I drew Habbit via a 'United States Steel' pencil. Habbit appears in a pose hitherto unknown to the character (ie, not seen on the show/movie).
...And yes, my scanner was dustier than usual (I'm not kidding when I say I left it open yestereve and found a web in it this morning ...Time to clean!
To skip directly to the character, move the timestamp to 42:58 :3
...Pencil
The featured pencil is 'on loan'. It's not mine (technically), albeit it's in my possession with the option to buy ...but more importantly, I've permission to feature it (and I have, obv)! :D
This particular pencil baffles me. Granted, I'm no pencil expert, but I've done some reading here and there---enough to notice something amiss with this pencil.
What's the issue? ...Well, I find it very, very difficult to pin a vintage on this one. ^^
It's my knowledge that square leads were used until the end of the 1870s, when pencil making became more mechanical and streamlined. Before this time, square leads were used in pencils because it was easier to cut a single flat space than two identical round ones, as we may read about below,
"The explanation for use of square lead in wood pencils is that when square lead was used, it was necessary to cut a groove in only one of the two pieces of wood used to make the case. In order to use round lead, it was necessary to cut matching grooves in the two pieces of wood. Petroski reports that limitations of woodworking machinery may have prevented round lead from being widely used in wood-cased pencils until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Petroski states that by the late 1870s U.S. pencil makers had machines with the precision and speed to mass produce wood-cased pencils with round leads. (Petroski, pp. 186, 251)"
So one would think this pencil is (at least) from the 1870s ...but there's a problem with that theory. See, the featured pencil is marked with a numeric lead grade ('No.2') which so far as I can tell was a grading system not in use until sometime in the early 20th century.
For those who don't know, the first polyscale lead-grading system for pencils didn't use numbers. Instead, the letters, H, B and F were used to indicate the hardness/softness of the graphite (examples would include 'HH', 'BBB', HHHHH, HB, etc).
So, whether mine are late 19th or early 20th century doesn't matter---the pencils are marked with the old polygrade scale and are MUCH more recent than the A.W. Faber should be.
Maybe you think Eagle was behind the times? Ok...
Remember the APC 'Venus' pencils I made a big deal about? I bought a very early pack, and featured a pencil from it here: https://inkbunny.net/s/2621871
So the 'Venus' is (likely) of a more recent vintage than my 'Orloffs', but still have the old polygrade scale. Both (again) are MUCH more recent than the A.W. Faber should be. :3
The TL;DR here is the alpha polygrade scale indeed went away sometime in the early 20th century; save for 'HB' and the uncommon 'F', all lead grades were described in number form by the end of the 1920s.
Anyway, again, the featured pencil shouldn't be ...but it is. :3
Will I buy the featured pencil? ...Nope. I've had my fun with it and got to share it here. Such is enough. :3
It's also worth noting the featured pencil may not be unique. Bob Truby told me he has both square and round examples of this pencil. When I asked about the lead grading, he said he wasn't familiar with it (by that I guess he meant he didn't know when the polygrade change took place ...Bob's not the easiest person to have a chat with). ^^
Habbit kinda looks like he might be a precursor to Angel Bunny (one of my favorite non pony characters from MLP/FiM series. If you ever draw him I'd be very happy. :D
I'm REALLY gonna have to take time and read all the articles / youtube pages you post about the history of pencils. They are fascinating and really make it clear that these weren't just sticks of wood with lead / graphite in them but serious tools for craftsmen/women and should be respected as such. :)
Habbit kinda looks like he might be a precursor to Angel Bunny (one of my favorite non pony characte
The good thing about Habbit is that he's not possible to draw off-model, because he HAS no model. You could draw a pancake and there's probably an episode of the series where he appeared as one.
Unless... perhaps that's the family name? They're all different bunnies given the same moniker? The world may never know.
The good thing about Habbit is that he's not possible to draw off-model, because he HAS no model. Yo
From Gen 1 ...I recall Spike was pink as a strawberry pudding, and just as sweet. :D
From the film, I was horrified that the plant was poked on camera, and we saw the 'blood' spurting out. D:
I remember so much of everything in the pony world was pink, purple and white (often in combination)---very plastic ...and very 1980s (as was proper), but it couldn't hold my attention for too long.
That said, I did watch My Little Pony Tales now and then ...at least, I think I did---wasn't that the one with the ponies living in a proper town and written like a tween drama? There was a pony named Lance----an obvious Greaser, he. I believe he had a comb as his cutie mark.
From Gen 1 ...I recall Spike was pink as a strawberry pudding, and just as sweet. :D From the film,
MLPT was Gen 2, it aimed to follow the original audience with a more mature setting. It had some nice lessons, like that you can be happily adopted or that makeovers don't fix everything. Also alicorns.
Gen 1 is the series where some villains get turned to glass and we get the comment 'Don't worry, they didn't feel anything. They never did.' Some deliciously cold moments there. (And you just gotta love the witches and their 'bad is good' shtick.)
MLPT was Gen 2, it aimed to follow the original audience with a more mature setting. It had some nic
