Lake Sketches

On Memorial Day I went to a nearby lake. There were a couple of hundred people who had the same idea and their various activities provided ample opportunity to sketch lots of quick poses.

Green Ghost in the Shell

I was doodling around and thought it would be funny to see Green Ghost in Iron-manish armor.

Not One Falls to the Ground…

I had the fantastic opportunity of having a dead adolescent (Stellars Jay, I think) bird end up in front of my house. It must have been a recent mishap since the body wasn’t decayed and was relatively whole. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity for some up-close study of avian anatomy, I did these quick pencil and watercolor studies.

Probably the greatest discovery for me was to find that the birds rear-projecting claw is in the same position relative to the human thumb. I guess cartoon drawings of birds leave the impression that 3 claws project forward and one projects backward, diametrically opposite the middle front-facing digit. Actually, the back claw is what your thumb would be if you sliced the tissue separating your thumb and index finger all the way to were your thumb connects to the wrist bone, then bend the whole thing back. Amazing!

Cleaning Your Niji Waterbrush Pen

If you’ve read enough of my posts you’ll know that my #1 favorite sketching/inking tool is the fabulous Niji waterbrush pen (thank you Satoshi for introducing us over a year ago. Our feelings for one another grow deeper with each passing sketch). I currently have 3: My original which is my watercolor workhorse, #2 which is filled with Rapidograph Black India waterproof ink, and #3 which has yet to be put into use (#1 is getting worn out due to using it on some unkind paper so it may become my texture/fill in brush).

Since the ink tends to eventually build up (splaying the bristles like any brush and ruining the point), I decided one day to see if I could disassemble the thing and give it a good cleaning. I was a bit nervous because the 3 brushes I have were hard to come by (I know I could order them online but where’s the fun in hunting?) and I didn’t want to damage my much loved Nijis.

Happily the operation has been successful on both active brushpens and each time (especially with #2 ) I’ve noticed a clear improvement in performance, for example the worriesome ink flow increase diminished and I no longer had to worry about wrecking a nice line with a pool of black). Here is a photo showing how the brush comes apart and a few bits of advice.

1. Remove Cap
2. Unscrew reservoir from tip sleeve
3. With your thumbnail, apply pressure at “A” to push brush tip out of sleeve
4. Rinse assembly, use q-tip to clean inside of sleeve
5. With fingernail remove the black buffer (at far left of photo)
6. Gently pinch the brush tip and carefully slide it out of its housing
7. Rinse with soapy water very, very gently (The synthetic bristles I believe are heat-bonded to the circular base “B”. Pretty durable which is great because no ferrule means deeper cleaning, but be cautious).
8. Once clean, shape the brush tip to a point with your fingers. Slowly reinsert the tip into its housing. This is the trickiest part, if you rush this bristles will splay and get permanently tweaked. If a few bristles on the edge get damaged, you can neatly snip them off at the base, no worries.
9. Reverse the process to reassemble.

Happy cleaning.