Happy Birthday Bruce

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bruce colvin .1bruce with motorcycle

The man pictured above in both photograph and cartoon form is Bruce Colvin. He recently passed away in April and this July would have been his 70th birthday. I’m not posting this on his exact birthday because I’m not exactly hurting to share that information.

Bruce was a friend of my family since before I can remember; I can’t remember very long, but still. He stayed at our motel before moving out here and working on a project house of his. From what I understand, previously he was a professor in New York City before his move. He never discussed this with me, but I’m glad that he was. He seemed to me one of the best possible people to have as a teacher.

He never did talk to me directly about much, likely because I was never the only one talking to him, and because I was a kid, and talking wasn’t my forte. We did have several very interesting conversations about my cartoons as those progressed and came into book form. He was fascinating to talk to and just as fascinating to listen to. I wish I was able to recall more of the conversations for which I was present.

He drew an indescribably wonderful picture for my mother’s birthday, spurred my brother’s interest in motorcycles, and always thought of everyone wherever he went. If he saw anything that reminded him of you he would either get it, or, being unable to, inform you in great detail of its existence.

Like I said I didn’t converse with him much, but I will back the sentiment of everyone whom I have talked to about him posthumously; that he was not ‘a very kind person’ or ‘one of the most thoughtful people’ but that he was ‘the most kind and thoughtful person I knew”.

My drawing is not that great but I drew it because I wanted it drawn. Happy late birthday, Bruce.

Review – Micron Rose, Brown, and Sepia Colors

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So now we get to the final group of the Micron colors that came in the 8 pack of Micron colors. These are the weird or non-standard colors, in my opinion.

The first is Rose, which is a pink: they just call it Rose to make it fancy. It’s a very deep, pleasant, pink color, not like the very vibrant, in-your-face pinks that dominate what is considered pink these days. It doesn’t really approach purple, but it is darker than most roses I’ve ever seen. It’s surprisingly nature-y for a pink, though. It does have some problems with bleed-through on thin paper, but not a lot.

Next we have Brown, which I would call light brown. I would say it’s sort of a fertile, soft, earth color. Again, for a light color it’s fairly subdued, not like a Crayola pencil or anything. Again, it’s surprisingly real looking. It has no problems with bleed-through at all really, and goes well in a landscape.

Finally we have Sepia, which I call dark brown. It’s very mud-like. Another deep, saturated color. It can get very saturated though, and end up looking like black in the final product, so it does take careful application. It also tends to pool, resulting in spots of darker color. Some skill is required to get it to look right. Surprisingly, though, it has very little bleed-through even on thin paper.

micron color test 2.0

These ‘non-standard’ colors are very nice overall. If one is looking to do nature sketches, landscapes, etc. these are quite nice. They are very subdued and blend in nicely. I find them much more pleasant than the bright reds and blues of the other Microns. If you just want standard colors for organizing or technical things, these are not the pens you need.  However, if you’re drawing a lot of the outside, or in cool colors, these are fantastic.

Speak Your Mind 110 #546-550

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QUESTIONS

1. Do you think 16 year olds should be allowed to vote?

2. How do you feel about sharing clothes with your brothers and sisters?

3. What do you think is a good number of kittens for a cat to have?

4. Have you ever been bitten by a person?

5. Do you wear a watch?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. No, I know 16 year olds, and they definitely should not.

2. Never had too, wouldn’t do it, I trust no one with my stuff.

3. Three or four, not too many, but not too few.

4. Yes, in a fight.

5. Yes, all the time, it’s fantastic.

 

Speak Your Mind 109 #541-545

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QUESTIONS

1. How much do you hope to make per hour on your first job?

2. When was the last time you missed a day of school?

3. Do you like to use plastic forks?

4. Why do you think firemen wear uniforms?

5. Why do you think TV and movies almost always show vampires as men?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. At my first job I make 20 an hour.

2. Several weeks before I left (hopefully) forever.

3. They aren’t bad, but I’d rather use metal.

4. To identify them in an emergency.

5. Because vampires are symbols for attractive, wealthy men who sold their souls coming to steal young women. So it makes sense for the symbol to be as close to what it symbolizes as possible.

Review – Micron Red, Blue, Purple, and Green colors

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I have reviewed several Micron pens in the past. But in case you were wondering if they could add a little more color to your life, here are some Micron Colors in .05.

It is an eight-pen set of colors from Micron that I’m looking at. It includes black so that’s out. The first four colors I will look at are what I call the ‘standard’ colors. They are red, blue, green, and purple.

I have already talked about the blue and the red so I’ll cover those quickly first. These pens are larger than the ones I reviewed previously so the ink is a bit more saturated. They aren’t as glaringly red and blue as before, but they are still some of the brightest and most vibrant of their colors on the market, aside from the awful nano-liner. Getting this large also makes them more prone to bleed-through, of which there is a slight hint in the blue.

Next we have the purple, which, in the Micron style, is a very aggressive purple. It is very deep, and in low lighting could be mistaken for black. It is very highly saturated, and changes little to none when applying pressure for some time to just tapping it on the paper. Amazingly at this darkness it isn’t very prone to bleed-through.

Finally the green. This is, surprisingly, a fairly sedate green, falling in the middle of forest and lime. It is unmistakably green, but rather unremarkable. It doesn’t jump like the other inks in this set. It just sits there, making it rather like greens in real life which you have to look closely to appreciate. Again, surprisingly enough this color is the most prone to bleed-through in the entire set, even writing fairly fast it leaves dots on the other side of fairly thin paper.

micron color test 1.1

So overall the ‘standard’ colors in this Micron package are great. They’re not really the best for sketches of nature or the outside world, but for labeling and organizing they are great. For example, different color parts in a schematic. It’s nice to have colored pens around and these hold up the Micron standard. I can definitely find a use for them.