What?! Another blog post?! Yes! Is the world coming to an end? I have no idea, but I’m going with “no”. I’m really loving having this digital sketchbook/tablet to get some work done at night. While unwinding in front of the tv, I did some relaxed doodling on a digital sketch I started last week at camp (I think I’m done with it, I’ll post it at some point), I uploaded another batch of moleskin sketches to the gallery (the post about those will come later this week), and now I’m writing this here post about my snazzy new pen case.

I’ve wanted a means to carry around art supplies so I can be more mobile and, you know, get out in the sun and stuff once in a while. What I would need would be highly dependent on what I intended to carry. I tried thowing a loose bundle of various pens and pencils into some of the pockets in my Vest of Holding (which I pretty much wear whenever I leave the house), but they shifted around too much. It was too disorganized. I’ve been eyeballing some cool pocket organizers for a while now, both for some of my everyday carry items but also for art supplies. At some point I might want to find a way to carry some water colors with me, but for now, a good selection of ink pens, markers, and pencils will do. My lovely and talented wife recently got me a slew of new pens to try out, different inks, different nibs, so my pen collection has grown (at least until I decide which ones I prefere). I needed a means to keep them organized as well as portable.

Enter the aforementioned lovely and talented wife yet again:

pen-case

A pocket organizer! Ain’t it spiffy?

 

pen-case-thickness

Perhaps a bit bulky for a cargo pocket, but I could probably slide this into one of the larger chest pockets in The Vest of Holding. More likely it will get tossed in a backpack along with the sketchbook of choice (the Vest of Holding has it’s limits).

 

pen-case-open-1

Look! It can hold all the things!

 

pen-case-open-2

But wait! There’s more! It has a “page” so it can hold even MORE of the things!

I’m not really one of those types that will sit here and geek out about the specific pens I stuffed into this case and list them all for everyone’s pleasure (to be honest, I’m not sure what some of them are, I haven’t even used a few of them yet), but I will give a general listing. On the left hand cover I have mostly my Pigma brush markers (fine, medium, and broad), as well as my trusty Copic Multiliners (various sizes, both refillable and not). I also stuck my favorite mechanical pencil and two pen style erasers (standard and thin). There’s also my go to green block eraser, nothing special there. On the right “page” I have a bunch of pens I haven’t really played with yet, along with a white colored pencil and two different brands of white ballpoint pen (one’s a Gellyrole, the other I can’t remember). On the other side of the “page” I have some replacement ink cartridges and nibs, as well as some pencil led. On the back cover I stashed the majority of my Copic greyscale markers. I didn’t quite have enough room for all 12 in the set, so I dropped out 3 or so of the ones I don’t frequently reach for. I like that I can keep that much stuff together and organized in a relatively small space. It sure helps out in the studio as well as making it easy to grab what I need to go draw outside.

Now I just need to beat this cold so I can take my new toy out into the world.