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Drawings by Asen Iosifov Tasev

Pencil Artist of the Week: Asen Iosifov Tasev

This week’s featured artist is Asen Iosifov Tasev, a pencil artist from Bulgaria who creates stylized portraits using a combination of graphite pencils, watercolor pencils, ink and coffee. Asen graduated from the “St. Kliment Ohridski”…
Drawings by Pencil Artist Sam Jones

Pencil Artist of the Week: Sam Jones

This week’s featured artist is Sam Jones, a pencil artist from the UK who creates sketches, drawings and doodles using a combination of analog and digital tools. Sam explained which tools he uses and why, and gave some insight into why he…
The History of the Crossword Puzzle

A Brief History of Crossword Puzzles

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Crossword puzzles, like so many things I love, originated in England in the 19th century, although they were first widely published in the United States. They were a derivation of the "word square," a children's puzzle that looks exactly how…
Pencil Artist Ed McNeil

Pencil Artist of the Week: Ed McNeil

This week’s featured artist is Ed McNeil, a pencil artist from the United States who creates drawings, sketches and paintings of animals and pop-culture icons. Ed broke down his favorite tools for creating his traditional drawings: “The…
Pencil Tips to Optimize Pencil Use

Pencil Tips to Optimize Your Pencil Use

I have a pencil in my cup at work. It's a yellow Ticonderoga No. 2 HB, and I love it. Not a day goes by that I don't need it for something. If you're a dedicated pencil user like I am, here are some tips for you to optimize your daily pencil…
Drawings by Pencil Artist Jekaterina Dancheva-Ustrikova

Pencil Artist of the Week: Jekaterina Dancheva-Ustrikova

This week’s featured artist is Jekaterina Dancheva-Ustrikova, a pencil artist from Estonia who creates biological taxonomy drawings of fish, lizards and other wildlife. Jekaterina’s drawings would be right at home in the pages of a naturalist’s…
How Pencil Sharpeners Work

Pencil Facts: How Pencil Sharpeners Work

Image courtesy of popsugar.com We’ve explored the mechanisms of pencils and erasers, and now it’s time to discuss how pencil sharpeners work.  If you’re exploring the site, chances are you understand just how essential our pencil…
Drawings by Doménique Steverinka

Pencil Artist of the Week: Doménique Steverink

This week's featured artist is Doménique Steverink, a self-taught pencil artist from the Netherlands who creates drawings using a variety of paper and pencil types. She gave us a breakdown of her tools,  including which pencil and paper…

Pencil Facts: How Erasers Work

We know pencils work thanks to graphite molecules breaking off and catching onto the fibers of paper.  Today, we’re going to figure out how erasers work to remove those bits of graphite when you make a mistake.  As it turns out, erasers…
Pencil Artist Lysaena

Pencil Artist of the Week: Lysaena (JelLysefish)

This week’s featured artist is Lysaena, a pencil artist from France who is studying at the EMCA animation school. Once she graduates, Lysaena hopes to attend ENJMIN, a school dedicated to video game and other interactive digital arts. Lysaena…