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Should I wait for a brush pen before starting lesson 2 exercise 3 on texture?

7:17 PM, Tuesday February 28th 2023

I don't have a brush pen at the time of writing this. I knew this was coming when I saw the cast shadows part in the material. I don't have a way to get a brush pen right now as there are other things more important things to worry about right now.

So is it okay to wait for the brush pen and maybe do warmups to compensate, or should I just push through with the pen I'm using now?

One other thing to mention is that the pen I'm currently using is the one I've been using since around 2/5 (box 100) of the box challenge. It's brown and I don't have any other brown fineliners so if it runs out I'll have to use another color, is that okay?

Texture looks really hard so I want to get at it asap.

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7:58 PM, Tuesday February 28th 2023

On lesson 2 it says this, "All the assigned work for this section should be done in ink, using fineliners/felt tip pens as described here. You may also use a brush pen if you have one, though only to fill in large areas of solid black." So the brush pen is totally optional, but it does speed things up.

If you're in the US, you can get a sharpie brush tip pen for $2-3 at Michaels (or probably elsewhere). I have one, and it works well enough for this stuff, but I'll take you at your word that you just can't at the moment, and that's okay.

As far as colors...I think it's more important to do the stuff now than wait for the exact perfect supplies. Just maybe say when you submit the homework that the colored fineliner is the only one you have access to, but you wanted to continue with the course anyway. I think most people will understand.

10:22 PM, Tuesday February 28th 2023

Thanks for the response.

I was'nt really worried about using different colors in general, just in the event that my pen dries up during the gradient or something, I'd have to continue with a pen that's really different in color.

I do want to continue with the course though. It's been recommended to me to continue with the lesson and come back when I have the means (within the same lesson of course).

4:07 PM, Wednesday March 1st 2023

I think as long as you explain, it's fine. You'd still be learning the stuff.

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A lot of my students use these. The last time I used them was when I was in high school, and at the time I felt that they dried out pretty quickly, though I may have simply been mishandling them. As with all pens, make sure you're capping them when they're not in use, and try not to apply too much pressure. You really only need to be touching the page, not mashing your pen into it.

In terms of line weight, the sizes are pretty weird. 08 corresponds to 0.5mm, which is what I recommend for the drawabox lessons, whereas 05 corresponds to 0.45mm, which is pretty close and can also be used.

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