end of each dance cycle end with either a bow and a shrug or an "akkanbe" - a :P face and a pull of your lower eyelid - and a cheer... denoting their like or indifference to their partner. (BTW - "akkanbe" signals your like for your partner.)

]]> You can watch the dance shot here~ :D

There's actually a number of releases for this particular single -- one even goes step by step to show the dance moves. :O

I'd love to see this performed at some large event like a convention. Kawaii Kon anyone? XD

[Random] U900 & kerokerokingDX

2010-02-11T19:50:04Z

First Scott e-mailed me about this cute amigurumi pair, then TempleDog -- It's such a good thing that I had to pass it along. :D

兎野U / Usagino U and 熊野900 / Kumano 900 make up U900, a terrific ukulele duo.

Find out more about them in this video:

For locals familiar with Hawaiian music may recognize some of their licks in some of their videos, but they also have a CD out with their covers of Ventures songs: Ukulele Ventures.

In the meanwhile, you can watch more at Yosuke Kihara's youtube channel or befriend the duo at their MySpace page!

It's my hope that one day Anpan and Nemu will meet this pair and jam out. :D

[Reviews] Eyeko London Makeup Haul + Giveaway [Closed!]

2010-02-01T02:51:49Z

Now, just how many American folk have heard of Eyeko?

I certainly wasn't familiar with it until recently, and it was thru a couple randomly found youtube reviews when looking for new lip balms/lip glosses to try. (Again, I love lip balms, glosses and treatments. I have quite the growing collection... If you have a glowing recommendation, please send it my way~ :D)

Upon first hearing the name, you'd think the brand was Japanese with some weird spelling... but in fact, it's a London-based company. The spelling is intentional, but if you check out their site, you'd know exactly whom their target audience is.

Like the Bonne Bell and Wet n' Wild, Eyeko is aimed at the younger teen crowd with cute and bright packaging and budget pricing. Most of the products are basic - eyeliners, mascaras, nail polishes, lip glosses, and creams. Also, most have a bit of shimmer to them.

Because the prices were so affordable and they had a free shipping offer, I jumped at the opportunity to try a few things out.

So I'll be detailing my haul behind the cut~

]]> First up, the "famed" Eyeko Creams:

These are billed as 3-in-1 creams which can be used as an eye cream, a highlighter, and/or a moisturizer. The one in the pink box is the standard cream, while the brown box is the "tinted" cream.

As you can see, both creams have a shimmer to them. I can't say the creams are incredibly "moisturizing" - I'd suggest simply using them as a highlighter and bronzer respectively. The consistency in the tubs are semi-thick and need to be evenly smoothed onto the skin. Once evenly applied, the skin does retain a nice glow. Also use sparingly. A little goes a long long way.

Next up? The Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen:

I picked this one up on a whim. I like eyeliners, but haven't used a liquid one since 2003. (Mostly because I haven't found one that I like.) I'm much more of a pencil or gel type person since I'm rather blind and I'm too lazy to put my contacts in every day. ^^;

This one was appealing just for the fact it had a felt brush nib instead of actual bristles. Like my brush pens for art, I have a much better control over my line with a felt nib.

Although I haven't tested this on my eye-line yet, I did a few sketches on my wrist. The lines are clean and feel similar to drawing with a permanent marker. There's no visible bleeding, but there's also no goopiness or thickness to the line. All you get is ink.

(Expotentially awesome for cosplayers perhaps? :D)

Anyhoo, the ink comes off with a few rubs with an oil-based eye make-up remover... so easy removal!

And finally, the best part of the haul, the Eyeko Fat Balms:

I love my lip balms and when I heard some positive reviews about these, I had to put my order thru. Eyeko has 3 basic types: Raspberry (purple box), Strawberry (Red Box), and Minty (Blue Box).

Each of the tubes look the same - they stand at 2" tall and 1" diameter. They're short little balms, but can I just say -- these are quite amazing.

First of all, these are the best scented balms I have ever come across. I'm currently using the strawberry fat balm and it smells like Häagen-Dazs strawberry sorbet. Seriously. However, they aren't flavored balms, which is why I like them even more~!

The minty fat balm also has a very mild minty feel and scent - not as strong as something like Burt's Bees or Carmex.

