Gratitude - Staedtler and Uni-Ball

I believe that one if the most important things that a person can do is express their gratitude and appreciation for the people and things that enrich their lives, and this is something that I would like to start doing more of.
Today I am going to start off by expressing my gratitude to a couple of tools that help make the Land of Le beef: Staedtler Pencils and Uni-Ball Uni Pin pens.

Me hugging my comically oversized and slightly scared looking drawing tools...

I have been using Staedtler pencils (and erasers, lots of them) since art school, and I have never looked back. They have always made a high quality, reliable product. I especially like the HB (although I would never turn down a 2H either). Staedtler pencils provide the foundation of all of the Land of Le Beef sketches.

The pens that I use, Uni Pin by Uni-Ball, are a relatively new find for me. When I started the Beef a couple of years ago, I didn't put too much consideration into which pen I used. Eventually I had bought a bunch of pens just to try them out, and I would just randomly grab one whenever my sketches were ready for ink. Some pens would frustrate me by how fast the ink flowed, or their lack of precision, but I always felt great when I had a Uni Pin in my hand. Now I can't imagine using anything else. They come in different thickness; I typically use 0.2 for the main lines, and 0.1 for small details and shading. If I happen to be doing a larger illustration I might use a 0.3 or even the 0.5.

Anyway, to sum it all up, thanks Staedtler and Uni Pin. You're awesome.

The actual pens and pencils in all their glory...

me and my can-opener

this is based on actual events* that took place in my kitchen one day...

*my can-opener has a habit of getting about a third of the way around a can, and then getting stuck; this forces me to have to use a spoon or fork handle to pry the lid of the can open like some kind of neanderthal. 

the 4 food groups

​the four food groups getting jiggy with it - I think I drew this in my early collage years as part of a project.

I found this illustration in a box in my attic. Personally, I think the carrot has the best dance moves. Anyway, please enjoy, and remember to drink lots of milk.

do the harlem shake

​So I'm sitting in a bar, minding my own business, when this random guy in a panda mask comes in and starts hip-thrusting, head-bobbing, and disc-stepping all over the joint. Then next thing I know, the beat drops and the whole bar is thrashing around like a pack of wild monkeys! And they called it.... the Harlem Shake.

​As it turns out, this particular Harlem Shake (there are more) was a joint effort by the HK Social meetup club and the WWF Hong Kong to promote earth hour (8:00pm, March 23, 2013). Anyway, this is a picture I drew of it...