The Magic Nib

January 26, 2011 The Magic Nib

A Vietnamese Folk Tale I illustrated for HOOT Magazine called The Magic Peaches. Its about a clever man who eats up the longevity peaches that were meant for the King, and yet escapes the king’s wrath.

For me, The Magic Peaches was more about The Magic Nib 🙂 I used a crow quill nib to ink these illos. The last time I used a crow quill nib was a long time back at art college, and I never really found it a very predictable experience. The thicks and thins, and random blotches of ink were mostly dictated by the nib’s mood and temperament, and not so much the artist’s is what I remember…

But this particular nib was a gift from someone, and its a total darling! An utterly well behaved nib that can produce super-fine lines too, without making it a scratchy experience! Its possible that I’m quite out of touch with the current generation of nibs, and that such nibs are generally the norm now… but its more exciting to think that I have chanced upon a special Magic Nib. So here’s to my Magic Nib! 🙂