Octopus Write & Draw Orange Skunk

[yazeh]

 

Octopus Write & Draw Orange Skunk

 

Ink Review # 215

 

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🧾 Description

 

Octopus Write & Draw Skunk one of three orange pigment inks made by Octopus. The other two are Monkey & Bunny. If it’s an orange colour, it’s an unusual colour, more like a muted pink. It’s pale, but legible, best suited for M and above nibs. 

Ink has below average lubrication with all nibs. Flow is average. 

Ink has moderate bleed-through and low show-through on copy paper. 

There’s shading but mostly with M, B, and flex nibs. 

 

Cleaning was ok. But I used the pen jacuzzi, for peace of mind.  

 

Color is difficult to capture, but it’s quite close to Herbin Rouille d’ancre and Van Dieman’s Here Kitty Kitty.

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🧪 Chroma

 

 

 

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✍️ Writing Samples (scan)

Rhodia / Iroful

 Scan is too harsh. 

 

 

 

Midori /Tomoe River 68gsm

 

 

 

Hammermill 20lb  

Sorry for the ink splotches. 

 

 

 📸 Photo (artificial light) 

Rhodia/ Iroful

 

 

Midori / Tomoe River 68 gsm

 

Hammermill 20 lb

 

Closeup - Iroful

 

 

 🔍 Comparison

Col-O-ring scan is approximate. Scanner has difficulty to difficulty capturing the colour and AI even more to classify similar ink swatches.

 

 

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 💧 Water Test

 

 

 

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 🎨 Artwork

Creativity or Me and my creatures. 

 

Tintenlabor Basalt iron gall ink (dark grey), Octopus Write & Draw Orange Bunny, Orange Skunk (shirt) (pink), J Herbin Corail des tropiques (Heart) , Jacques Herbin Opal Nocturne (background), Uniball Signo White ink,Talens Mixed Media Notebook.

 

 

 

A Fine Romance

The bunny turned pink when the skunk held her hand.

Octopus Write & Draw Bunny Orange, Orange Skunk, Tintenlabor Basalt iron gall ink, Jacques Herbin Diamant Bleu shimmer ink, Uniball Signo White pen.

 

 

 

 

The Wabbit and the Skank

When the rabbit and the skunk fell in love at the end of the movie, the Wabbit and the Skank, the cinema was in uproar. Cat & Mouse were amused when the Leporidae and Mephitidae families went to war. They knew better. 

Octopus Write & Draw Bunny Orange, Orange Skunk)(bowtie, and upper tail of the skunk), Van Dieman’s Here Kitty Kitty (Skunk front) Tintenlabor Basalt iron gall ink, Jacques Herbin Diamant Bleu shimmer ink, Uniball Signo White pen.

 

 

 

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- Pens Used: Pilot Osmiroid Copperplate (UEF/Flex nib), Lamy (EF/F/M/B/ Stub 1.1). 

- What I Liked: Unusual colour. 

- What I Did Not Like: below average lubrication. 

- What Some Might Not Like: AFOPI (Abnormal fear of Pigment inks), colour. 

- Writing Experience: ok. 

- Pros: Needs the right pen. 

- Cons: Artist can create most of their shade. For others it’s a good ink, if waterproofness is important. 

 

 🧷 Ink Characteristics

 

- Shading: Yes

- Ghosting: Faint. 

- Bleed Through: Moderate with all nibs. 

- Flow Rate:  Average. 

- Lubrication:  Below average. 

- Nib Dry-out:  Did not notice.

- Start-up: Good. 

- Saturation: Nope. 

- Sheen: Faint silver under artificial light with Iroful 

- Spread / Feathering / Woolly Line:  Did not notice.

- Nib Creep / Crud: Did not notice.

- Staining (Pen): No. 

- Clogging: No.

- Cleaning: It's a pigment ink. It was more or less easy. 

- Water Resistance:  Excellent. 

 

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 🛒 Availability

 

- Available in 10/50 ml bottles all over the world. 10 ml bottles are not readily available. 

 

 

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 💬 Closing

 

This is an unusual colour from the Write & draw series. I would say, it’s perfect for some who likes the colour, and needs a waterproof ink. 

 

No fountain pens were hurt in preparing this review.

 

Please don’t hesitate to share your experience, writing samples, or any other comments — the more the merrier.  

 

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmm.  An interesting color -- but seems to be too light to be legible if being used for anything other than drawing.  So I can pass on this one.  But thanks as usual for the comprehensive review -- *and* the fun artwork.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

7 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Hmmm.  An interesting color -- but seems to be too light to be legible if being used for anything other than drawing.  

Interesting is the write term. It's not very legible, unless used with a wet pen and wide nib.

7 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

 

 

So I can pass on this one.  But thanks as usual for the comprehensive review -- *and* the fun artwork.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Glad it was helpful and saved your wallet.

