Left to right: standard wooden pencil, lead holder, mechanical pencil, and sketch stick  Here's a question for artists: when it comes to drawing, what kind of pencil do you use? There are various types of pencils, including the ones pictured above. I've been using a mechanical pencil a lot lately. However, I think wooden pencils feel more natural. But, pencils without wood are probably better for the environment. Besides wood, there's also graphite or lead types to consider. What type(s) do you need for your drawing? There are 8B, F, H, and so on. Each type of lead gives a different lightness or darkness to drawings. I figure if I'm doing a basic drawing, like a cartoon drawing then I don't necessarily need a specific type of lead. But, if I'm doing a realistic portrait, I may want to use various types of lead. So, those are some things to consider when you're getting ready to draw.

D'oh! Here's a problem I'm sure artists, and really anyone who uses a pencil, faces. It's about pencil tips. I don't mean tipping a pencil like you do a waiter. I mean the tips of pencils. You sharpen your pencil, and the way it's sharpened, the wood goes down one side of the tip to the end. It seems like it can make it difficult to use. And, I think when it's like that, it'll keep doing that every time you sharpen it. You have to scrape the wood off of that side of the tip. I've occasionally had this problem with some of my pencils.

I looked back into the archives of my blog. My first post was Thursday, October 16, 2008. It's been about seven years since I started blogging on Blogger. A blog is a great tool for an artist. I think I read somewhere that you could have a blog to have potential employers look at. I like Blogger. For one thing, they have a stats page where you can see how many people are viewing your blog. I've gotten a lot of views on my blog. It also allows for easy redesigning of the look of your blog. There are templates you can customize. Blogger is a great site for an artist.

"Sam the Historian" I've been looking through Christopher Hart's book, Modern Cartooning , again lately. He shows different head shapes you can use for cartoon characters that you draw. I tried a round head shape for this drawing. This character looked to me like he could be a historian. At first I thought of naming him Abraham, but I then I thought Sam might sound better. I gave him facial hair similar to Tom Selleck in the film Quigley Down Under . I imagine Sam's specialty may be the old west. He's really into stuff about cowboys saloons and things like that. He also loves old trains. Sam is really enthusiastic about history.

"Blah" People are in a blah or dull mood sometimes. I have been. I hadn't done much with dA muro on deviantART in awhile, so I did this artwork. I should probably practice drawing more on dA muro. I draw very well on my paint shop programs on my computer, but I haven't had much experience doing that on dA muro. Usually when I use dA muro, I do something like abstract art on it. I don't usually go for any kind of realism. But I may give that a try on dA muro some time. I think, however, it can be fun to just mess around with the brushes and do something kind of spontaneous.