NathanP

Hi Kurchatko,

That's great to know. I'd never heard of a refillable fine liner. I also have the same desire not to waste plastic. I am finished with Drawabox for now, but I was going through so many ball-point and ink pens that I could not refill; I started to think there must be a better way. My first interest was Muji pens because they actually sell refills. I quickly discovered that Muji also sells a fountain pen, and that launched me into a frenzy of research for the best budget fountain pen.

I now use a fountain pen as my primary writing instrument whenever possible. Noodler's Black is the only ink I use; if I had a second pen I would probably get a Flex nib with fun-coloured inks. The nice thing about a fountain pen versus a refillable fine liner is that the metal nib of a FP is more durable than a FL and rarely if ever needs replacement; though it is much nicer to only replace the nib on the FL rather than the whole pen.

Get a good FP and a good nib, and you'll only have to buy ink for many years. I recommend getting a FP that is "hot-swappable" (i.e. it's easy to swap the nib out for another one); for a nib I have fallen in love with Fountain Pen Revolution's chrome EF nib; be mindful of your pen's nib size when buying nibs.

Thanks for your 5 cents :) All the best.

Thanks :) I remember having so much fun with the quarterly promptathons. Keep at it. If you'd like to see them all, I did several: blog.

Hi Rhyldur, I am doing well. Just recovered from some sickness and feeling pretty good now. Thanks for the compliments. I've started freelancing on Upwork and have found it important to create specific portfolios for the kinds of work I want to do; so I focused more on letters for a bit as I do enjoy that.

The book is ready for you :) You can begin creating your contribution whenever you're ready. When you're finished you can either send the final art to my email or upload it somewhere for me to download (e.g. Imgur). Please make your art with a ratio of 8:11 (landscape) as those are the dimensions of the book. Get creative and have fun.

Sorry for any confusion. What I meant by "public contact info" is anything you feel comfortable sharing publicly. It need not contain any personally identifiable info. If you go through with the anon account, I'd be interested to see more of your work there; though, I don't personally have an Instagram account, so I'd be limited to seeing only your most recent posts. Might I recommend an ArtStation account or something of the like which would not limit what non-users can see (Instagram limits scrolling and clicking posts)?

If you know another artist who would like to contribute, go ahead and invite them to follow your lead.

You're welcome, Malcress.

I was able to finish lesson 5

Way to go, Rhyldur.

I would like to make a digital contribution

Thank you for accepting my invitation. Yes, you can contribute digitally; but please wait till the current artist is finished and I update the online record; the current artist may also pass the book to another artist before I get it back. I'll reach out to you when the book is available for you to contribute. Here is the book introduction. Would you be willing to provide any public contact info for the record if other artists want to get in touch?

Wow, what an injurious past XD Sorry to hear about your broken arm. I also have a slightly crooked finger from volleyball. I really enjoy the overhand grip for drawing with pencil. Yay for the Powerball; I'm glad you have access to one.

You're welcome. I wish you the best going forward.

I'm sorry to hear of your pain due to drawing. I know all our bodies are a bit different and have different strengths and weakness, but I don't remember having had wrist pain from a lot of drawing for the last 4 years (now, computer mouse and keyboard usage is a different story :) ). How do you hold your pencil/pen and how tightly? Your grip should be rather relaxed (avoid the death grip!). Do you draw a lot with your fingers and wrist? For detailed work this is necessary, but for bigger parts of your work such as gesture, long lines, ellipses, etc. try locking your wrist and moving your whole arm including from the elbow and shoulder. I do recall getting shoulder and general arm fatigue, but with consistent daily usage my arm adapted and got used to it. How big do you draw? The smaller you make your drawings, the more tiny detail work you'll have to do.

I'm no doctor, but to compensate for the huge amount of computer work I do, I've been regularly using the Powerball most mornings for a few weeks; I think it has helped. I'll also occasionally do some extensor exercises to try to re-balance the forearm muscles for carpal tunnel discomfort. Also on the computer side of things, I recently switched my mouse usage to my non-dominant hand to give my right hand a rest. I do still have wrist issues due to high computer usage.

Hi Rhyldur,

I'm glad you're still trucking on. As we discussed, I got on the Finishing Train as I stepped away from DAB and I'm enjoying the ride . . . or is it a marathon XD. I just began my own art collaboration in the form of a sketchbook. I have made the only contribution so far, but I will soon be passing it on to another artist to add to it: Follow My Lead.

Never thought of it since I don't consider my drawings to have much personality or style to even collaborate with someone. The more I learn the more I realize how far I am from the point of consider myself even an "amateur" artist.

From what I've seen of your work you have a lot to offer; you have much room to grow and so do I. Style is the result of our process and the natural tendencies we develop as we create and grow. An authentic drawing is (probably) as unique as your fingerprint. Would you (yes YOU) at least consider making a contribution to the collab at some point? I could try to mail the book to wherever you are in the world. You're the only artist I connected with consistently on DAB and would love for you to be a part of this collab.

I never joined Discord, but thanks for the suggestion.

Right on, Drusk. Quality stuff.

Hi Rhyldur,

Well this was a too long break, to be honest. I'm really sorry for leaving you hanging. You did not overstepped any boundaries, it was just my life getting rougher and harder that I was emotionally drained to even answer some messages.

I'm glad there was no offense, but sorry to hear your life's getting rougher. I would encourage you look to God for strength and guidance by reading the Bible (listening to what God has said) and praying (talking to God). He does care; God can use hard times to lead us to Him.

• “Napalm Girl” Kim Phuc, from iconic Vietnam photo, on pain and forgiveness | Brief But Spectacular

• Choosing Forgiveness | Kim Phúc Phan Th? | TEDxVienna

I'm quite pleased and proud of what you have accomplished and I hope you the best outside DAB.

Thank you.

Have you ever considered doing collaborations with other artists? I've had the interest for a while, but I don't know any professional / committed artists.

I wish you the best Rhyldur. If you ever want to get in touch you know where to reach me.