Pencil Cup Show and Tell

I always like sharing the tools I like to use when working on my lettering pieces. For this post, I thought I’d share an informal show and tell.

I keep all these in a leather craps dice cup. I came across this when we were getting my mom’s home ready to sell.

Uni Kuru Toga Roulette Mechanical Pencil
This is my most used drawing tool. I talk more about it in my Review: Uni Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil post.

Uni Uni-Ball Vision Elite Rollerball Pen
I’ve been using the Vision Elite for about 15 years. I use this mainly for “general” note taking. I love this pen. Consistent, smooth ink and I like that it’s available in a 0.5mm size. It’s also “airplane friendly” so it won’t leak in flight.

Uni Uni-ball Jetstream Premier Ballpoint Pen – 1.0 mm
I’m not really a ballpoint guy, but once in awhile I like to mix things up. It has a larger diameter, so it’s very comfortable in use. Like the Vision Elite, I use this for general note taking.

Uni Pin Fine Line Pigment Pen
These are my go-to pens for final inking. They come in black or blue and in a variety of tip sizes. I find these smoother than Micron pens, and they perform better over a variety of papers (laser, tracing and visualizer).

Palomino Blackwing Pencil
THE legendary pencil. I talked about in my Review: Palomino Blackwing Pencil review.

OHTO Sharp Pencil 2.0
This is a 2mm lead holder that uses a clutch mechanism to advance the lead. I came across this in a shop in Vienna. I think it was the old school, wooden body that drew me in (ha ha). I’ll use this for larger sketches.

KOH-I-NOOR Hardtmuth 5.6mm Clutch Pencil
This all-metal beast of a pencil weighs in at 42g. This really has a niche use for my work. I’ll use it on larger sketches where I want to fill in areas with a lot of graphite. It does have a sharpener in the cap, but I find it pretty useless. Because I’m using this on larger sketches, I’m okay to have the blunt tip.

Tombow Mono Zero Eraser
A great tool to erase small details that larger erasers would obliterate. The eraser advances with a click of the top—just like a mechanical pencil.

Caliper
I still find these useful to make sure elements of my lettering are consistent.

Raymay Slim Colour Ruler
I got this for the small size. It’s easy to use with a smaller sketchbook and perfect to toss in my messenger bag.