Does anyone know a source of ...??

[Guest]

[Roz]

Hi guys!

Mark's looking at new ways of drawing his comics and one way that many artists do it is by using a "Non-Photo Blue" pencil and then what you draw cannot be picked up by scanners etc. You then ink over it and you don't have to worry about scruffy pencil lines.

Does anyone know whether they can get such pencils or pencil leads at their local stationers? I have looked online and I can't see any in the UK at all I have found a make of leads of this special stuff that sells in the US. If anyone is near to a shop today that might have them could they check?

The US make that I am thinking of is "Sanford Turquoise Non-Photo Blue Drawing Lead" but any non-photo blue lead should fit the bill nicely. I'll happily refund any costs this will incurr for you.

Thanks everyone!

Roz

[Nienna]

Hi Roz

I know the sort of pencils you're looking for as I used to use them myself when I did paste-up work.
If my memory serves me right, they're a pale blue colour and we used to refer to them as 'non-repro blue' and I'm fairly sure they were bought locally too (to me I mean).
I'll have a hunt to see if I can find my old pencil case which had one of these pencils in it and let you know what it's called.
There's a Graphics supplier just up the road from me so I could always ask in there for you?
There's also an independant stationers over the road from where I work so I could check them out on Monday for you
No idea on how much they'll cost assuming either place has them, but I'll either PM or email you to let you know.  

[Roz]

Thanks Nienna... perhaps the name difference is why I am having troubletracking them down in the UK.

[Nienna]

Thinking about it, you should be able to find what you want if you ask for 'non-repro blue' pencils.
That's assuming you have a good stationers and/or a graphics supplies shop near to where you are, otherwise I can guarantee the shop assistant will just look at you gone out!  
Anyway, I'll ask for you!  

[MakTheYak]

Having never used these mystery pencils they are a source of much fascination to me... the question I keep asking myself is "Do they not come out on ALL photocopies and scans, or just black and white ones?" Surely if they are a certain colour then a colour photocopier or scanner would pick it up, otherwise what kind of a rubbish scanner / copier is it?? LOL!

[Nienna]

Well, you've got a good point there!  
I used to draw up backing sheets for the artwork to be pasted on to (black ink in a .25 Rotring pen onto 3 sheet card) and they were always printed for us (cos we used a bunch of them at one go) using this very pale blue colour.
The artwork used to get plates made from it to print from and the 'blue' wouldn't show up. The printed ink colour 'might' have been called Process Blue, but I'm not 100% on that one.  
Bear in mind I'm talking 14 ... 15 years ago now, so repro processes have changed beyond all reckoning since then!
I would imagine that the colour scanners/copiers would pick it up ~ like you say, what use are they otherwise?
But ... I don't know that for sure and until I lay my mitts on one of these pencils for you, then none of us will know!  
I'll get hold of one for you and you can experiment with it and I'll be interested to know the results!  

[Nienna]

Rightie-o,
Thought I'd better update you as to what I've found out (or not) so far ...
First off  ~ the stationers ...
When I said that probably the sales assistant wouldn't have a clue what I was asking for was well founded, even though she wasn't a youngster by any stretch of the imagination.
Her collegue knew exactly what I meant but they didn't have what I wanted. They tried to fob me off with summat much too dark and I said as much, so no luck there I'm afraid.
I'm going to try the Graphics supplies place and see if they have what I'm hunting for tomorrow ...  should be fun trying to find out over the phone too!  

I can't remember for the life of me where I've stashed my much-used pencil case which had all my pens and so on in it *whimpers* ... nice Rotring pens ..... and I think it will only materialise once I've stopped looking ... if that makes sense.  

I'll let you know if I'm successful or not, but I have a sneaking suspicion they may not be available any more with the advent of these nice colour scanners ... we'll see!  

*Staedler Mars* is a name which springs to mind, but I can't recall the colour

[Nienna]

Well I did promise to let you know if I found out anything or not and I have! *smug smile*

The pencils you're looking for are made by Staedler Mars and are called "non-print" pencils.  
Apparently pale purple in colour, though I can't attest to this as I haven't actually seen one of them yet.
(The ones I used to use were pale blue you see...)
Anyway, I asked if colour scanners/copier would pick up the colour and was told that they most likely would, sooooo.....
Would you like me to take a wee walk up the road to get one of these pencils and send it to you?
Please let me know  

[Roz]

If you could - that would be great. In the meantime I'll see if they are available here - you know Mark he'll get through pencils in a jiffy

Thanks so much for the help

[Nienna]

Well the place I'm going to get it from is called John E Wright and they have shops in Derby and Nottingham, though I'm not too sure of anywhere else ...possibly Coventry or Wolverhampton but I wouldn't swear to it.
Ben should know of them too as the Nottingham shop has been open years, long before the Derby shop and if you wanted anything half-decent art-supplies-wise then you had to go to Huntingdon Street (Nottm) to get them!  
The lass I spoke to thought they cost around a quid each.
Let me get a couple for him and he can see how good (or not) they are for what he wants them for.

This is their website:~
http://www.john-e-wright.co.uk/
but I think it will be easier if I actually go in and ask for them  

Oh ... where do you want them sending to Roz?
Could you email/Pm his address to me please?

 

[Nienna]

Thanx for sending over the details and the mission has been a success!