 

[knarflj]

Well, the colour doesn't tempt me at all, but I love the art work!.  Thanks, @yazeh!

[yazeh]

Just now, knarflj said:

Well, the colour doesn't tempt me at all,

Understanble.  

Just now, knarflj said:

but I love the art work!.  Thanks, @yazeh!

Thanks.  🙏

[Sailor Kenshin]

Now the chroma's an owl face.  🦉

 

I admire Skunk's sheen on Iro; among my ink bottles is JH Rouille d'etc, but it looks different than the Skunk.

 

@yazeh:  As always thanks for the artwork and story!
🦨

[yazeh]

16 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

Now the chroma's an owl face.  🦉

 

16 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

I admire Skunk's sheen on Iro; among my ink bottles is JH Rouille d'etc, but it looks different than the Skunk.

The sheen happens with most Octopus W&D inks on Profil with LED light.

 

16 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

@yazeh:  As always thanks for the artwork and story!
🦨

Most welcome! 🙏🙏🙏

 

[LizEF]

Hmm.  Not an orange for me - I like bold and I like burnt, but pale and pinkish? Nope.  Still, I discovered there are quotes about skunks - go figure!   And the swatch cards were fun, and the water test drawing hilarious!

 

Kitty has run out of room for his critters!   The bunny & skunk images are adorable!

 

Great job with such an unusual color, @yazeh!

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Hmm.  Not an orange for me - I like bold and I like burnt, but pale and pinkish? Nope. 

Same here. Though I think on a wall it might look nice.

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Still, I discovered there are quotes about skunks - go figure!   And the swatch cards were fun, and the water test drawing hilarious!

I was surprised too. Glad you had a chuckle with the water test.

 

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

Kitty has run out of room for his critters!   The bunny & skunk images are adorable!

Thanks. I never thought drawing a skunk would be so tricky. I went through so many drawings.  The most challenging was to imagine an anthropomorphic one.  I'm still searching.

 

 

2 hours ago, LizEF said:

 

Great job with such an unusual color, @yazeh!

Thanks! 

[kestrel]

Loved the drawings and loved the review but I will take a pass on the ink.  Thank you for enlightening me on this one.

The skunk quotes were great.  I have had more than my share of encounters with wild skunks and treasured every meeting.  Your drawings caught something of the "personality" of the animals.

[yazeh]

10 hours ago, kestrel said:

Loved the drawings and loved the review but I will take a pass on the ink. 

Thanks! These reviews are hopefully to avoid getting inks we don't need.

 

10 hours ago, kestrel said:

Thank you for enlightening me on this one.

Welcome!

 

10 hours ago, kestrel said:

The skunk quotes were great.  I have had more than my share of encounters with wild skunks and treasured every meeting. 

They are special creatures. Once our neighbours gigantic lab decided to take a nip at one. Their porch and ours smelled liked acrid burned tire. We couldn't go downstairs for a day or two. They had to wash the lab with tomato juice. Poor thing!

Another time, I was checking on our previous cat, who used to love to observe the world from the front porch. A skunk shuffled along. She ignored it. I could then relax, watch  the kitty, watching the skunk.  

10 hours ago, kestrel said:

Your drawings caught something of the "personality" of the animals.

Thank you it means a lot. 🙏

[inkstainedruth]

My husband's cousin used to have a dog, and Mookie thought it was its business in life to kill every skunk EVER encountered.  And the guy's wife despaired of trying to find some way to get the smell out of the dog's fur.  She finally found some recipe online (that some chemist made as a bet -- but which said chemist couldn't get financial rewards from, since the ingredients were mostly over the counter things).  And one of the ingredients was some sort of women's facial cleanser, I think.  So she'd buy out every container of that in stores whenever possible -- and then explain to the people in the checkout line, "Oh, this isn't for me!  It's for my dog!"

That, and following my husband's cousin along whenever he went fishing, so Mookie could roll around on the fish on the shore after they'd been caught.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mercian]

19 hours ago, yazeh said:

I never thought drawing a skunk would be so tricky. I went through so many drawings.  The most challenging was to imagine an anthropomorphic one.  I'm still searching.

 

Are you too young to remember the Warner Bros 'Looney Tunes' character 'Pepé le Pew'?
https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew

He was a Skunk who was portrayed as an amorous French chap. He often had designs on a black cat who had accidentally acquired a white stripe of paint along her back. She was terrified by the prospect, and would try to flee him, while he tried to woo her with stereotypical Gallic romantic ardour.
I suspect that it's one of those things whose comedy was hilarious in the middle of the 20th century, but which might make for rather 'uncomfortable' viewing nowadays.

Part of me seems to remember that the plot sometimes 'turned the tables' on him, so that he was then the object of another character's unwanted amorous intentions - but I cannot imagine what animal would want to pursue a skunk.
Maybe he fell in a bath of black paint or something?

