Today, I felt like a kid in a toy shop at Tokyu Hands. It’s a Japanese store that sell all kind of house ware, cosmetics, traveller, decoration, and hundreds of cool “useless stuff”. They have just opened, and I discovered a huge corner for pens and notebook (30% of the whole shop was shelves filled with thousands of pens !).


I think I stayed there about 2 hours playing with the pens…
where I decorated quite a good number of these sketch pad and note book.


TRY ME ! You won’t ask me twice :).  I started with a Mechanical pencil on a nice Japanese note book.
A young boy came to see me drawing. I could feel how interested he is into learning how to sketch. Just saying that I believe the difference between people who succeed at knowing how to draw, and others, is the determination. It is truly not the initial skill or the number of sophisticated art supplies you have, but the energy that I believe the young boy has inside. Sketching is not a hobby, it’s a passion.


Sometime I think I should train my handwriting… I usually don’t dare to sign, as it mess up everything at the very end ! Kind of shame… :)


The most “weirdo” pen I have ever met. And I really enjoyed it. It’s the PILOT PARELLEL, for calligraphy. You can find it in multiple variation of width for the metal nip. If you look closer, you may notice the “small teeth”. It allows the ink to spread well on paper. I like the subtle scratching sound it makes.

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Awesome calligraphy from Ewa Landowska. You can see more of her work here at Behance.net. She’s impressive.


The way I use is totally different. Anyway, nobody said it was not allowed.

Snkeakers-adidas-pilot-parallel-calligraphy-theDesignSketchbook

Here is the widest pen of the series. Whatever stroke I did, there was a nice feel of Zen coming out of it.


How about ending with a bit of Concept thumbnails ?

I left the shop without buying it despite of having it in my basket for half an hour. I think I should have get it. I already miss it.

After a quick post on Instagram of one of above picture, Scott saw the unusual concept of pen. Very enthusiast, he made an impulsive buying getting the whole series of Parallel pen from Amazon. Scott, if you read me, I am curious to see your next creation with it ! :).

If you too is a fan of art supplies and know some “weirdo pens”, tell us in the comments !

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Hello! I'm Chou-Tac, a Product Designer from France.

If the sketching methods I’ve acquired aid me in my life and in my industrial design career, I believe that they can also help you reach your dream goal as a student or professional designer.

Leave a comment in the blog or send me an email at choutac@thedesignsketchbook.com : )

Chou-Tac

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  • Derry: “22, Riva, Google Search, perspective drawin problems, i want to change my mindset about sketching.Jun 15, 23:46
  • RoZ: “1. I’m from France and i’m 22 years old 2. I need to improve my drawings 3. Google search 4.…Jun 15, 22:30
  • Andrés: “1. I´m from Colombia and I´m 49 years 2. I love to learn something new allways 3. Chat GPT brought…Jun 15, 06:36
  • Simona: “Hi, I’m Czech living in Italy, I’m 42. I graduated a few months ago in product design. I would like…Jun 14, 22:06
  • Simona: “Hi, I’m Czech living in Italy, I’m 42. I graduated a few months ago in product design. I would like…Jun 14, 22:05
  • Smash Karts: “This tutorial is fantastic! I loved how you broke down the steps for drawing a cube in 2-point perspective. The…Jun 14, 03:57
  • Chou-Tac: “Love that answer. :)Jun 14, 00:32
  • Chou-Tac: “That is a beautiful goal you have Mayhiv. :)Jun 13, 13:03
  • Foxy: “I love art and sketching. It heals me.Jun 12, 11:58
  • Foxy: “I love art and sketchingJun 12, 11:57
  • Mayhiv: “I’m from spain but living in Germany. almost 40 years old. I want to become Children llustrator. I discovered via…Jun 9, 03:31
  • Khushi: “I love to sketch,Jun 8, 19:19
  • Chou-Tac: “Yes, 2015 Antonis. Thank you for your support since the beginning of the blog!! :))Jun 8, 15:12
  • Chou-Tac: “Sure you can Leo :)) I invite you to try this tutorial. It is great for beginner to get instant…Jun 8, 15:10
  • Abdurahim: “From Ethiopia,20 year old B/c I have interest You tubeJun 8, 05:07
  • tpink: “NSW in Australia 50+ learnt art at school have more sketch books with 1 to 3 drawings in them then…Jun 8, 02:17
  • LEO DOHOGNE: “Chicago-78, To prove to myself I can draw more than stick people. Everything. I found you site in an internet…Jun 8, 01:46
  • Antonis: “Sweden / 46 New ideas and problem solving. Old follower. No problems. Want to evolve.Jun 8, 01:39
  • Keagan Degoede: “hi! Im from south africa , im 17 years old. im going to do mechatronics after school and i have…Jun 7, 22:55
  • Shravani shashank shende: “I come from india. My age is 21yrs . Because I am a product designer. And i want to improve…Jun 7, 13:35
  • Adi: “Accra GH, 37 yo. Learning to sketch for industrial design. Research looking for some, sort of product design workbook.Jun 6, 13:29
  • Chou-Tac: “Ola Miguel, Que tal? Estoy de acuerdo que dibujar con el mano esta mas la libertad de communicar con las…Jun 6, 01:00
  • Chou-Tac: “Awesome Bria! Congrats for your new job as an Art teacher! I am actually relocating to USA, and considering looking…Jun 6, 00:56
  • Chou-Tac: “Hey Mary, Singapore, so cool. I used to live and work there (Charles & Keith) for quite a few years.…Jun 6, 00:53
  • Chou-Tac: “Hey Joshua, please thank your colleague for the recommendation :D. Let me know how it goes. You may find this…Jun 6, 00:51
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