Second, they are rather pigmented so they can be used as both a lip and cheek "stain". I think the minty fat balm might be a little too light to be used as a cheek stain, but it does provide a slight pink tint. Unlike stains which tend to dry out the lips, they are much more like balms where they provide a moisturizing cover and even color. When you wipe off, the color comes off too - so just reapply as needed.

Third, they're so affordable! I got these three as part of a promo deal - All 3 for $17, when each are priced at $8. (Somewhat cheaper in euros and pounds tho~)

Although, I should note - all three have shimmer to them, so if that's not your thing, you might want to pass.

My thoughts?

For a economy "drug-store" type brand, I'm quite impressed with the items I picked up! Apparently, their cosmetics line-up also changes seasonally, so new items like powders, eye shadows, and blushes may arrive at any time on their website. They also have weekly deals - be it free international shipping, a discount, or a free item.

Speaking of free items -- before I made my order, I checked out their twitter feed and found a code for an extra strawberry balm!

So instead of keeping this for myself, I figured I should share the love~ XD

Interested in trying out their strawberry fat balm for yourself?

Just leave a comment below and in the message tell me what your favorite makeup item is! (and why, if you feel so inclined!) Anything you'd recommend to a friend~ :D

Entries will close on February 5, Friday evening, and I'll be doing a random drawing for the winner~!

Winner has been selected~! Thanks for everyone's participation! More giveaways in the near future!

Also! If you're interested in purchasing some Eyeko cosmetics for yourself and/or a friend, enter my ambassador code : E7503 at the check out and get a free gift~!

[Reviews] Exacompta Basic Sketch Book

2010-01-14T22:16:00Z

During the winter rush, I received a second book from Exaclair to review~! (You can see my previous write up about the Quo Vadis Habana here~!)

So this time around, I have the privilege to try out their Exacompta Basic Sketch Book~!

]]> Short preface: Much thanks to Karen from Exaclair, who was kind enough to send me this lovely sketchbook for review in mid-November -- right amidst my busy winter event season. So with much apologies, I finally write my review!

The Exacompta Basic Sketch Book is really anything but "basic".

Upon receiving the book in the mail, I was stunned at how luxe this thing was.

Wrapped in a "Madeira" removable blue leather-like cover, stamped "sketch book"... and seriously - check out that reflection. o_o!

The sketchbook itself comes with a ribbon place-holder and the pages themselves have a lovely texture and soft dull-white color.

The paper is 5 1/2" x 8 1/4", from the Netherlands, 100g. Complete with a sturdy board cover and cloth bound spine. Removable and refillable. Two things I personally like about any art supply. :D

Now, most artists know that there are many many many types of sketchbooks out there. Some are more suitable for inking, others for graphite/lead/pencils, some are great for colored pencils or pastels or watercolors. I'd say this particular one is great for travel sketches - pencils, light watercolor washes, ball-point pens, and even fountain pens. The paper is thin and textured -- definitely not for heavy washes... unless you're willing to deal with the paper buckling.

So, I broke out my Copic markers, fountain pens, and colored pencils and gave this paper a go:

Verdict? I think this is a perfect book for marker sketches and journal writings/notations. I really look forward to working with it more. The paper absorbs the alcohol-based ink nicely and there is very little feathering/bleeding, so I'm guessing a quick run-thru with watercolors will also hold up nicely. Colored pencils will have an added texture, due to the paper type, but ink (both fountain pen and microliner) rolls on nicely.

Expect to see more color sketches from this book in the next few months. :D

Now where to find them?

The only online shops that seems to have the basic sketchbook in stock (sans leather cover) are Wet Paint, The Daily Planner and the Vickerey in prices currently ranging from $9.60 to $19. (From what I understand, the cover can be added on for a few more dollars~) You can also check the official Exaclair site for other options~!

Edit: Karen just got back to me and said that the books with the madeira covers are available at Writer's Block~! Currently on sale for $14.50, available in blue, red, green, and yellow with silver or gold edging! :D

[Random] Photoshop Woes

2010-01-06T09:59:31Z

So, I've talked about my WOES with Photoshop previously in the main nemu*blog... In 2009, I had upgraded from Photoshop CS3 to CS4 with the hopes that some of those "shakes" problems would have been fixed.

In a way, they were~

One nice fix was the ability to rotate my canvas. I could also draw a line at *under* 50% zoom and it wouldn't show up all choppy and shaky. This was a definitely improvement over CS3 and I rejoiced.

And then I slowly came to realize a couple things:

1) My inking was taking longer for some strange reason.

