The May 2019 Basic SketchBox and Review of Zig Brushables
For May the Basic SketchBox featured a lot of drawing pens including a Zig Brushables Brush Pen. I also reviewed my own set of Zig Brushables brush pens in this post. For those who want to try out some of these supplies for themselves, I have included my MisterArt affiliate links and my Amazon US and Uk affiliate links down below.
When I opened the box this is what I saw. Lots of pens!
The cover of the May SketchBox had art by Alisha Sloan. Cute llama!
Cutie Boots said, 'There's no tigers this time!" He wanted tigers since last month's box had a tiger on it.
First there was a pair of Manuscript Callicreative pens for calligraphy writing. The pen sizes were 2.5 mm and 4.8 mm and had black ink. These pens retail for around $8.00 per two pack on Amazon.
Next there was a Zig Cocoiro Brush Pen. This pen came in two parts. The turquoise case is the outside of the pen. It doesn't have any ink in it. The pen case comes in several different colors and retails for around $3 to $4.29 on Amazon.
The second part is the ink barrel and brush part of the pen. The ink color was black, but there are other colors such as blue and sepia available. These retail for around $2.99 on Amazon.
Then last step is to put the ink barrel into the pen case. Here is the final look of the brush pen.
Next there was a Sharpie Brush Pen. I didn't know that Sharpie had come out with a brush pen! This is really neat! A pack of 12 costs around $10.99 on Amazon. The ink in Sharpie markers are water resistant and fade resistant, but not totally archival or waterproof.
Next there was a Zig Brushables Brush Pen. These are some of my favorite pens! They are double sided, waterproof, and lightfast. The color I received was Powder Blue.
I decided to use my set of 6 Brushables markers in this review to go along with the Brushables pen in the box. There are two colors on each marker. Each marker has a bright color and a lighter shade of it so you get 12 colors in this set. These markers are water based, but they blend well. I paid $29.50 for this pack 3 years ago, but you can get it for $17.50 now on Amazon.
There was also a triangular Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth Triograph 2B pencil. The triangular shape makes it more ergonomic to hold. These are available at Misterart.com for $1.79 a piece when you join their VIP club.
The last supply was a a SketchBox Signature Brush Pen with dark green ink. SketchBox sells these for $7.00 each on their website .
Cutie Boots liked the Koh-I-Noor triangular pencil. It was the perfect shape for biting.
Did it smell like fish, Cutie Boots?
Then there was the art supplies list, a print by Mike Moreno, and a cute little SketchBox sticker.
Doodlin ' Time!
The Sharpie Brush Pen was really nice and I liked the lines that it made. The gray color was good for subtle outlines. The Zig Cocoiro Brush Pen was like a sumi brush and made a paint like brush stroke. The SketchBox Signature Color Brush was like a waterbrush except with ink in it. It worked well for painting big areas with ink. I liked that the Callicreative Italic pens made thick and thin lines for lettering. The Koh-I-Noor Triograph worked nicely for sketching.
My set of 6 Zig Brushables brush markers consisted of black/brown, red/pink, purple/violet, green/turquoise, root beer brown shades, and navy blue shades. The Zig Brushables Brush Markers come in sets of 6, 12, and 24. They are also available open stock on Misterart.com for $2.55 when you join their VIP club.
S Art Nouveau Design
From 'Treasury of Art Nouveau Design and Ornament'
by Ellie Taylor
I used the triangular pencil to sketch a design for the letter S from the Dover book 'Treasury of Art Nouveau Design and Ornament'. I used the Zig Brushables and Sharpie brush pen to color the flowers and the woman. I filled in the letter S with the Zig Cocoiro Brush Pen and used the SketchBox Signature Color Brush to outline the green vines. I used the Callicreative pen to draw details on the woman's face.
This box had some really nice pens in it and I really liked the Sharpie Brush Pen. I also really enjoyed using the Zig Brushables pens because they blend well and I liked the feel of the brush nibs.
If you want to check this box out, SketchBox offers two subscription levels: the Basic Box for $25 plus $5 shipping and the Premium Box for $35 plus $5 shipping in the US. Shipping is $10 to Canada and $15 to all other countries. SketchBox has a list in their FAQ of the countries that they ship to. Check them out through my referral link. https://getsketchbox.com/refer/Elean-IFGGOHVY