Draw More this October!

Artist Jake Parker created the Inktober drawing challenge back in 2009. Began as way to encourage the practice of his inking and drawing skills, the annual event now draws thousands of submissions each year on Instagram by artists of all ages and skill levels.

How do you participate in Inktober? 

1) Make a drawing in ink.

2) Post it online

3) Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2017

4) Repeat

We love this drawing challenge and many of us on staff will be participating. If you’re planning to take part in Inktober you have the chance to win a $50 ARCH gift card! As you post your Inktober art on Instagram, tag @archsupplies and make sure to use the official Inktober hashtags. We’ll announce the prize winner after October 31.

Want to check out some of our favorite pen and ink supplies? We have put together a curated kit with some of our top recommended tools at a sweet deal to help get you going!
 

Check out the ARCH Pen and Ink Set

Review: David tries out De Atramentis Document Ink

We are excited to announce that we are now stocking select colors of the De Atramentis Document Inks from Germany. We handed a few off to illustrator, artist and ARCHie, David Tenorio to play with and review. He came away impressed. Check out his review and a short video he made working with these inks:

After hearing many requests from our customers, we’re really happy to bring in a new fountain pen ink: De Atramentis Document Ink. This hand-made ink is created from historical recipes using high quality European dyes. Coming all the way from Germany, De Atramentis Ink comes highly recommended from a number of urban sketchers and calligraphers.

I was immediately impressed with the rich quality of color as well as the amount of shading this ink produces. Across all brands, I have noticed only a select number of inks have a "shading" quality in which the ink color varies in mark depending on how much is deposited. The De Atramentis lays down nicely and produces a variety of values.

With a brush, the ink has a very rich hue when washed out. I think this ink would be amazing just to paint with in addition to how great it's been in fountain pen and loaded on a dip pen. 

One of the best features of this ink is that it is completely waterproof! Many inks claim to be waterproof only to smudge or run a bit. The De Atramentis has been successfully tested with watercolor and Copic marker and has had zero smearing. This makes De Atramentis a perfect ink for urban sketching and illustration.

If you're at all interested in calligraphy or working with ink in your art, I HIGHLY recommend adding De Atramentis to your collection. At ARCH we are currently stocking 37ml bottles in Black, Grey, Red and Brown, stop by and we’ll be happy to show you swatches of this exceptional ink.

 

New Water Soluble Kuretake Pens

Paige is our resident guru on pens. I asked her to feature some of her new favorites. It was hard to narrow down, so she decided to feature a number of the new water soluble Kuretake pens we have brought it.

Each of these pens is available in-store to try out.

KURETAKE "MAN-TAKU" FUDE PEN NO. 8 BLACK

Fine bristle tip great for extra fine to thick line weights. 

Comes with two ink cartridges. 

Refillable and water soluble.

KURETAKE CLEAN COLOR REAL BRUSH GREEN GRAY

Available in a wide variety of colors. 

Fine bristle brush tip good for fine to thick line weights. 

Water soluble but not refillable.

KURETAKE BRUSH PEN NO.7

Small flexible felt tip pen good for a variety of medium weight lines. 

Comes with two ink cartridges. 

Refillable and water soluble.

KURETAKE DUAL TIP BRUSH PEN NO.55

Dual felt tip- one small and rigid for fine lines, the other big and flexible for a variety of expressive line weights. 

Water soluble but not refillable.

KURETAKE FUDEGOKOCHI XF BRUSH PEN

Extra fine flexible felt tip capable of hairline mark making and fine lines. 

Water soluble but not refillable.

Come in and try these pens out yourself and thanks for supporting your local art supply store!

New To Stock: Noodler's Ink

We have been adding a lot of new items to our inventory since our big move to Carolina street. We’re very proud to announce the arrival of a long awaited item: Noodler’s Ink!

Noodler’s Ink offers high quality ink for fountain pen and fine art use. They are famous for their low cost-to-volume pricing and unique color selection. Customers have been asking us about Noodler’s for a long time, so we were especially excited to see this shipment arrive.

Made in the USA, Noodler’s Ink is 100% handmade and locally sourced whenever possible. Distinct names like “Dragon’s Napalm”, “Heart of Darkness”, and “Blue Nose Bear” are paired with wild imagery on each bottle. Noodler’s claim to fame comes from the interesting properties that are specific to each ink. They stock inks that are waterproof, UV resistant, anti-feathering, freeze-resistant and even “bulletproof”. (Bulletproof is a Noodler’s term for waterproof, bleach proof, lightfast, and archival qualities). The Noodler’s Black, now in stock, is an example of one of these “bulletproof” inks.

We are currently stocking 8 of the Noodler’s inks with plans to bring in more of their exclusive colors. Come check them out today!

New To Stock - Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors

We are testing out 6 colors from Dr. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors. These inks are produced in an extremely concentrated form to achieve the greatest possible brilliance. Each liquid color comes in an iconic 0.5 oz (15 ml) glass bottle package with its own eyedropper.

Currently we are stocking Lemon Yellow, Scarlet, True Blue, Slate Blue, Tobacco Brown and Black. If we sense the demand is there, we hope to bring in the full line. We have them set up for you to give them a try in-store.

