Talk for Kotonoha

Hey everyone! I just got back these minutes from a short Q&A "talk" I did some time ago for a Polish Japanese language school, Kotonoha, on topics of Japan, languages, communications, creativity, etc.

Less plastic, more drawing (or writing)

I have not been doing any serious art supplies shopping for some time now. Most of the tools I use on the day to day basis last me a long time - I use fountain pens for writing and drawing and lead holders for sketching. I can paint many watercolor illustrations for a whole book…

Retro Writing 14 – Traveler at last.

Finally, the time came to test and review one of the devices that made me interested in dedicated writing solutions in the first place - the Freewrite Traveler! A few years ago, the original device made by Astrohaus - the Hemmingwrite (later renamed to Freewrite, Smart Typewriter) piqued my interest. It launched as a Kickstarter project in 2014 and then was developed further into one of the few distraction-free writing modern products you can currently buy. That device looks and feels more like a bulky typewriter that you would like to place on your desk and never move, so I was more interested in their second design - the portable Traveler.

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),…