Excerpt from #527

2) My inking wasn't improving... in fact, it was getting WORSE.

Detail of #527 - at 100% zoom (Click to see full-size)

...

]]> I understand that most people won't ever see my work anywhere as up-close as I see it on a regular basis, but I cannot tell you just how much it IRKS me to see messy lines, "smudges" left all over the place and unfilled bucket-fills.

Most of the time, I feel like I'm literally fighting with Photoshop to get the line quality I'd like~ Nice tapered lines, line variation, clean edges... is that too much to ask?

This past weekend, I was at my breaking point. I needed some alternatives.

Some fellow artists suggested MySmithMicro's Manga Studio. I downloaded the trial of the v.4 debut and the demo of v.4 EX. I was rather overwhelmed at all the tools and couldn't figure out how to get my files up and running... and resources on how to use the program were pretty sparse. (Don't even bother watching the videos they have on the MySmithMicro site... they're pretty useless as learning tools, IMHO.)

Also, no PSD compatibility. That won't do for me.

So, my other option was Corel Painter X. (Note, they are currently on v.11)

I have very mixed feelings about Painter. I haven't been able to get a good feel for the program's interface and Mac support has been rather spotty at best. I've had numerous issues with lag and occasional crashing mid-way through a stroke....

But when it comes to emulating real media on screen, it does a great job... so I keep buying upgrades, but always end up feeling disappointed with my personal results. Gah.

So when artist friends suggested Painter, I figured "why not" -- since I already have the program and had fiddled with it previously.

This time, I set up my files in Photoshop before hand and imported the PSD into Painter. Aside from my "hidden" guides popping up, everything looked good. I set up a custom brush, following Ray Frenden's guidelines, and gave it a go today.

... and these were my results:

Sample from #528

SOOOOO much better~~~~! (Click the image to see at full-size.)

I'm still not really comfortable with the Painter interface -- so many hot-keys are different from Photoshop which is even more irksome and I'll need to fix right away... and I need to relearn some of the tools, but it's a definite step-up from my recent work.

I'll be giving this method a go for the current chapter and see if I can find my way around the program.

Does anyone have thoughts about Painter XI? Especially for Macs? I am allll ears~ ^^

Hobbies: Copics Haul 2009

2009-12-30T22:36:32Z

So you already know I'm a big pens fanatic. If I had more money, you'd know just what I'd buy. XD;;

]]> My favorite non-digital medium are Copic Markers. I've used them since 1995 and have been slowly amassing my collection over the past 15-or-so years. I started off with basic skin/earth tones and some grays -- my early favorites being E00 (Skin White), E11 (Barely Beige), and E51 (Milky White). In fact, they're still my go-to colors today. XD

The thing I like *best* about these markers are that the colors and ink flow are predictable. They also react to different types of paper differently, so if I use one type of illustration board they may appear slick and shiny, a different type of paper renders them akin to watercolors.

In fact, my favorite type of paper to work is hot-pressed watercolor paper.

Fabriano Artistico Traditional White Watercolor Paper

I found this at Dick Blick during one of our business trips to California and fell in love with this paper. (I used this particular paper for the winter commissions~!) Unfortunately, none of the shops here in Hawaii sell them, so grah - I think I need to special order more, or wait 'til Fanime.

Arches Hot Press Watercolor Blocks

I also like Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Blocks as back-up, but the colors come out a little darker.

Certainly markers aren't a small investment. I can't really *mix* colors like I can with paints as some colors may interact with each other -- particularly violets. I also can't lighten colors, like say - adding water to watercolors to thin out the pigment. So either you improvise or wait for new colors to arrive.

And that's exactly what happened!

This past summer, Copic released a whole slew of ultra-light colors in their EX-4 set.

These are super-light colors, meant for blending, as you can see with the swatches below:

These colors are perfect for some of the softer, watercolor-y works I've been doing these past few months. (Namely commissions from the Holiday sale.)

Like so~

Lined with brown colored pencil and colored w/ Copics

To round things out, I also got a few extra colors -- just a few micro-shades darker than the ones above. The E0000 (Floral White) is the primary skin tone used for the pups in the drawing above, built up in layers and slightly darkened with E51 (Milky White) -- I think.

Luckily, I can get my markers from my local go-to art shop, Hawaiian Graphics. (I'm told they're owned by .Too? Which is why they can special order direct from Japan.) W00t!

