#Also dont use a pen that smudges with highlighters

[mintflavoredcookie]

I got a new sketchbook this week so heres some nezha

[merchantarthurn]

hello!!! if you dont mind me asking what kind of white pen do you use for adding little highlights in your art? your art inspired me to start inking and coloring my traditional art and ive been having a lot of fun with it for a year or so now but i can never seem to find a good white gel pen to use 😭

you and me both friend 😭 I have a lot of issues with the ones i've tried and im thinking i might switch to just using white dip-pen inks (shirahama has given the brand she uses it's something like icy-white but i'll have to dig that out again).

the best luck i've had has been the following:

General notes of paint/acrylic markers - be extremely careful of smudging and drying times, both of the pen and whatever you have underneath. For any solvent-based mediums (paints, alcohol markers and ESPECIALLY linework inking) acrylic markers can pick up some of the colour or damage the paper and create smudges and tears. This is relatively easy to avoid so long as you wait for stuff to dry and work in small areas. The paint itself will take a while to dry so I usually let it sit for 30mins-1hr before putting it anywhere near my scanner bed. If you need to work on a larger area and the paper you're working on isn't pretty robust you should probably switch to a paintbrush and just use regular acrylic paint (which has a longer drying time).

I've also found that with smaller pen nibs getting a reliable opacity is an absolute crapshoot lol.

Artistro paint market pen - really good when fresh, but god help you if you go without using it for too long after you start using it. it'll gunk up and I don't know how to fix them. They are relatively cheap and come in packs at least. Doesn't seem to have larger sizes though.

Posca paint pens (various sizes) - far more robust than artistro if you store them right but regrettably more pricey. I've also found the finest nibbed white pen to be... deeply underwhelming. It never seems to have adequate pigment no matter how long I shake and prime it. By contrast the artistro gave the same sized line much more consistently, but at the cost of the pen nib itself being pretty unreliable.

Decobrush pigment - I've not got these in white so can't speak for them directly, but the colours I do have are pretty spiffy and it's a BRUSH pen, which gives you so much more control and a range of sizes per pen. There is some difficulty with low opacity on these though (since they're meant to be used with other decobrush markers), so I don't know how a white "corrector" would fair. The colour range is generally pretty gorgeous though, in the long term i'd like to have more of them.

General note on gel pens - I've got a love-hate relationship with gel pens honestly. I find I can get more consistent results out of them because the ink doesn't settle and you don't have to prime the nibs, but that's only if you can find a good brand... and then a good specific pen lol. I've also found an issue when you don't let the medium below dry properly re: smudging, but it also seems like if your work isn't boneeee dry (like overnight or multiple days of alcohol markers drying) the gel can very easily take on the colour of the pigment underneath, especially darker ones. Oddly this doesn't always show up when scanning, but it will look odd in person. Not always a draw back though - it looks great for white detailing in shadow.

Sakura Gelly Roll 08 - Not sure if there's other sizes (or their efficacy) so I thought I'd be specific because if there's one thing about gel pens the specificity MATTERS. I've got a couple of these and they don't disappoint (insofar as my expectations for gel pens go)

Uniball signo broad - this was my favourite until it ran out of ink. I cannot say for the uniball signo (without the broad part) which seemingly just gave up delivering ink and enjoys carving lines on the page and maybe delivering just enough ink that you can see where the ball is on the track it leaves behind. But the broad? I really liked. It honestly probably performs the same as the gelly roll but the pen just feels nicer to use lol, and the fact that it ran out of ink rather than dried out speaks for how much I liked it lol

as a general warning though - basically any gel pen or acrylic pen should be the last thing you do on your piece, because the second it goes down you will not be doing any more colouring in that area (unless you paint with acrylics). You can maybe use lineart pens on top of them once fully dried for at least an hour (ideally more) but it's very likely to smudge.

honestly... if you scan your work, there's no shame in cloning a white area of your work to use as a highlight post-scan. i always feel like im cheating until i remind myself that every digital-artist peer i have gets do to this at their leisure lol. i'd recommend getting a good scan/photo of the work before adding any highlights anyway because it's sooo easy to bugger them up and be unable to fix it (i say this as someone who never remembers and always regrets it lol)

examples:

you can see where the opacity doesn't quite hide what it's covering - an extra layer or digital correction would have been great. pretty sure this was artistro acrylic pen. but the unseen thing is i had to correct around the iris to the point where i said "well fuck i can't do what i want now" and just fixed it digitally.

dot highlights on the left and in/around the eye - definitely gelly roll. gel pens are really good for little pin pricks because you avoid the ball-point smearing things too thin and you can get pretty high opacity from that. also some more digital "help" with a bit of airbrush glow.

