During January we were using some unused supplies inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon! It was such a great monthly theme and fun to see a range of different work inside the community.

I decided to spend some weeks getting to know Inktense pencils.

I bought a 72 set many years ago and although I’ve used them occasionally, I’ve never seriously gotten to know them or worked out how different they perform than watercolour pencils (in particular my favourite Albrecht Durer by Faber Castell).

The first thing that I did was swatch my 72 set and then to prevent myself from being overwhelmed by an abundance of choice…

I decided to work out which Inktense matched the colours in my Foundations WCP set and my Travel Sketching WCP set.

It was then time to start using them… and I filmed the first two sketches for my Patreons.

I love the unexpected nature of using these pencils for the first time – muted dry pencil marks become a riot of colour when water is added. The Burnt Orange in particular is a bit wild!

This was the second sketch I did with them – of St Mary’s Cathedral.

Next, I used them for a number of quick sketches during an unexpected trip to Port Macquarie to spend time with a friend .

Including combining them with watercolour – using them in the same way that I use WCPs.

Back Home: I continued experimenting with them during my morning local houses sketches…

And I tried them dry as well. (Note:I didn’t enjoy using them as much as Albrecht Durer pencils dry).

From the 12-23 Jan I was in Wellington New Zealand and I decided to pack some Tombow markers (another one of my unused supplies).

Back in August last year when I was in Poland I found myself borrowing some of Suhita’s Tombows and it was on my list of things to explore when I was back home. So this monthly theme was a good reason to get them out!

A plane flight was the perfect way to start using them! 

Aside: I used to do watercolour sketches on the plane but it’s a hassle with water containers etc so in recent years I’ve decided to stick to dry (or quick drying) media.

I ended up using the combo of Inktense and Tombows for most of my sketches during the trip…

There are so many combinations for interesting colour and texture!

I also filmed a couple of demos for my Patreons as well. (If you are part of the community… check out the two update videos here and here, plus the replay of Friday’s livestream where I went through my 2 Wellington sketchbooks.)

I’ll share more about my NZ in future blog articles – so stay tuned for that.

And since coming back I have continued to explore this fun combo.

I particularly enjoyed doing this one of The Rocks – working in a free and spontaneous manner.

I really loved getting to know Inktense in January and will continue to use them in coming weeks. Once again it’s been a super impact monthly theme!

I know that I’m a bit of a cracked record but I just LOVE having a new theme to explore every month and so thankful for the inspiration of the wonderful gang inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon. I love sharing these adventures with you!