Can't wait to get started on something with these pens! :D

[n*n] Those pups sure get around!

2009-12-05T00:19:48Z

It's been a while since I posted something in my journal~! Just been really busy with events, strips, and arting in general~!! Gah!

But we've had some really awesome stuff come into the studio over the past few weeks that I just had to take some time to blog about!

First off, remember Anpan's Eat Pizza, Not Turkey campaign? Well, it seems we have a few fans who helped Anpan get the word out:

Thanks Thavia P. & Kaylie S.!

We also have a number of photos of the pups traveling to Ohio and Kentucky this past year with Jackie I!

Thanks for the great photos Jackie!

Which reminds me~! If you have photos you'd like to submit, (please do! We love to see the pups all over the place!) either send to us via e-mail or upload them to flickr and send them to our newly created flickr group: nemu*nemu Around the World!

[Artings] From Ages Long Past...

2009-11-13T01:18:15Z

My old childhood friend, Smith just e-mailed me a little earlier today with a super blast from the past.

With old art. BEHOLD.

]]> I think these were circa 1990-1992 -- right at the very beginning of my manga phase. I'm pretty sure I was in very early high school at the time and a big fan of Ranma 1/2 and Silent Möbius.

The one below is older. I can tell by the Crayola colored pencils I used to color the drawing. (They're hard and have very little pigment, so very little color comes out -- no matter how much you scrub.) The Ranma fanart was right when I first started using Prismacolor colored pencils.

I remember drawing a lot of sorceress-type girls -- all sort of fantasy RPG-inspired... and had the darnedest time drawing animals. (I think I still have a hard time drawing animals. XD;)

I used to hand out my drawings like candy -- who ever asked me for them got them~ So I'm glad that Smith got her hands on these and kept them in such great shape all these years!

[Reviews] Quo Vadis Habana Notebook

2009-11-04T22:47:27Z

Most who know me best know that I love notebooks, sketchbooks and stationary. I carry at least one with me everywhere and have multiple books going - sometimes for paper type, sometimes for convenience of size...

Karen from Exaclair was kind enough to send me a copy of their Quo Vadis Habana notebook for review~ I just received it the other day and have been busily testing it out with my variety of fountain pens!

Read on for the review~!

]]> I was sent the black 6x9" edition - filled with premium "Clairefontaine" 90 gr. paper. From first glance, the notebook looks very similar to a Moleskine in size and style, however, upon opening the plastic wrap, I was pleased to find the cover to be a soft leatherette - even flexible to some degree. Like a Moleskine, there is a large back pocket, an elastic belt to keep the book closed, and soft, rounded edges.

Inside, the paper is a bright white and very smooth to the touch. Very little to no tooth/texture. Line spacing is "wide" - similar to a standard composition notebook, making it a nice diary for folks with larger hand-writing or kids just getting started and want something archival~ :D

Turning to the first page, I pulled out my new Pilot Parallel pens, which are known to write quite wet.

I'm not great at calligraphy, pardon my writing practice~ ^^;

The lines are crisp, clean, with no feathering. Additionally, the ink did not pool and bleed to the second page.

I also tested out my other variety of fountain and inking pens:
- Pilot Prera - Fine Point w/ Noodler's Polar Black ink
- Sailor Artist's Pen w/ Iroshizuku Yama Budo Ink
- Kuretake Tegami Fine Point - Lettering Pen
- Sailor Artist's Pen w/ Ultra Black ink cartridge

Very minor feathering on some of the fountain pens, more notably with the Prera + Noodler's Polar Black. (Sorry my hand-held camera can't quite capture the up-close detail~~!)

As for pencils, I would stick to harder, sharper leads (HB-2B) as it will likely smudge since there is very little tooth for the graphite to stick to.

And as for permanent pens like Copics and Sharpies, the ink may bleed through to the second page, depending on how heavy a hand you write with. However, the lines stay crisp and clean.

The Habana's a great little notebook with style and longevity. Quite comparable to a Moleskine for $20 (for the large, or $15 for the small) and a luxe step up from the standard composition notebooks from small-kid-time!

Any questions or comments? Feel free to ask~!

[Random] Hobonichi Techo & Haramaki

2009-10-20T09:02:48Z

This all started with a tweet from Kenji. He linked this video:

Although Hobonichi Techo is a planner/notebook, it's part of a larger lifestyle company ... sort of in conjunction with game designer and essayist/journalist/blogger Shigesato Itoi. (Best known for the "Mother"/"Earthbound" RPG series.)