Definitely gel pen but i forget which kind, but I wanted to show what I meant by "picking up some pigments" and how can can be a boon, but also how sometimes the scanner just picks it up as white anyway (left is scanned, right is a photo - you can see it's purplish in the shadows)

[acetechne]

Queb D3 please? Also I just noticed the highlighters(??) and- damn. That's amazing. The drawings look so good!

he's crying because mr lego asked why montreal (literal island) needs so many bridges

sorry this one came out at a weird angle - i was being Compelled to watch christmas movies and was drawing on my knees at a weird angle

also i am INTENSELY AMUSED that i've been apologizing for the crappy materials every other post and it wasn't even obvious, pics and tldr explanation of my set up below for #posterity

love these dollarama sketchbooks. i don't see them as often anymore but i collect them when i do see them - they don't fall apart like other sketchbooks from there. Since they're cheap you don't worry about ruining them but they're still pretty enough to want to use them.

i usually use mostly pen because pencil still smudges / i hate erasing and so i like to sketch in ballpoint BUT you can do some nice pencil sketches in these too. the ballpoint pen i'm using is one i got offered at the corner store last week - it's a bit smudgy and goopy for my taste but it's always nice to use a new pen for the Sensory and Visual Experiences.

(apart from not knowing where the hell my brushes are) i use highlighters because

1. parents have a lot of cheap school supplies from me and the siblings / office supplies that have accumulated and

2. they are transparent so you can layer them and they dont bleed through like markers would on this paper.

it's always nice to add splashes of colour when you're doodling (and if you're still in school or at work and have this kind of stuff accessible, it's something that's easy to experiment with and practice in the margins of your notes. maybe it's the undiagnosed neurodivergencies talkin but doodling on my notes is just a Constant in my life for better or for worse.)

oh yeah and limiting your colour palette is always beneficial when trying to do something quickly and get your practice in, this youtube guy does a great job of explaining that (although i'm drawing less on values and more on vibes for this exercise).

(shh sketches for comic brainstorming Ignore)

[fairy-studies-blr]

What specific materials do you use for annotating? (I'm having trouble finidng pens and highlighters that dont bleed through the page or smudge)

Ok, I feel you on the whole highlighter bleeding through the page thing. It’s really annoying. Normally what I do is if I’m using a book with pretty thin pages (the kind that highlighter normally bleeds through), I’ll annotate using a pencil, and/or colored pencils and crayons. They work just as well for taking notes and color-coding. You could also try writing your annotations down on post-its and sticking them on the relevant page. I mostly do this when I have a note that’s too big to fit in the margins, or when I’m reading a library book that I can’t write in. Colored sticky tabs are another alternative to highlighting. You can just stick them next to the relevant passage.

Now, I’m not really into buying “fancy” pens and stuff. I normally just buy whatever’s cheapest at Target or Amazon. Or I go to the dollar store. Having said that, I’ve noticed that BIC brand pens I have tend to not bleed as much as some of my other pens. I can use them in most of my books. They are honestly so cheap, and you can get them almost anywhere. In terms of everything else, I don’t really have a specific brand that I look for, so I would just go with whatever you prefer.

If you have any other questions let me know. Thanks for sending an ask. 

[thepygmystudies]

So, this is my studyspot! Actually, its just one drawer, the other one is full of loose leaf and other papers and plastic bags for carrying small things around haha

Anyways, i think this one is so cute, is very colorful and vivid, and it helps me getting motivation for stating. The things I use the most are the highlighters, the post-its, the markers and the crayolas (both witch match the highlighters, the other one i dont use as much). I also don’t use much the gel pens, because they smudge and bleed a lot, and i have to pass over the same writing many times until the color is ok

[cosette-studies]

A GUIDE TO BACK TO SCHOOL SUPPLIES + CLASSIC STUDYBLR STATIONARY

If you dont know where to start, here’s a guide! Remember that you don’t need cute stationary to be a good studyblr- all you gotta do is study.  

