Tools We Love – Pentel Ink Brush

We like the black ones to use when filling areas in thumbnail storyboard sketches. It lets you clean up these little illustrations quickly and helps simplify small compositions when working small. A lot of artists do fantastic work with these, but we use them in a bit more utilitarian way. They’re similar to the Waterbrushes we posted earlier, but these come pre-filled with inks in a range of colors.

Tools We Love – Utrecht Acrylics

Cheap and creamy, they just work. Bonus tip? Mix these with a touch of Liquitex soft body acrylics and you’ll hit the viscosity jackpot where brush and knife are both made happy.

Tools We Love – Wagner Paint Eater

Got a house with lap siding you want to repaint or need to get flaking and failing paint off relatively flat surfaces like wooden doors or furniture? Do yourself a favor, bite the bullet, and spend a few bucks on this tool, The Wagner Paint Eater. It really only does one thing, but does it very well. No joke, it will cut down your prep time drastically. Way better than sanding, the special disc blasts off the failing coatings and follows up the carnage with feathered edges. Yep, it does the scraping AND the sanding in one go. You may have to purchase additional discs as they wear, but this thing has easily changed what used to be a day full of scraping one side a house into a thirty minute exercise in efficiency.

What? Think this is an odd tool to post about given the creative nature of the others? Think of it this way… Spend some time with the Paint Eater if you’re in need of it and you’ll be able to get back to the creative pursuits you’d rather spend your time on.

Or, if you’re in the neighborhood and spot us up on the extension ladder complete with respirator, overalls, and an ipod, feel free to interrupt us with a couple americanos from down the street. We’re always up for a coffee break.

Installations of Systems Six and Seven

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Seen above, System 7 is a selection of wooden lengths and colors that we handcrafted for public installation. Simple in its design, it’s surprising how much fun it is to work with these objects. We had a great time planning their construction and final composition within the square medium format frame. Tension of color, shape, and balance all reside within these deceptively plain objects.

If you’re interested in obtaining your own custom set of System 7 for your own compositions or are an educator interested in learning more about how these tools can be used in your creative course work, please contact us directly for more information.

Two new series of photographed installations, System 6 and System 7, are available for view at impactist.com.

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