Inks & Illustrations

Hello! Welcome back to the blog. Today I'll be talking about my thoughts on 5 very popular nibs and which ones I think are best for modern calligraphy beginners.  To be honest, this is probably the only calligraphy related post I'm qualified to write about, since I actually am a beginner at modern calligraphy. I tested out 5 nibs that I seemed to read about everywhere - calligraphy blogs, art supply websites, instagram, the list goes on and on... well, actually the list stops with those three, but still! That's a lot of places for the same nibs to show up.  One of my favorite calligraphy/illustration blogs, The Postman's Knock ( if you want to learn anything and everything about calligraphy or see awesome tutorials, you need to go there!) discussed these five nibs in a blog post so I had to try them out for myself. Here are the nibs I will be reviewing (listed left to right): 1. Nikko G 2. Brause Steno or "Blue Pumpkin" 3. Brause Rose 4. Brause...

Long time, no blog post! I recently rediscovered my hobby of watercolors so I'm back painting, and back on the blog - yay! Today I will be reviewing the Daniel Smith Extra Fine Essentials Introductory Watercolor Set.  It comes with (6) 5mL tubes of paint: (3) cool primary colors: Hansa Yellow Light, Quinacridone Rose, and Phthalo Blue (GS)  (3) warm  primary colors: New Gamboge, Pyrrol Scarlet, and French Ultramarine Daniel Smith watercolors are one of the go-to choices when it comes to artist grade watercolors so I wanted to try them out for myself...on a budget. Buying these colors individually would cost you around 40 dollars, while you can get them as a set for $32-$34.  Enough savings to buy yourself a new paint brush, so it's definitely a reasonable price if you're just starting out with artist grade watercolors (like myself). Let's take a look at the colors and how they perform: If you find yourself running ...

EDIT (11/20/17): This post needs to be updated! I believe they sell their paints directly on their website now and announce shop updates via an emails newsletter. It's finally here! I'm super excited to write this review for several reasons: 1. I've been eyeing these watercolors on etsy/instagram/facebook for months and was lucky enough to purchase a set last week. 2. There aren't too many thorough reviews written on these paints and I wanted to provide my two cents on them. Before I get started, I have to say, these paints are a little tricky to purchase.  The watercolors are pricey because they are artist grade, handmade and time-consuming to make. Just a handful of these colorful sets are available at a time on the etsy shop.  In addition, they sell out very quickly - only a few minutes after the shop is updated.  So how did I manage to finally purchase one?  My biggest tip is to follow them on instagram , ...