UPDATE 13 October 2015: As many people have let me know, the Uni-ball Millino is no longer carried by Jetpens. In fact, my Millino stopped working after about a year, which was rather disappointing. I have yet to find another mechanical pencil that holds onto lead the way the Millino did– the only other one that made a similar claim that I bought (and I forgot to make a note of what it was) didn’t do it nearly as well. Meanwhile, my Uni-ball Kuru Toga (with Alpha Gel) is still going strong after all these years, so I consider it a good purchase!
I’ve had a long-standing gripe about mechanical pencils.
Now, I stopped using wooden pencils a long time ago, mostly for the convenience of not having to worry about sharpening the darn thing all the time. A classic artist will probably tell me that the difference between a mechanical pencil and a wooden pencil is as night and day as the difference between a brush pen and a real brush (I am firmly in the Real Brush camp, BTW), but I’ve become quite comfortable with the things and I use them nearly exclusively for drawing.
But.
Every single mechanical pencil I’ve owned has always had the same problem– the mechanism loses its grip on the lead when there’s still a good 5 mm left, as shown in the photo above. For reference I’ve included an unused lead, and a Canadian dime. The shorter black piece is what was left when the pictured pencil (a comfy Uni-ball Kuru Toga with Alpha Gel from Jetpens.com, which I first got about five months ago) spit it out. That’s nearly a fifth of the original lead going to waste! For years this drove me nuts. I’d do what I could to squeeze as much out of that lead remnant, but every time it seemed like I was throwing a disappointing percentage of my money into the garbage.
Until now!
Behold the Uni-ball Millino, also from Jetpens. The grip isn’t as comfy as the Kuru Toga’s Alpha Gel, but it will hold on tight to that lead until the last millimeter (and for a reasonable price, too). See how little of the lead is left when the Millino is done with it! In fact, what I did was to take that enormous piece which the Kuru Toga dropped and stuck it in the Millino to polish it off. That way I get the comfort and rotating power (did I mention that pencil turns the lead automatically so you can keep a sharper point on your lead? Brilliant.) of the Kuru Toga, and still be economical for the last bit.
You might wonder if it wouldn’t just be more convenient to use the Millino all the time and not be bothered with having to move the final piece of lead from one mechanical pencil to the other. I did, in fact, consider that when I first got the Millino. But there is an important thing to know about it: due to its nature, it doesn’t play well with certain drafting tools.
If you examine the clutch mechanism of both pencils closely, you’ll see that the Millino (on the right) has a much shorter tip. That may not at first seem like a big deal, but if you want to use a ruler or french curve or Ames lettering guide, that tip is necessary. The long tip allows for a smooth gliding surface against the edge of a ruler (and gives you a better view of your lead against the paper). The Millino won’t even fit into my lettering guide.
So there you have it! The one-two punch of the Kuru Toga plus the Millino means I get the best of both worlds.
(Hope you enjoyed the glimpses of upcoming Galaxion pages!)
Ah, well, it’s harder to do pencil shading with a mech pencil than with a wooden one.
Back in junior high and high school (when I used mech pencils almost exclusively) that was quite an annoyance. It’s nice to see things improve! And nice to see upcoming Galaxion plot…
(Oh… and when tossed around in a backpack, the longer-tipped ones tended to bend. But maybe that’s just me.)
I know. I just have to tell myself I’m better off not doing all the shading, because otherwise I’d get smudge marks all over my hand (and the paper, my face, the wall…)
Another innovation I’ve seen in these pencils is ones where the tip retracts, like a pen (like this one). I haven’t explored this because my pencils and other supplies travel in a pencil case, but for tossing into a backpack it definitely seems like a good idea!
Move the pencils and let’s see more of the rough drawings! Those look awesome
Are you hoping to see more of them primarily because you want the sneak preview, or because you like seeing the pencilwork? I ask because I’m putting together the next book, and I’m trying to decide what to fill the back pages with. I could include some of the pre-ink penciled pages, if people are interested in that kind of thing…
Hi Tara!
I actually like to see the pencil-work – I think it is a facinating look at how you bring the comic together. This is the stage where the artist really flexes their creative muscle. To tell the truth, I didn’t even realize this was from an upcoming page.
Count this as my vote for some pencilled pages in the next book, please!
Seconded.
Now I know more about mechanical pencils than I ever needed to.
My wife got a kurutoga but didn’t find it any more useful for drawing because of how she holds the pencil, or something like that. I inherited it and it works just fine for writing.
I always found the lead thing aggravating too, but mostly because of the way the lead suddenly slides back into the pencil without any warning. Argh! Presumably the lack of tip is also the reason the Millino uses most of the lead.
First time posting, love the comic.
Huh, didn’t think about it like that, but whenever I’m drafting I’m (well, using CAD…) I use a lead holder and 6H lead (I press really hard, regardless… so I use 6H for my construction lines and such) have you ever tried one of those? because it’s basically just a tube with a grip, it has its benefits….
I do have a lead holder like that, although I think I would end up just scoring the paper with a 6H lead! For me it’s a trade-off between having a nice sharp point but needing to stop and sharpen it periodically, or having a less sharp point but not needing to sharpen at all. The laziness in me won out and I so I keep using the mechanical pencils. So many people like you recommend the lead holders, though, that I keep thinking I ought to give mine another try…
Yeah, the main reason I use 6H with my drafting is simply because of how the velum I use accepts graphite, but on regular printer letter I use a 4H, tops. And you’re right. it’s basically like a mechanical, wooden pencil simply because while it’s more efficient, and you can get more comfortable models, you are stuck sharpening it, which has the same pros and cons as a wooden pencil.
oh well. you know your own problems a heck of a lot more than I do. lol.
The millino has been disconitued.
Yes, I found that out just recently when I went to Jetpens in hopes of replacing my Millino, which seems to have gummed up somehow. Very frustrating! But there are a couple other mechanical pencils that claim to be “lead misers”, and I hope to be able to try out some of those soon.