It's so long since I've seen any of the cartoons that I cannot remember!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

My husband's cousin used to have a dog, and Mookie thought it was its business in life to kill every skunk EVER encountered.  And the guy's wife despaired of trying to find some way to get the smell out of the dog's fur.  She finally found some recipe online (that some chemist made as a bet -- but which said chemist couldn't get financial rewards from, since the ingredients were mostly over the counter things).  And one of the ingredients was some sort of women's facial cleanser, I think.  So she'd buy out every container of that in stores whenever possible -- and then explain to the people in the checkout line, "Oh, this isn't for me!  It's for my dog!"

That, and following my husband's cousin along whenever he went fishing, so Mookie could roll around on the fish on the shore after they'd been caught.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[inkstainedruth]

@Mercian -- The thing you have to remember about a lot of cartoons from that era is that they were originally done as fillers between the main movies shown in theaters.  So they had to have stuff that appealed to adults as well as kids.  And of course the jokes were often geared at adults, and would go completely over the heads of little kids.  

I remember when I was in college and watching some cartoon on TV one night with my roommate that year, and there was some REALLY risqué joke made -- and Elinor and I were looking at each other and going, "Did we REALLY just SEE that?"  And of course then waited with baited breath for that cartoon to air again at some point....  Can't even remember now what the cartoon was, or what the joke was.  But I *do* remember watching a "Mighty Mouse" cartoon one time: Pearl Pureheart (Mighty Mouse's girlfriend) has been kidnapped and is tied to a chair.  And at one point she looks at the "audience" and says, "I'll NEVER give up hope -- he's my favorite radio comedian!"  Which of course isn't risqué like in the other cartoon, but of course was clearly ALSO designed to funny to the grownups in the theatre....

I'm now thinking back to my mother's story about when she was growing up.  My grandfather had gotten a raise and to celebrate my grandparents took my mom and my uncle to the movies.  Only they didn't know anything about the movie that was playing (which was, IIRC, the Bela Lugosi Dracula) and because my mom wanted to see the short afterwards (performing dogs) she didn't want to leave the theatre.  And had nightmares for MONTHS afterwards.  Then, made herself watch it on TV as an adult one time and told me that she couldn't believe how CORNY it actually was....  But as a kid?  It terrified her (and I just looked up on IMDB to see when that was released (1931) -- so she had to have been maybe 9 years old when she saw it the theatre.  

Of course she ALSO told me that she'd had nightmares after seeing the 1939 The Wizard of Oz  and couldn't figure out why (having grown up reading the books).  But she said my grandmother figured that it was because she was reading it, and visualizing the characters in her head -- NOT seeing them 15-20 feet high on a movie screen and in Technicolor....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

40 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

Are you too young to remember the Warner Bros 'Looney Tunes' character 'Pepé le Pew'?
https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew

He was a Skunk who was portrayed as an amorous French chap. He often had designs on a black cat who had accidentally acquired a white stripe of paint along her back. She was terrified by the prospect, and would try to flee him, while he tried to woo her with stereotypical Gallic romantic ardour.
I suspect that it's one of those things whose comedy was hilarious in the middle of the 20th century, but which might make for rather 'uncomfortable' viewing nowadays.

Part of me seems to remember that the plot sometimes 'turned the tables' on him, so that he was then the object of another character's unwanted amorous intentions - but I cannot imagine what animal would want to pursue a skunk.
Maybe he fell in a bath of black paint or something?

It's so long since I've seen any of the cartoons that I cannot remember!

I think I vaguely remember it. Thanks for reminding me of it. It's curious when one watches old movies, cartoons etc. But it has to do with all forms of art and literature. 

I was trying to draw the skunk from a photo. I had the same difficulty drawing a black panther. A few of my attempts the skunk resembled more a disgruntled squirrel or some sort of a weasel, before popping.  

[Mercian]

11 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Of course she ALSO told me that she'd had nightmares after seeing the 1939 The Wizard of Oz  and couldn't figure out why

 

Oh come on - who isn't terrified at the prospect of flying monkeys with wheels? 😱
Especially, like you said, when they're shown at that size!

[LizEF]

57 minutes ago, Mercian said:

Are you too young to remember the Warner Bros 'Looney Tunes' character 'Pepé le Pew'?
https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Pepé_Le_Pew

 The old Looney Tunes were the best!

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

14 minutes ago, Mercian said:

 

Oh come on - who isn't terrified at the prospect of flying monkeys with wheels? 😱
Especially, like you said, when they're shown at that size!

Oh, I think that what scared her more was the Wicked Witch of the West.

I keep wondering now what she would have thought of the Gregory Maguire Wicked series....  Not to mention his other books, which turns classic stories on their heads.  I really enjoyed them myself and also the take he did on "Cinderella" -- but couldn't stand the one he wrote based on "The Nutcracker".  For some reason, that one just annoyed me to no end....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth