September was supposed to be a month of forgetfulness, but what it became is a month of new beginnings. See, here's what happened. I was at work and I mentioned offhandedly that I've never used a fountain pen but kinda always wanted to. The next day, one of the guys gives me a fountain pen that he had sitting around, from a brand called Ellington. It seemed cool but the ink it came with was blue, and the cartridge didn't fit besides. I then proceeded to make a terrible mistake.

"Hey," said the part of my brain that remembers reading Stan Lee and John Buscema's How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way, "Comic artists use India Ink. To its credit, this part of my brain is right. India Ink has been the comic artist tool of choice since teh beginning. Except, if you know anything about pens, India Ink contains shellac and other chemicals that dry hard and will completely destroy a fountain pen's ink feed. You're only supposed to use india ink with a dip pen, where dried ink can be safely obliterated from the nib if necessary. I definitely do not have the constitution to ink with an open container of ink to dip, so that's totally out of the question.

As it turns out, my bad luck ended up being my saving grace. The india ink I found was bought in desperation from the worst craft store option in the area, and it was skunked. I was having feed issues and in my troubleshooting I extracted what can only be described as a tar worm from the converter in my pen. The ink was obviously bad, and when I talked about my bad ink experience on social media dozens of pen sickos were quick to point out my fundamental error and advised me to get a proper fountain pen ink instead.

Oddly enough, despite the ink debacle I rather enjoyed using the Ellington. I've been using Tombow fudenosuke pens for years (mainly the hard tip variation) and while I like the expression I get with the pen I'm terrible at controlling my line width and often go too fast for the pen to produce a solid black line, especially for longer curves. The fountain pen had no trouble putting down ink as fast as I wanted, and had much more consistent lines while still allowing for some variation. The best part is there's little doubt as to how much ink is left in a fountain pen, unlike my Tombow pens which I invariantly push farther than I should.

So, on the advice of my pen sicko friends I went to Jetpens and ordered a Pilot Kakuno Extra Fine, as well as a Kuretake Karappo brush pen. I figured these two could replace my hard and soft tip Fudenosuke pens. Well, as it turns out "Extra Fine" is no joke, so I got a Kaweco Perkeo Medium in a subsequent order to have something in between the hair thin Kakuno and the (relatively) chunky Karappo.

So far, I like them a lot! It's once again a learning curve and it'll probably be a while before I'm as comfortable with them as I've grown to like the Fudenosuke pens, but I've got time and now seems like a good time to lean fully into being a traditional art sicko. Now, click through and see what I've managed to cook up with my new tools.

Welcome to September, the month of forgetfulness. Let us take the time to remember August, a month that just happened. What just happened in August? I can't remember. I have some drawings that appear to have been drawn in august, including one or two where I seemed to forget which order I write the month and day in. I've continued watching anime, including Fushigi Yuugi, the half-forgotten 90s isekai I last watched in the early 2000s. I regret to inform you there's a least a little Miaka in Natasha, and perhaps a little of that 90s anime comedy yet lingers in my heart. Don't worry though, it's not a good show by any stretch. 52 episodes long, and fully a third of it is recaps and flashbacks that could be easily edited out. Maybe someday they'll make Fushigi Yuugi Kai and then we'll be in trouble. One interesting part is it's based on a manga but unlike recent anime based on manga it isn't slavishly devoted to adapting every panel and takes extensive liberties with the source material such as changing character actions and motivations and altering who shows up where. I should read more of it, maybe Noriko gets a better deal in the books.

Oh anyway I did draw stuff, a few increasingly daring Bries, the commonplace but always welcome parade of Natashas, and even a Virginia and a Hatsune Miku for your troubles. Give them a gander!

Has this year been going by fast for you? To me it feels like someone dropped a brick on the accelerator and I'm left wondering where it is we're headed. Maybe this is the rubber band snap from time feeling frozen in the years after the pandemic? Or maybe I'm just losing my mind.

Anyhoo, I've been watching anime lately! That's fun, isn't it? So far the best show I've watched is Witch Hat Atelier, and if you look closely (read: at all) you might notice young Coco, witch in training, is here among us now. Less surprising is the addition of a Merry, because of course July is the home of Draw Merry Day, everyone's favorite day to draw everyone's favorite Stuart Gipp Original. Least surprising of all, a collection of Natashas and Bries for your viewing pleasure. I hope they grant you as much pleasure in the viewing as they granted me in the drawing.

June did not see me making much pen on paper art, but I was inspired by a vintage map of the world to work on a similarly baroque map of Natasha's world. It is still far from finished, but I have included a recent WIP version of it here for your enjoyment. I also drew Natasha in a frilly two piece beachy outfit twice in a row so I guess that makes it canonical.

I've also watched more anime recently than I have in years, such things as Zenshu (good), Secrets of the Silent Witch (fine) and Witch Hat Atelier (fantastic). Who can say why a story about a passionate but naive young girl taken in by a man harboring suspicious motives might appeal to me? Sure would be weird if she gets caught up in a battle between larger forces for the future of the world. Anyway don't be surprised if I draw her in the near future.

You may also notice a mysterious Gwynne among the art this month, she's from Jean Caden's lovely comic "What we gained in the fire." I haven't been following Ms. Caden for very long but she seems like someone capable of making a whole ass comic and posting it online, which is cool. I really like her art, and I hope I get to see more of Gwynne in the future.

May was a slightly less productive month, with a bit more stress and a week long vacation that limited my available drawing time. I've also been working at a different station on my job that further limits how many times I can provide Natashas for the teeming masses.

I do have one additional technology available to me to address that, I recently got my hands on a copy of the new Tomodachi Life and wouldn't you know it, now Estavelle Island is full of residents that you might find familiar and I definitely find familiar. I've been trying to take screenshots of their travails and I intend on sharing them with you all here in a separate post in the near future. I should also note that this art update includes Kat, the mega lady protagonist from Glitch's newest cartoon pilot Gameovers. I just think she's neat!

The month of April marks the arrival of new Dimestore Novel character, Brie Zahn. You see, what had happened was, I was spending a lot of time drawing Hitomi Kanzaki from classic anime The Vision of Escaflowne. Now, I have never been much for fanart and fanworks, and the Hitomi I was drawing bore decreasing resemblance to the Hitomi in the show. Imagine the artistic equivalent of a dog chewing a chew toy. It dawned on me to take this feeling and release it from the burden of being attached to an existing character. With surprising speed it sprang into a new configuration. Like Hitomi, Brie is launched into another world against her will. Unlike Hitomi, Brie is kind of a bad person. Entitled, immature, unwilling and unable to deal with the demands of the real world. So lucky for her the world she finds herself in is not real.

Look forward to seeing how her story intersects with the rest of Dimestore Novel (spoilers, it's laid out on her EoP page).

Additionally, among the love heaped on Natasha and Brie this month you will also find Evangeline, Virginia, and Ashley. Remember them? I wonder if we will ever see and/or meet them in the near future. You never know!! Dig Ashley's cool arm though. Pretty neat, eh? I think you will see her robotic limb in increasingly modular forms going forward.