Tina’s 2023 Tops and Flops

 

Top of the top: Hahnemuhle!

Twenty twenty-three was a blah year for both tops and flops – not much that incited either ecstatic enthusiasm or flaming outrage on my part. Nonetheless, I have a few products worth mentioning here – my annual roundup of products that were not necessarily released this year but ones that were new to me or that I gained greater appreciation for during the year. Conversely, I also include products I tried that didn’t do much for me – the flops. It’s the first of my annual series of year-end posts reflecting on sketches, products, material wishes and other things I tend to think about as I make the transition to a new calendar year. For links to my past tops and flops posts (which continue to be among my most popular based on Blogger page hits), please see my Favorite Art Materials page.

Tops

Hahnemühle 100 percent cotton sketchbooks (above): Easily climbing to the top of my Tops, Hahnemühle sketchbooks became my favorite last year with the Akademie Aquarell edition. I was already impressed with its student-grade paper, but as I started tiptoeing back toward watercolor this year, the 100 percent cotton version became more important. In the A6 size that has become my daily-carry, it continues to impress me by making all the water-soluble materials I throw at it look good. More significantly, I use wet-in-wet and dry-in-wet techniques without hesitation because I know the paper can take it. Anything that keeps a sketcher from hesitating is a great product, as far as I’m concerned.

Inktense Blocks: Very promising.

Derwent Inktense Blocks (at right): Although I’m still a novice at exploring the full potential of these water-soluble sticks, I’ve had so much surprising fun with them so far that Inktense Blocks came easily to mind as I made my list.

Derwent spritzer (below): Here’s a rather basic product that I did not have high hopes for when I bought it. Because I use it regularly with watercolor pencils, my spritzer is an essential tool, and I’m pretty picky about it. The Honest brand hand sanitizer bottle was and still is my favorite for the fine, consistent spray it delivers. However, as I kept slimming and trimming my everyday-carry bag, even the portable spritzer had to be scrutinized. The slimmer Derwent’s mist isn’t quite as fine as I’d like it to be, but it’s acceptable – and it fits in my small bag perfectly.

Derwent spritzer: Not ideal, but ideal for my bag.

Honorable mention: Derwent Inktense pencils (below): After a rocky relationship that has never blossomed into love, Inktense and I are on friendly enough terms. Certain Inktense colors that I can’t get in the Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle line (despite being my favorite, the Cd’A color range has some significant gaps) have become a permanent addition to my daily-carry palette. It’s still only an honorable mention, however, as I will never squeal with joy about these pencils as some do. But that’s OK – sometimes being good friends is enough.

(Jumpin’ Jehosaphats, Batman – three products in my Tops list come from Derwent! Could it be that Derwent, which often garners nothing but “meh” from me, has finally weaseled its way into my heart?)

 

Derwent Inktense pencils: Finally, a good friendship.

Flops

Sennelier: a solid flop.

Sennelier Ink Brushes: Seeing the brush tip made me think these brush pens held promise, but inconsistency among colors and the dang cap put these solidly in the flop category.

Dishonorable mention: Posca paint markers (below): Oh, Posca – why do you aggravate me so when all I want to do is love you? My infatuation had a real chance of turning into a strong relationship when I thought I had discovered the secret solution to the paint separation issue. Unfortunately, storing pens cap-end down only works temporarily, and then the separation returns. Even worse, it’s not just the white ink that clogs as I had first suspected – all the colors do eventually. I think it’s the 0.7mm “pin type” extra-fine size, which has become my favorite, that has the worst clogging problem (the white one ended up as a full-on fail in 2019). Argghh!

Ah, Posca... if only you would let me love you.

Still, I am giving Poscas only a “dishonorable mention,” not full flop status. After all, they are still the most opaque paint marker I’ve tried, and the colors pop brilliantly on Uglybooks paper. The love/hate continues.

What were your tops and flops of the year?