First of all- good studying is accompanied by good planning. To keep track of all your assignments, maybe try keeping a planner or a bullet journal! The Leuchtturm1917 is great for journaling (A5) (Bullet journal style) (B5 softcover). And Paper Source has some cute planners!

What are those cute tote backpacks everyone has? It’s either a Herschel or the Fjallraven Kanken. At my own school I see a lot of Vera Bradley

Get a filing system for each class- something to store previous tests, assignments, or handouts in. Keep the syllabus for the class in here at the front! I use the folders above for each class with one side for assignments and the other for tests/quizzes. I used to use the Kokuyo Clear Book.

I use a notebook for each class for in-class notes. I like these Muji notebooks because they’re thin (only 30 pages), the paper doesn’t let ink bleed, and they’re not expensive. I’ve never tried them, but I’ve heard great things about the Campus notebooks too. (A5) (A4) (semi B5) (MIO)

Have a revision notebook. Last year, I wrote all my revisions on A4 paper and kept them in a separate folder. It worked, but it was a bit messy at times. This year I’m using Muji’s PP Binder for revisions, although the Kokuyo SmartRing Binder works well too. I use these for dividers between classes and this for paper refills. 

The pencil case. This depends on your style and how much stationary you need- a small, minimalist case is the PP Double Pen Case from Muji. I use the Lihit Lab Teffa Pen Case because I like to carry my revision and note taking stationary with me. This is a smaller, cute pencil case with lots of designs to choose from. 

Sticky notes are so handy for revising and annotating. Here’s some clear ones (so you can see the text underneath!) Here’s some smaller pastel ones. And here’s some cutesy page flags. 

Pencils! I personally love the Pentel Orenz, but these are nice if you don’t like mechanical pencils. 

Although passively highlighting to study is bad, watch me buy all the cute highlighters there are. I use the Zebra Midliners, but the Stabilo Boss  highlighters are nice too. These highlighters are erasable. 

Pens. I love the Frixion Point 0.4 pens because they’re truly erasable! The Stabilo Pen 68 blurs the line between pen and marker. The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner is famous for not smearing or smudging. The Stabilo Fineliner is similar to the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner but is slightly less expensive. I’ve noticed they run out of ink a bit sooner than the Staedtlers do, though. These Muji gel pens are a bit more watery than your average gel pen, making writing smoother but  increasing bleed through and smudge. They are also incredibly inexpensive! Lastly, the Pilot Juice pens write gorgeously and have a spring-loaded clip to hook the pen onto most anything. 

Miscellaneous Stationary Supplies

Portable scissors

Glue tape

Eraser 

MT Washi tape 

Correction pen 

Collapsable ruler

Portable staplers - (pen-style) (small)

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but I hope it’s helpful! None of the links are affiliate.

[tbhstudying]

hi!!! do you have any recs on great pens that dont smudge if you immediately highlight after writing with it, also can you review the kokuyo beetle tip soft color highlighters

honestly, i would not recommend highlighting immediately after writing. i always wait a bit + finish writing everything i need to write before going back and highlighting. 

that being said, i’ve never had any issues with the sharpie fineliner pens (the actual pens, not the permanent marker sort). i’ve also heard good things about the pentel energel, but i’ve never tested it out myself. the uniball signo in 0.38 + pilot precise v5 rt don’t smear for me, but i’ve heard mixed reviews abt that from other people.

the kokuyo beetle tip soft color highlighters are very pastel. also, they look cool + it’s easy to switch colors while highlighting bc of their dual tip. however, don’t buy them if you plan to use them for underlining things because they just don’t do the thin line thing very well bc of the dual tip.

[boystudy]

[08/01/17] Lots of people always ask me about the mildliners + about what pack I have so thought to make this post a sort of review ✨ I own the "cool" pack and the photo shows all the colours that are in it ☺ put any other questions in the comments 🙌🏼 pros: great muted colours + aesthetic™ + they dont bleed just some ghosting sometimes + really smooth to write/highlight with + double ended which is really helpful as the thin tip can also be used 💫💫 cons: sometimes do smudge ink [especially muji gel pens] + for some reason my red one is really inky so sometimes bleeds but i think thats just my one✨