Dr. Ph. Martin's colors are primarily formulated for use in graphic arts work on paper surfaces intended for reproduction (e.g. cartooning, illustration, and other graphic arts), and are especially popular for airbrushing. Like all aniline dye base colors, they are fugitive when exposed to direct sunlight over time.

Here is a quick video for you to see these in action.
Come in and try out these watercolor inks today!

A video posted by archsupplies (@archsupplies) on Jan 5, 2017 at 2:57pm PST

New To Stock - Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks

When our friends Queeny and Brittany asked if we could host a calligraphy class featuring color inks we jumped at the opportunity.  With 18 colors to choose from, we knew the Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks would provide the quality and color palette their students would appreciate.

14 of the colors use a thinner mixture of ink, giving a transparent, gradient look with a satin finish. These are suitable for dip-pens, fountain pens, technical pens and airbrushes. These bottles are signified with a blue cap.

There are four inks signified with a red cap. So what's the difference between the different color caps? The red-capped bottles are opaque. Suitable for dip-pens or brush. The opaque inks are available in Matte Black, White, Silver and Gold.

Following the class, I asked Queeny for her observations on these inks. Read below what she has to say.

And don't forget the check her work out on Instagram @travelingcalligrapher

"I don’t use too many inks let alone colored inks, but with my experience with using a few dip-pen ink brands so far, these are a few things I looks for in my inks for dip-pen calligraphy:

1. Dense color
2. Produces clean, crisp stokes without “spotting” (meaning the ink flow does not come down the nib too fast creating that water drop spotting look)
3. Ink that catches and stays on the nib and flows evenly

"I used a 108lb bleedproof paper from Borden and Riley and my first observation when I put ink to paper was the ink was so vibrant and smooth, but it was a bit diluted, so I think if the paper was thinner and non-bleedproof, it would not work as well. All three colors have blue caps which means it will give a transparent look. I found that both Yellow Ochre and Light Blue gave me a beautiful dark to light, gradient effect. By the 3rd letter, the color became an almost transparent color. Crimson came out really rich, bright and opaque. It’s highly pigmented, almost blood-like, hence the name.

"I played with the inks a little bit and I started to mix them, I mixed red and blue and it came out to an awesome dark purple.

"Compared to gouache, acrylic-based ink, it won’t give you that highly opaque and thick ink that some people like for specific projects or special paper. I feel like any paper less than 70lb will not be suitable for this ink. 

"This product was definitely high quality and easy to use compared to most colored-inks out there. My only recommendation is that you must have good quality paper.

"Overall, Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink was so fun to use because of the gradient effect, it was clean and smooth, the colors came out vibrant and bold and the consistency of the ink was easy to use. This ink would definitely work for all levels and especially beginners if they want to try out a brand but don’t know what to choose."

Find Queeny Lu on Instagram @travelingcalligrapher
Check out her Etsy Site

FREE Sennelier Inks Class with artist Eve Skylar - Saturday June 14th, 1-3pm

Come join Eve Skylar, San Francisco-based concept artist and painter working in the animation industry, for a FREE demo class on "Drawing and Painting With Ink on Fabriano Paper". The class is open to all levels and is geared towards illustrators and artists interested in working with ink. The class will be parts: lecture, demo, and hands-on trial station. We will cover general setup, how to prepare surfaces, approaches to line quality, drawing, inking techniques, and painting with a brush. Learn how to sketch directly with ink or take an illustration through the process of rough drawing to final inking. Materials covered in class: Inks, Fabriano paper, Kolinsky brush #8404.

Sennelier Ink Color Chart

NEW Product: GOLDEN High Flow Acrylics

ARCH now carries the full 49 color line of GOLDEN High Flow Acrylics including 4oz bottles and sets. High Flow acrylics come in a wide range of high-intensity colors including transparent, iridescent and fluorescent varieties. They are thin enough to be added to refillable markers, technical pens and airbrushes or can be painted and used to stain or pour onto most painting surfaces. High Flow produce beautiful stains and washes, but can also be used to create intricate detail with small brushes or technical pens.

High Flow Acrylics have an ink-like consistency and a high pigment load, consistent with the rest of GOLDEN's acrylic products. They maintain their brilliancy even when diluted, resembling a glaze when thinned out. Used at their full strength, they are similar to an ink, but tend to be more brilliant in color and maintain a crisper edge than some inks.

Gamblin Dry Pigments

ARCH now carries Gamblin Dry Pigments in our store! Dry pigments have been used for thousands of years to create paints for fine art, scenic painting, and more. These versatile ground pigments can be mixed with a variety of binders and mediums to create your own high quality paints and inks. Mix with an alcohol and water solution to create vivid ink colors or mix with a blend of linseed oil, stand oil, and turpentine to create high quality oil colors. Try mixing them into white gesso to create colored grounds for painting.

Some artists prefer to grind the pigments even further with a mortar and pestle to create an extra fine texture. This not only provides stronger stability of color over time, but actually makes the colors more vibrant. ARCH carries a selection of 22 different pigments, providing a diverse palette for all artists. Come in and try your hand at making paints the way the Old Masters did.

There are some safety precautions that must be taken when working with Gamblin Dry Pigments. Gloves should be worn and you should always wear a face mask to prevent inhalation of these pigments, which are often made from hazardous metals. When safety precautions are taken, the process can be extraordinarily gratifying and fun.