The other day I was wondering about how “diverse” in my drawing I really have been over the last couple years. Mainly meaning tools and such. I use to try and use a bit of everything on a regular basis. Now days I stick with brush and ink and Manga studio (For the most part. I do use photoshop and sketchbook sometimes as well.)
I spent a lot of years using nibs and other pens. I loved nibs, I just kinda moved away, I think they were
a confidence builder in moving to brushes as a more exclusive tool.

My point is that I just kinda stopped using things other than brushes or digital. Sure, the level of what you can mimic in a good drawing program is amazing, but it doesn’t feel quite the same. You know?

So a couple days ago I was out and decided to pick up a couple new pens. I literally haven’t used a pen to draw in so long I actually didn’t have any I could use. I do have a nice tech pen set, but they are all clogged up and unusable until I take the time to clean them real good.

I bought A 5 pack of various size Prismacolor pens. Something kinda cheap just for some screwing around.
I was kinda surprised how much different I work now with a pen from my usual brush work. It feels like it came back naturally, but it’s a little different than I have grown accustom to.
So I thought I would share some pen type sketches…

One of the first sketches in a sketchbook right after I got the pens:

This was a goofing warm up sketch from this morning (his jaw and chin are against me):

Here’s one:

And I threw some color on that last one:

So I think I will keep using pens here and there and even maybe start incorporating them into my work here and there again. It was a good exercise and I’m glad I did it. I also think I will begin branching out even more again. I forgot ho much fan it is to play with loads of different tools!