For those who know me best, I have a thing for stationary goods like this... but I'm extremely particular about what I'm looking for - especially when it comes to planners. Size, quality, layout of dates, pockets, durability, design... all important. The last time I had one I was happy with was maybe 6 years ago -- when I was living in Japan.

I'm sure you can see where this is going.

]]> I started to check through the website for what other products they had and general pricing and found this:

HARAMAKI

Haramaki are "belts" of fabric that you wear around the waist to keep the area warm and protected.

OMP. That was it -- I had to make an order. This was a little over a month ago.

And the order finally arrived today. YAY!

The quality of the Hobonichi haramaki is sooo worth the price. Most crafted outside of Japan are made with thin t-shirt fabric, which work okay as undershirts or shirt extenders. These are made of thicker, very stretchy fabric which compresses around the torso, acting like a comfortable corset. They are also reversible.

(I am SO happy they arrived today. Just in time for our trip on Wednesday. o_o!)

As for the planner:

I was surprised that it came with a plastic cover... that had a plastic pocket on the back and year printed on the bottom of the spine. It fit perfectly over the planner cover (which is nylon) and is shaped so that all the inner pockets are accessible.

It comes with a brown barreled "multi-pen", but even that pen's not cheapy - it's ball-pointed, but writes extra-fine.

As an added bonus, there's this little extra:

... and I picked up a calendar as well. Erasable white-board type.

Am I ready for 2010 or what? :D

[Random] Parallel Pens & Party Poopers

2009-10-18T04:07:59Z

I feel sad. We're missing out on APE this year and it looks like it was a good show this time. Deb has been sending forth photos of some friends and new readers~ (Even Anpan made a super cute new friend! Photos courtesy of Deb Aoki~)

So what are we doing here in Hawaii? Last minute prep for a number of things... Upcoming t-shirts were just handed off to the printers for screening, my cousin's daughter had her second birthday party this weekend, Scott's finishing up a number of things for work that are (inconveniently) due at the end of the month, and I have a BUNCH of strips and other projects to finish ASAP so I'm not completely stressed out when we return at the end of October. Eeps.

(I get this face from Scott a lot... can you tell? XD;; I accidentally starved him this morning and bought him a green tea from Starbucks and flatbread pizza from Jamba Juice to tide him over.... ^^;)

So all errands need to be run this weekend. First thing this morning, we hit C2F for it's monthly "open house" sale. C2F is an art supply distributor to schools and other businesses around Hawaii and normally not open to the public. Buuut~ if you're in the know, they send out newsletters announcing their monthly sales and all the artists come out in droves to pick up their art necessities at a great price.

While I was looking for inks for my fountain pens (none found), I happened across these:

Pilot Parallel Pens!

They're calligraphy pens and have had consistently high recommendations from fellow pen addicts. ^^ I held off of buying them from in my last order from JetPens and I'm sort of glad I did...

They were $5.99 each. o_o!

So I bought all three~

I'll be giving them a test drive later this weekend if I have some time. I definitely need to work on my penmanship first though. ^^;

[Artings] Miss Punkin' 2009

2009-10-14T19:51:51Z

This seems to be a yearly thing now~

My mom used to work for the local tax office and would have me decorate things for her during the holiday season. I remember helping her make masks, christmas tree displays, food presentations, cookies, etc.

Funny thing is, Scott's mom is also an employee there. (Different departments, but our moms were familiar with each other, prior to *our* meeting.)

For the past few years, I've been helping her out with the pumpkin decorations.

This is Miss Punkin 2008.

So I had to think of something different for 2009...

]]> I was sort of thinking on the fly and after just having the flu shot earlier that day, I was feeling already pretty drained. So out came the acrylic paint, flat brush and black copic marker.

Miss Punkin' 2009 turned out much more "goth" than "cute" this time around. I was attempting to do some cute "gothic lolita" style with ring curls and such, but it probably appears more "glam rock". XD;

Something a little different~

Drawing on a pumpkin is tough. Even with the pencil lines, it's hard to see where everything was sketched. The surface is also kinda sticky and I'm not 100% sure if the ink dried yet.

To fake tapered lines, I also had to use 3 different pens.

Anyone else have their own Miss/Mister Punkins to share? :D