QUESTIONS
1. Have you ever seen a brand new baby kitten?
2. Once you are out of school, do you think you will ever work two jobs?
3. Does it snow a lot where you live?
4. Would you like to move to a different state?
5. Do you think small children should wear masks at Halloween?
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
1. No, but I’ve seen one close to.
2. No, unless you count doing several things at the same job.
3. No, I live in the desert.
4. I don’t really care for moving, so no.
5. I don’t see why not.
So what’s something every artist needs but no one talks about? If you answered eraser, congratulations! You get a digital cookie. Now then, let’s talk about a good eraser, a General’s Jumbo Kneaded Rubber eraser.
Kneaded rubber erasers are really cool. They bend and twist into any shape you like, they don’t leave any shavings behind, and they can be used for a long time. They “clean” themselves a little when you knead them, allowing you to use them more regularly, and without smearing. They are rubber, so they come apart and back together. This particular brand comes in a nice square and works perfectly.
All-in-all, even though there’s little to say about them, they are amazingly handy tools to have around, and much superior to any other eraser you’ll find, though much more expensive.
So I have been working, and I wasn’t. What was I doing instead? Playing a game. On my phone in this case, but it was a deep phone game. Anyway it got me thinking about some things. Like why I wasn’t working, that was a problem. What made playing this game better than working for me? And when I say work I don’t mean boring office job: I actually enjoy doing my work. I don’t know why some games just grab me and make me an unproductive zombie. Good thing I’m me and can turn it around into a blog post, right? (Didn’t think so)
Anyway, I was thinking about why some things make me distracted and it occurred to me that it may be a different kind of mental stimulus, like my brain needs to focus on something different so I play a game. But then I was wondering why some people who have boring jobs chose to play boring, simple phone games, like Fruit Ninja or something like that? After thinking about that for a while what I’ve come to believe is that we as humans want something different, but not too different. I play games that involve lots of strategy and planning, which is similar to what I do, but different enough to be interesting. I think it’s fascinating how things like this work in my head. Like I want something that is the same, but will make me think the same is not boring.
I guess that’s the way we do everything. It’s the reason we don’t like change or end up branching out too much in life. We specialize in what we enjoy, or learn to “enjoy” (Read: tolerate) what we do. And we don’t want to do something different, but we get bored, so we yearn for something else. And something very similar is still something else.
At least this is my theory for the time being. I’m sure it will evolve with time, but now that’s what I’m thinking. If you have any ideas similar or contrary I’d like to hear them. I could just be completely wrong.
QUESTIONS
1. Do you think a 13 year old should be allowed to have his/her own TV?
2. How old do you think a person should be when he/she gets his/her first job?
3. Have you ever carved a pumpkin?
4. Can you do the splits?
5. Do you like to wear hats?
ANSWERS By: Austin Smith
1. Depends on how well the 13 year old treats their stuff.
2. When ever they show they can be responsible.
3. Once, a tiny one.
4. No, I can’t.
5. Yes, I wear one every day.
Smooth writing is something quite a few people desire, for both writing and sketching. Fountain pens are some of the smoothest writers available, but they have some convenience issues. And regular ballpoints require too much force for some people to write smoothly. Pilot’s Precise line of liquid ink roller balls are meant to fill this gap in the pen market. This is the V7 black version.
The pen body itself is straight, nice on the fingers, not slippery, but polished. All necessary info is printed on a label on the side, along with an ink window so you can view your supply, of which there is a lot. There is quite an interesting, fountain-pen-like feed which is clearly visible under the grip. It keeps up well with the writing. From there, there are some strange ribs leading up to an extended point with a rolling ball.
The cap is simple: straight with a nice clip that works well and says “Pilot”, Though it does have some strange indents, it posts well.
The V7 point is 7mm, which is shocking, I know. It is very smooth. It dispenses ink handily and never skips unless it is dry from not putting the cap on. I also find it is less prone to get away from you as some of the other rollerball pens with fine points I’ve used are. The ink itself is quite black. It dries quickly but not immediately. It does get grey after some wetting or smearing, but this isn’t much of an issue.
So overall this is a great “take everywhere” pen, for both artists and writers. Though I would recommend it more to artists because of the nature of the tip and liquid ink. I find that in sketching it pays to move fast, while in writing it doesn’t. Either way it’s a comfortable pen that writes super smooth and lays down a nice line of fairly black ink. It’s worth a look at least.