Straw Dispenser - Meet My Lead

This straw dispenser makes a great pencil holder.

I have been reading "Freehand Drawing and Discovery: Urban Sketching and Concept Drawing for Designers" by James Richards and I can't recommend it enough!

Clairefontaine Sketchbook Review

A couple of weeks ago the very nice Karen Doherty at Exaclair Inc. sent me a sketchbook to try out. It is the 8” x 8” Clairefontaine and it has 50 sheets of 120 g acid-free paper.

Click on all of the pictures to enlarge them.

I was amazed to find out that the paper used in Clairefontaine’s fine art paper is made by a mill almost 400 years old. Learn more here.


This is the back cover. Both the front and back have a nice thick plastic cover in case you get caught out in the rain.


I really like the thickness of the back because I’m usually not sketching on a flat surface.


A blank sketchbook waiting for some ink.

Various pen lines - Lamy Safari fountain pen, Faber Castell Pitt, Staedtler Pigment Liner, Rotring Art Pen, Pigma Micron, Prismacolor, Uni-Ball Vision Elite, Mars Professional

Watercolor pencils - Derwent and Staedtler Karat

Watercolors - Koi 24 color and Winsor Newton Sketchers' Box

Copic markers - they do bleed through, but they bleed through just about anything anyways.

Quick sketches to accompany some quotes from Homer...both of them.

I really like this sketchbook and look forward to filling it up. The paper takes a nice smooth pen line even though it is medium toothed and also handles watercolors well without much buckling. The heavy back cover is definitely a plus.

Head over to the Exaclair Inc. website to see more products from Clairefontaine as well as from Rhodia, Quo Vadis, J. Herbin and more. You can purchase your own Clairefontaine 8" x 8" sketchbook from any of the online retailers here or find a store near you that carries them.

Thanks again Karen!

Do You Draw In Pencil First And If So Do You Use A Standard Pencil Or A Mechanical One? - Cartoonist Survey Answers Compiled.

Here are the answers for the second question of the Cartoonist Survey;
Do You Draw In Pencil First And If So Do You Use A Standard Pencil Or A Mechanical One?
Remember that this is out of 100 cartoonists surveyed.

Yes or No

Yes - 90
No - 10

Standard or Mechanical

Standard - 58
Mechanical - 24
Both - 3
Answer not provided - 5
Does not draw in pencil first – 10

Brand or Type

Not Given - 20
No. 2 HB - 14
Does not draw in pencil first – 10
Prismacolor Col-Erase Blue - 8
Prismacolor Col-Erase green and red - 1
2H - 6
Non-Photo Blue Lead - 4
Dixon Ticonderoga HB - 3
Dixon Ticonderoga 2.5 - 1
Dixon Ticonderoga 3B - 1
Dixon Ticonderoga 3H - 1
Tombow 2B - 2
Tombow - 1
Tombow 4B - 1
Tombow B - 1
3H - 3
2B - 2
HB - 2
Pentel Twist-Erase - 2
Mirado Black Warrior F - 1
Mirado Black Warrior 2 - 1
Staedtler 2B - 1
Staedtler Non-Photo Blue - 1
Staedtler standard - 1 .7 Lead - 1
2mm Non-Photo Blue - 1
4H - 1
Clutch pencil 5.6mm lead - 1
Ebony - 1
Faber Castell DS05 - 1
General No. 555, Pentel HB 0.7 - 1
Mars Lumograph 100B - 1
No. 3 - 1
Papermate #2 - 1
Strathmore HB - 1
Uni-ball Kuru Toga - 1

I Am A Pen-A-Holic.

If you've been reading the Cartoonist Surveys you have noticed that the first question I ask is, "What is your favorite pen to use?" The reason for this is that I love pens! I love the way they feel in my hand and the way they can turn a blank sheet of paper into a work of art. I get giddy when art supply catalogs show up in the mail and must immediately stop everything to peruse them. Well, if you too share my love of pens, pencils and their accessories than you have to check out JetPens. They are a company based in California that sells all kinds of Japanese pens, pencils and such. I have ordered from them many times so I can attest that their prices are great with fast shipping. And if your order is over $25, shipping is free! Take a minute to check them out and tell them David Wasting Paper sent you.

Geekified Plain Wooden Pencil Boxes

I signed up for a six week cartooning class at one of our local art associations. I start on the 27th of this month and I really can't wait. So...since I am such a Geek, I decided to customize a couple of wooden pencil boxes to hold my pens and brushes for the class. The materials I used were the boxes I purchased at A.C. Moore for a buck a piece, a couple of older comics from the dollar rack and some clear decoupage with throw-away foam brush. I just started tearing up interesting pictures from the comics and put about 5-6 coats of the goop on them, waiting 15-20 minutes between coats.

Here are the before pictures;

These are during;

...and these are the completed boxes.

The bottoms.


The ends.

The sides.

...and filled with cartooning supplies.