Fude for thought (2)
Last year I managed to get the Sailor Profit Fude de Mannen pen secondhand, and it's my new favorite sketching pen by a large margin. I screwed the nib section onto the Sailor Compass, so (part of) that pen is getting significantly more mileage.
An ink drawing of a cat sleeping on a Vespa scooter, pictured with the Sailor Fude nib in the Sailor Compass body
As far as I can tell, the Sailor fude nib is a bent version of the Sailor Compass nib. It doesn't have any of the ink flow issues that plagued the Compass.
Comparison of the Sailor Compass (left) and Sailor fude (right) nibs
It's not a particularly smooth drawing experience even on untextured paper, so it adds texture that makes everything I do look 50% more interesting by default. It does benefit from wetter ink without losing its character.
These drawings are on a yellow kraft paper Traveler's Notebook insert. I'm generally against buying official Traveler's Company inserts, but the prospect of colored paper was very exciting to me. It helps that I can get these in person at Two Hands Paperie in Boulder (i.e. no shipping costs and instant gratification).
An ink drawing of three people sitting by a lake. There are some plastic cups behind them. All of them are facing away from the camera and looking out at the lake and surrounding trees, which are represented mostly through loose scribbles here.
I had prime real estate on a bench by the lake when I drew this. I had a nice unobstructed view of the entire thing and the people hanging out around it, so I drew this group of friends eating. I find live humans to be really annoying subjects because of how unpredictable they are, so I had to work really quickly (which is good for me). I also had fun scribbling in the lake and trees in the background.
An ink drawing of a street in Mexico. A car is in the foreground. There are power lines and street lights in the background. A metro car is also in the background.
I drew this at the beginning of the year. I was standing in front of my cousin's apartment in Monterrey. It's not a pretty sight at all, but there was a lot going on, which was fun to draw. The car here is a bit of a mess but it looks car-like enough?
I've been practicing drawing buildings and am still terrible at it (especially freehand), but it's taught me how to measure things by sight pretty well. I feel like I'm much more attentive to things than I was before I started. I really like the fude for buildings because it makes the mess of straight lines more fun to look at, and I can block in dark windows or doors pretty quickly!
I drew this off of a photo I took at the diner because it was a busy day and I was hesitant to hold up the table by drawing. I really like the texture I got from all the broad strokes.