Brause Nibs for astrology guides.

After seeing some of these Brause nibs in action, I knew I had to have some. I found a great little set at Goulet Pens and they really are terrific. They were a nice addition to the Speedball nibs and handles that I've used for years and they came in handy for illustrating the 2012 editions of Sydney Omarr's astrological guides for Penguin books.

This set comes with 6 nibs and a wooden handle.

I ordered extra handles.

The nib designs are awesome, each offering it's own line variation. 

Pieces in Noodler's brown ink.

Aries

Virgo

I needed to do a lot of thumbnails for this series design and my choice of tools varied. 

I love these  Pentel Twist -Erase mechanical pencils. They come in 0.7 and 0.9 sizes. I prefer the .9 for a wide lead that does not snap easily. The long twistable eraser is not one of those little nubby ones that can't take any pressure, it's awesome. They're easy to find at your local Staples. As usual, I buy in bulk for fear of them being discontinued. 

Both the 0.7 and 0.9 Pentel Twist-Erase pencils.

A Sharpie and a legal pad was all I had handy when
sketching ideas on the phone.

Sometimes a seemingly insignificant thought
becomes the start of an entire idea.

If it wasn't for these sloppy little drawings,
I'd never be able to get this job off the ground!

The Omarr guides are on the shelf in bookstores.

I colorized the artwork digitally so they could be adjusted in the final design; each guide needed it's own color scheme. We created the type design and look for the entire series.  The 2013 guides are in the works at my studio now.

Pentel Color Brush and Indian Folktales.

Pentel Brush pens are one of my favorite tools; in fact I've had one for close to 20 years that I use as a dip brush. I don't know how the brush stays in such great shape at all times... it just does. They're always reliable and pretty economical considering the mileage you get from one cartridge. It also gives you a wide range of line values; I go easily from wide to fine lines and back again. You can find them in different brush sizes at Jet Pens and in different colors at Blick. 

I used them in combination with Calli ink to create a piece for a traditional Indian dance company. THRESH was performing a modern version of "The Absent Lover," an Indian folktale and wanted artwork for a backdrop. This piece illustrates the whole story with vignettes and symbols from the story.

I made thumbnail sketches throughout the script.

The imagery in the story needed to be illustrated in an
all inclusive backdrop design.

These brush pens give a wide range of line values.
They're clean and a breeze to use.

The final art was a projection throughout the performance.

This "Tree of Life" piece is a combination of Pentel Brush pen and Calli ink with a dip brush.

I got the parchment paper was from Blick Art Supply in NYC. They have a terrific paper department.