Pentel Creator Collective Featured Creator: Christian “Meesimo” Meesey - Comics & Manga Pro Kit Artist

Hello! My name is Meesimo and I am a life long lover of all things Comics, Manga, Cartooning, Caricature and everything in the venn diagram of visual arts and sequential storytelling.

I am from St. Louis, Missouri, where I currently reside, create, and teach, though I traveled the globe for the last 20 years, with extended stays in California and Florida, studying, exhibiting, and illustrating.

On my travels I have been searching for the ultimate combination of art supplies...and I must say, I organically kept finding myself gravitating towards various PENTEL tools.

I've been writing and illustrating my own comics since high school. My best friend Troy and I formed "Surreal Studios" with a few like-minded friends and we would draw and photocopy our comic zines and sell them to our classmates.

I was frustrated with how the artwork reproduced, though. The tools I was using to ink, if I did even bother inking, left a lot to be desired. Sometimes all I had was ballpoint.

I tried Rapidograph pens but I didn't have the skills or patience of greats like Murray Tinkelman to get a consistent line. I also wanted something more expressive with wider line variation. Pentel's brush pens were what I didn't know I needed.

Fast forward a few years and I'm living in California, rubbing shoulders with professional caricaturists, animators and comic book artists. Whenever we find ourselves at a drawing get together, talk inevitably turns to, "what tools are you using?"

Over the years, at drawing symposiums like Drink & Draw in LA, Ink & Drink in St. Louis, and Miggy's Art Night in Santa Cruz, I have organically added a select few tools that have helped me level up in my professional career with such clients as Disney, Warner Brothers, IDW, Dynamite, Image, Blind Ferret, Cosmic Lion, and others. I have gradually put together my favorite tools that I use professionally and a few that I carry with me wherever I go, along with my trusty sketchbook.

It is a testament to rigorous sketchbooking and "inksploration" that lead to my friend and constant source of inspiration, Chris Koehler, noticing my obsession with Pentel's catalogue of supplies and he graciously invited me to participate in Pentel's incredible Pro Kit series.

Like any great idea, it seems so obvious once you hear about it, except for the fact that nobody has done it before, and certainly not on this scale! I jumped at the chance and it is truly an honor to be part of the project among such accomplished and inspiring creators and fellow educators. It is absolutely a career highlight to curate this Kit with tools that I have integrated into my professional, as well as my personal, artistic practice.

So let's take a look inside the BOX!

My goal was to curate a holistic comics creating kit that features everything I use in my own daily practice. These tools are literally what I'm creating Godzilla covers, GHOST Agents, and TURBO HAWK comics with, as we speak. The kit is well rounded.

A GraphGear pencil with blue lead for layouts and graphite leads for penciling comic pages. I chose the Clic Eraser for Pro for precision erasing and shading. We have a set of Pointliners for technical line work, comic panels, and fine detail work. We have the first VIP: a Stylo Sketch Pen, which is wonderful. It is a unique pen with a nib that feels almost like a classic crow quill. Second VIP is the perennial favorite Color Brush, Black Fine tip. This is an amazing and versatile tool used by comics professionals across the medium. You can do classic Wally Wood-esque clean inking or frenzied Jonathan Way$hak worthy splatter and drybrush. My third VIP is my new and current favorite. I've given this one out as a gift for many of my artist friends since first discovering it last year. The Duo Point Flex Brush Pen. I illustrated the mini-comic signed print (see below) primarily with this tool. (Borders were done with the color brush and point liners). Finally for highlights and traditional fixes, I've included the Presto! Jumbo Correction Pen. It's great for comic illustration as well as caricature. It even works well on top of airbrush.

So what can you make with this kit? Here are some recent pieces I’ve created specifically using just these tools:

For my print, I included an alternate page that acts as a supplement from TURBO HAWK issue 4. I also recorded some exclusive tips and tricks videos!

Ultimately, I wanted to create something that works not only for the professional level artist to help them create the best comics they are capable of, but also something that a young aspiring art student will find useful, photocopying their comic zines and selling and trading them to their classmates, like I once needed but didn't have.

Go forth and create more comics! Share them with us! And remember to Draw Something Fun For Yourself, EVERY Day!

-Best, Meesimo