January’s box is my third and completes my 3 month subscription. I loved every box so I’ll definitely get more in future. This month the featured artist is Gemma Stylz and the challenge theme was “Nature’s Eye”. The art print is beautiful up on the shelf above my desk.

I’ve included links to purchase this month’s items. Note these include affiliate links to help cover my site costs/art supplies stash.

Here is the picture I drew for the Nature’s Eye challenge:

Box contents:

Derwent Graphic Graphite Pencil Tin
Pentel Superb Tech Needlepoint Pen – black
2 Artline 220 Superfine 0.2mm pens – yellow and orange
Sakura Gelly Roll Pen – white
Derwent Art Eraser Dual Pack
Seawhite A5 Sketchbook

Derwent Graphic Graphite Pencil Tin – http://amzn.to/2kfliN0

I’ve used Derwent pencils since I was at school, so I’m happy to get some more. The tin has 6 pencils – 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B and 8B. They all performed as expected when I was drawing. The tin is really handy too 🙂

Pentel Superb Tech Needlepoint Pen – black – http://amzn.to/2kf7UZu

This is a ballpoint pen with oil based ink and a fine tip that gets cleaned when you put the cap on. It stayed nice and clean when I was trying it out and during the Nature’s Eye challenge. The only criticism is that the clean tip sometimes takes a second to ink up after you take the cap off. But I’d rather have that issue than the surprise ink blob one!

Artline 220 Superfine 0.2mm pens

These fine liners worked nicely for me, the ink flowed fine and was well pigmented. I layered the two colours a bit when I was drawing and they blended ok. I’m not sure if the ink is archival quality, so that might be a concern in final artwork usage. Otherwise these are handy for adding colour details.

Sakura Gelly Roll Pen – http://amzn.to/2lCTP4U

I draw animals a lot (you might have noticed <grin>) so a fine white pen is useful for highlights and whiskers. Usually I rely on leaving white paper or lifting out colour with an eraser, but it’s handy to have an alternative/rescue pen. I wasn’t sure if the ink would be too obvious or blend into my work, so I tried the pen on these squirrel watercolour sketches  before I drew the challenge picture. One coat of the ink gave a subtle non-opaque highlight, going over the lines again made them whiter. For watercolour I’d probably stick with white gouache paint or acrylic ink, but the gelly roll is still useful for drawings etc.

Derwent Art Eraser Dual Pack – http://amzn.to/2kfdyL6

Erasers aren’t the sexiest thing, but you sure miss them when the dog eats them they’re gone. I tested both Derwent erasers during this month’s challenge. The white one seems about the same as the other white erasers I’ve used and it cleaned down to the paper as expected. The black eraser is noticeably softer, but retains its shape and erases well. It’s gentler on the paper than the white one and works well.

Seawhite A5 Sketchbook – http://amzn.to/2kfgQ0H

The Seawhite sketchbook is staple bound and has 20 sheets giving me 40 pages to play with. The paper is smooth and bright white with a weight of 140gsm. I’d suggest using it for sketching in pencil, ink and for light washes. I don’t really paint with a lot of water so I’ll try it with a range of media combinations and see how I get on. Watercolour pencils seem a safe option as they just need a little water to set the colour and make washes.