September 2021 Scrawlrbox - Dramatic Landscapes, Charcoal and Graphite!

 It’s that time of the month again!  Time for another Scrawlrbox!  

I guess I should update you here on the blog - since I quit Paletteful Packs (that last box with the markers was just too undervalued) - I went back to Scrawlrbox!  And truthfully, I’m so glad I did.  They take a little longer to get to me, but they are absolutely so well curated and always a great value.  Here’s what came inside the September 2021 box and my thoughts on each item: 

1. Derwent Charcoal and Graphite Sticks

As soon as I saw these, I got excited.  I have a set of Inktense blocks that I got from Scrawlrbox some time ago, and my IMMEDIATE thought was… can I wet these down?  I love it when I can add water to something to play with it, and so I was SO excited when they reactivated with water!  The different sizes and shades have different values too!  I’m excited to be able to use these blocks two different ways to get different effects on my piece.  

2. ArtGraf Water Soluable White Tailor’s Chalk

ArtGraf is one of those companies I’m always excited to see in an artbox!  Their products are always high quality and unique, at least to me!  This tailor’s chalk didn’t disappoint!  It’s very opaque and is so easy to use with a paintbrush.  If I was one for messy fingers, I’d probably break this guy up to try using it to get different textures on my piece (I still might try this if I’m brave, haha!)  But this is exactly the kind of fun and interesting product I would never have purchased myself but will use often!  

3. Faber Castell GoldFaber White Pencil

I’m always interested to see if a white pencil will hold up to my gold standard for white pencils - prismacolor.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this Goldfaber pencil!  It definitely performed WAY better than expected and much better than a lot of other white pencils I’ve gotten in boxes.  The paper is also really great to work on dry, so this was a great addition to the box!  

4. Faber Castell Pitt Matt Graphite Pencils in 6b and 14b

These were probably my least favorite item in the box, but that’s kind of unfair because they are very quality pencils!  I just think the 6b was a bit repetitive with the derwent graphite sticks, but the 14b was really useful.  I imagine if you used this box with less wet media techniques that you would have found more use for these pencils - so I’m still thinking they were worth it.  

5. Clairefontaine Paint-On Mixed Media Paper Pad, 5x7 in Denim, 12 sheets

Clairefontaine continues to produce quality, versatile, and affordable paper.  I love their Paint-On mixed media paper. It was super fun to get some more toned paper of this type!  The blue tone added another color and dimension to this box, and the paper took wet media QUITE well. It also isn’t totally smooth so it does pick up pencils and the sticks well too! Again, a solid surface that really makes it feel like I’m getting my money’s worth!  

6. Derwent Blending Stump

Not much to say about this except that it did the job well!  I don’t have a blending stump, so I’m definitely glad to have one to try out with my colored pencils!  Derwent is tried and true and always puts out quality products! 

I decided, since the Scrawlrbox Prompt this month was “Dramatic Landscapes.”  I knew immediately after swatching this box that I wanted to try a big moon with mountains!  I had a lot of fun making this piece!  The moon didn’t granulate and move in the same way that it would with granulating paints/watercolor paper/salt and salt water, BUT it still did a pretty good job overall! I also had a blast trying to shade the mountains!  

So, was it worth it?  Overall, Scrawlrbox values this box at $35.79 USD.  I paid $33.10 for this box, and the value was $38.44.  This is a little over $5 more than I paid for the box, but I have to say I think it was a pretty good value.  I’d have loved one less of the Faber Castell Pitt Matt pencils (the 6b probably) and to add a Derwent Graphitint blue pencil to give us one more blue/indigo value within the set!  BUT this is really splitting hairs!  Once again, Scrawlrbox continues to give us great art boxes with super cool supplies!  If you'd like to watch the whole unboxing and process, it's below on YouTube:

Did you get this box, what did you think of it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! 

The Sketchbook Project Flipthrough - Level Up!

 Wow guys - I can't believe I did it!  

When I signed up for The Sketchbook Project, I was excited and nervous.  I loved the concept, and I wanted to be a part of it, BUT putting myself out there in that way felt terrifying.  If you've never heard about the project, you can read more about it here.  The Sketchbook Project was created by the Brooklyn Art Library. Taken from their website, here's a little info about them:  

Brooklyn Art Library is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that has been completely funded by participation since 2006. We work to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission of encouraging creative storytelling within a global community by keeping our physical library space free and open to the public, our digital library accessible worldwide, and making our collection as accessible as possible to people of all ages and skill levels through robust education programming.

I love the inclusive nature of their mission statement, and I know I had to be a part of it!  When I got my Sketchbook, it was in October of 2020, and I was deep into Linktober.  Linktober was huge for me this year, and it really has given me a lot more confident in my skills, even as a hobbyist.  But Linktober gave the shape to the sketchbook, because I knew I wanted to draw video game characters.  

I named the project "Level Up."  The idea was that through the drawing of specific characters and ideas I would be leveling up my own art, so I leaned into the video game pun.  I had a lot of fun drawing each individual piece, and I tried to challenge myself in different ways.  I used alcohol markers, watercolors, gouache and posca pens, metallic watercolors, graphite and water soluble graphite during the course of this book.  I also tried many different types of characters and even a few landscapes and full screen scenes.  

