A bit more ISO 12757-1

This is all very nice, but what if someone would like to try making art with all these fancy ballpoint pen refills without buying an expensive Italian-made pen or spending hours in an office supplies store trying to look for the least-rattly one? There is one more interesting hack-like solution to this - using a clutch pencil (or a lead holder as these are called in Japan).

Retro Writing 13 – the Pomera DM30

In one of the first articles of this series - exploring various weird and retro writing devices - I mentioned the Pomera DM30 as may go to distraction-free mobile word processor. Even though this device is not exactly retro - it was made as recently as 2018 - it is unique and worth further delving…

I’m obsessed with ISO 12757-1

A few years ago, when we still lived in the center of Tokyo, I made a few cool art supplies stores the goals of my walks. Once or twice a week, I would stroll to Ginza or Nihonbashi and visit stores there or along the Sumida river to the Kakimori. I would just browse, test…

Double sketchbook life

Recently I started leading a double life — a double-sketchbook life. In one book, I'm a neat, detail, and reference-obsessed architecture illustrator, but when the evening comes and my family sleeps, I open my leather-bound book on which pages all kinds of monstrous and wonderful art can happen. For the past few years, I have…

Retro Writing 12 – The Panaword

In my wanderings through machines that can be used as dedicated, retro-distraction-free writing devices, I had already gone into a few quite forgotten places. I'm fascinated by machines that I was not able to try because, in their hay day, I was just a kid with for whom his AMIGA 500 was everything. This time,…

I’m lost… because of AI

Hi Matt! I saw a post where you talk about AI, but what do you think we should do as artists? I've so lost my motivation and drive to keep on… I'm lost. With the permission of the person who e-mailed me with this question, I'm uploading my answer for all of you to read.…

Ghibli animations you haven’t seen (probably)

I love animated movies – I think that this form of art, when done right, can be one of the most imaginative ways of showing stories and worlds fantastic. But, I somehow never really got into short-form animation. I have seen some great ones, yes (like our favorite Magnetic Rose or some of the Animatrix collection, for example),…

Retro writing 11 – Casio HW-300JS

The device I'm trying to use in this part of this retro writing series of articles is genuinely unique. I knew I had to try it out as soon as I saw it on the Japanese second-hand goods website I usually frequent. A small format, portable, personal word processor with a built-in printer! This should…

Making a book (in Japan)

Just recently, my third book to be published in Japan arrived at my door! Every time seeing a new book completed is just a moment of many complex feelings: joy and relief, feeling of accomplishment, and also giddy anticipation for seeing the books on bookstore shelves. This is the end of a long, arduous process,…

Retro Writing 10 – AlphaSmart DANA

First, let me explain really quick what an AlphaSmart is. If you, like me, search around the internet for distraction-free writing devices, you will surely find the long line of AlphaSmart word-processing keyboards made by a USA-based company between 1993 and 2007. These were conceptually very simple – a keyboard with a small LCD that…