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[Pencils & Prejudice] Little Angel & Little Merman

*This review is pure bias, zero objectivity.* The Little Angel pencil—except it’s the 2B version. Sentimental value: 100 points.

Liberty’s leads seem to have improved a lot. They feel way better than I remember, honestly XD

Sticking to the “nothing is forbidden” philosophy: even though these aren’t sketching or drafting pencils, I still had to try drawing with them.

The wood is relatively soft, and sometimes the fibers affect sharpening and make it uneven. But it has that ancestral, perfume-like smell, so the nostalgia is strong.

I originally shaded the background using Roxy, then did one pass of gentle blending with cotton and layered it again. It finally got dark enough (but get graphite shine, which we don't want), but the impurities also scratched the paper. So I took out the Little Angel pencil and cheated by using it as a kind of burnishing/blending pencil. I think next time I have areas this dark, I’ll probably use another brand.

Here, the Little Angel was used on the Little Merman. It really brought back the feeling of using Little Angel pencils as a kid—it’s like the Little Merman and I were childhood friends (?). It actually feels pretty fitting. I used to seriously doubt the meaning of “ritual,” but I guess this kind of emotion or mental state guided by an object in the moment might be what ritual is about (maybe?).

That said, since it’s not a drafting pencil, it doesn’t layer or hatch well with other pencils—graphite doesn’t really stick (including with itself). It might be more suitable for line work, or maybe it should just be used for writing.

Still, I think the next time I draw childlike characters, I’ll probably want to take it out again (or maybe just leave it on the desk?).

Lastly, as expected, highlights still have to rely on correction fluid (X).

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[Pencils & Prejudice]

My wife keeps nagging me about buying too many pencils and stuffing the house full of them, so I have to write a review—otherwise she won’t let me buy any more pencils, which would be very inconvenient (?). *This review is pure bias, zero objectivity.* ROOO (hidden name) Sketch Pencils: B, 3B, 8B It’s a brand I’d never seen before, so I picked up the B, 3B, and 8B just to mess around with. On a regular notebook, they feel fairly smooth when writing, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s still too much wax in them. The writing feel is a bit too sticky—especially the 8B. On rougher paper, it really starts to feel like drawing with a crayon. The B seems more suitable for pure writing; otherwise, when shading, it turns mirror-shiny way too easily, which is pretty inconvenient. The 3B is fairly standard and inoffensive. The 8B, though, feels like it has too many impurities—when I’m in a rush to capture an idea, it gets very irritating to use. LOL. The wood quality isn’t great. When hand-sharpening, it’s easy to shave too deeply and throw the core off-center. You really need a sharp blade, otherwise there’s even a risk of cutting yourself. Also, I’m not sure if it’s a quality control issue, but that 8B breaks very easily while sharpening. Halfway through, it was already down to about half its length, so I eventually gave up on sharpening it to a fine point and just sharpened it bluntly… Layering is kind of painful. By the second pass of hatching with a sharp edge, it already starts turning into a mirror finish, and it’s not easy to erase cleanly.

That said, I’ll keep playing with them. I want to see what other sensations they might bring to my writing or drawing over time. For example, the little merman sketch I did this time actually felt quite smooth and suitable. This waxy slipperiness (different from the smoothness of graphite) oddly evokes a sense of heavy resistance underwater, and a kind of sticky, tactile feeling—like water plants brushing along your hand (?)—somehow jumps right off the page (I’m really forcing the imagery here). Still, it gave me a subtle sense of imaginative immersion. So, overall: not great, but not unusable either. I think I’ll buy a few more and see what kind of sparks they can strike with me during creation. I often feel that creators and their tools influence each other and exist in a kind of symbiosis. Even tools that are hard to get along with usually have some redeeming qualities, right?