I've highlighted a few of my favorite pieces here, but click below for a full, explained flip through!  I also will have a faster flipthrough on my instagram highlights/story as well.  

Once the sketchbook is digitized, I'll have a link here and as a tab on my page!  

What are your thoughts on The Sketchbook Project?  Would you ever fill one out?  What would your sketchbook be about? Let me know in the comments below!  

February Sketchbox - Water Soluble GRAPHITE!!!!!

 Another month, another Sketchbox!!! I must admit, I've been playing around with this box of supplies for over a week now and I'm just HAVING SO MUCH FUN!  More on this later!  

Let's start with swatches, what's in the box, and my thoughts on each item in the box:  

Supplies: 

• Princeton Heritage Brush - Round #6 
• This is a beautiful paintbrush.  I enjoyed using it very much!  Valued at $14, I would have settled for something a little less expensive if it meant getting an eraser in this box. 

• Derwent Graphitint Half Pans - Dark Indigo and Juniper
• These. Are. Amazing!  I have seen people use these online before, but I was NOT prepared for how awesome they are!  I really want the whole set now!  The colors were beautiful and granulated so nicely.  They of course are the quality I expect from Derwent.  These erased a bit, but not completely. 

• Derwent Graphitint Pencils - Ivy and Chestnut
• These were also pretty darn awesome!  I loved the colors and they dissolved quite nicely when using water on them.  These erased a bit, but not completely.  

• Spectrum Noir Colortint Pencil - Cafe Au Lait
• This was a nice pencil as well!  I didn't love it as much as the Graphitint pencils, but it was still a nice, dissolving pencil and it was great to have two different browns to create nice contrast.  This pencil *did* have a more clean erase than any of the Graphitint products, which was great.  

• ArtGraph Drawing Graphite Putty
• I was terrified of this package when I saw it.  I waited DAYS to open it.  When I opened it, I used a tiny scoop to take a VERY small amount out into my palette.  As soon as I put the paintbrush to it I was IN LOVE!  This stuff is literally liquid graphite.  I loved being able to use graphite like paint.  But THEN the best part - YOU CAN ERASE IT!  That's right!  It takes a little more to erase than dry pencil, which is perfect because you can draw on top of it and do a light erase without messing up the under layer, but you can also erase it to create highlights!!!!!  WHAT!?!?!  This is the star of the box, and I'm so excited to use it in the future too! One small thing I'd wished was that the plastic bag had a zip top instead of a tear open top so that I could easily keep it sealed.  But this stuff was AMAZING!  

• Cretacolor Watercolor Graphite Set, 6 pc
• Finally, these were decent!  I LOVED the two graphite pencils, the blue and the green.  They were high quality.  These pencils dissolved decently well and they erased pretty well too.  BUT, the red was weak, and was almost the same color as the juniper Graphitint so it didn't really get used much in my piece.  And the white, the white was absolutely useless.  It didn't layer over anything, it didn't write over any of the other graphite, and I didn't use it at all.  I even tried to scribble a bunch of it out and pick it up with a paintbrush to go on the top of the other graphite, and it did... nothing.  I'd much have preferred a 4 piece set here and a swap out for those two pencils for an opaque white medium.  

Quick Notes: 

• We didn't get paper this month.  I'm totally fine with that because the value of the rest of the box was great!  Also - Sketchbox has sent plenty of wet media paper in recent boxes, so everyone should have something to put their art on/in.  
• I definitely benefited from having the Caran D'Ache Palette Aquarelle.  (Palette pictured below.) This is a palette with a smooth side and a rough side, designed to scribble out pencils and pick them up with a wet brush.  It is easily the best $11 I've ever spent on a palette.  I'd HIGHLY recommend it if you ever use watercolor pencils!  
• I used the TINIEST bit of graphite putty!  I have a picture of the palette I used for that so you can see that a little really does go a long way with that stuff!  

Caran D'Ache Palette Aquarelle and my Palette with the Graphite Putty

Box Value: Sketchbox values this box at $52.93 and I have to say it's definitely worth my money!  I will use 90% of what's in this box over and over again for a long time to come.  The *only* thing I would say is that the Creatacolor red and white weren't very useful, and I would have traded them out for a nice eraser and a white opaque medium that actually layers over the graphite.  

That being said...  

This box was AWESOME.  This is exactly what an art subscription should be and should provide.  I would *never* play with graphite on my own accord, but give me graphite the works like watercolor and BAM - I'm pricing out Derwent Graphitint everything online!  And that graphite putty is one of the coolest things I have ever gotten in an art box.  GREAT JOB Sketchbox!  

What did I draw? I knew *immediately* when I saw how the graphite putty worked that I had to draw a statue!  And so of COURSE I drew Hylia from Skyward Sword!  I knew right away that the indigo Graphitint would look amazing as a dark sky.  I also used the pencils and half pans to create a cobblestone path.  I used both green and brown pencils to create the trees, that turned out whimsical just like the trees from Skyward Sword.  I used a combination of wet and dry graphite for Hylia herself.  I'm so very pleased with how this piece turned out!  

Have you ever played with water soluble graphite?  What would you make with this Sketchbox?  Let me know in the comments below!