The discipline with which the Blackwing is perhaps most strongly associated is animation, about which Chuck Jones once said:
“…a flurry of drawings created by a Blackwing pencil; animation that dignifies itself as craft—a dying craft of aging men.”
Paul Carlson began his career at Disney working in the mailroom, but would eventually rise to the position of assistant director. He worked on such notable films as The Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. He also worked on Mr. Magoo, and continues to animate today.
Hand-drawn animation, Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 pencils, and “starting in the mailroom”— each artifacts of a bygone America.
Admittedly I know very little about the rich and storied history of animation in the United States, and in particular, the work of the artists at Disney. But as I read more about it I am struck by the sense of brotherhood and sisterhood found among animators, both young and old. And isn’t an exclusionary, “it’s-our-treehouse” sort of thing either—it appears to be very inclusive, with even the most stalwart of computer animators mantling a sense of stewardship for this “dying craft”. Of course, mine is the perception of an interloper who is likely just hoping this is the case. But, if you’re an animator and would be willing to share some of your thoughts, please leave a comment.
A great photograph and commentary.
I’d like to know something about the drawing board. Why the (metal?) semi-circle and the oval opening?
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Great, thank you!
Michael Leddy: I wouldn’t be suprised if the round item was a plate that could be rotated and the hole was meant as a grip to rotate – and maybe to lift – the plate easily it (but that’s just a guess).
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Thanks, Michael and Gunther. Here is a link with some information about animation light boxes:
http://animation-studio-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/05/purchasing-animation-desk-or-lightbox.html
and one in use:
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Thanks, Sean and Gunther. Now I see it — not a semi-circle but a circle, with the piece that holds the paper at the bottom.
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Something just occurred to me while looking through the recent posts regarding famous people and their Blackwing 602’s. While I do not deny the superiority of the original 602 I think maybe we are overestimating the popularity of the Blackwing among well known individuals. Did other pencils not have such a fervent following?
We typically get our information of who preferred the Blackwing from photographs (yes, other more concrete sources do exist – quotes, video, etc). Indeed, the evidence present in the latest posts all show the famous person in a picture holding a Blackwing. Maybe, playing the devil’s advocate here, it is not that so many famous people preferred the Blackwing, rather it’s that the Blackwing is more easily distinguishable in photographs versus a regular, non-flattened ferrule pencil.
Doubtless there are thousands, if not millions of pictures of a famous person holding a pencil. If we were to look through all these photographs how easy would it be to distinguish a Dixon Ticonderoga from a EF Mongol? Yes, there are specific identifiable differences between the two, but would they be noticeable in a 40 year old black and white photograph? The Blackwing, on the other hand, would definitely be much easier to pick out. So, in summary, maybe it’s not that the Blackwing was so incredibly popular but that it is easier located and identified in pictures where other pencils are not.
Again, not a criticism, just food for thought.
Great site worthy of a truly great pencil. Keep it coming.
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Thank you for your comments, JFPisa.
I invite you to re-read the posts you’ve mentioned, because in them I have neither stated nor suggested that the Blackwing was their “preferred” pencil. The photographs simply capture a moment when the pencil was being used, and I don’t think anything further can be inferred from those photographs.
I recommend that you read this post regarding Frank Lloyd Wright, as I bring up the very issue that you raise in your comment. The company in question has gone as far as to say in their global advertising that the Blackwing was Wright’s pencil of choice, despite the fact there is no evidence to suggest he ever held one in his hand.
Also, I don’t believe there is any post here that says or suggests that the Blackwing, as you put it, “was so incredibly popular”. In this post, there is a subsection titled “How Popular Was the Blackwing 602?” Here is a quotation from that subsection:
“It’s easy to think, because of the Blackwing’s current cult-like status and the high prices they can command, that they were always highly-prized, commonly-used, and widely available. But it may have been just the opposite. Perhaps they were just known within certain professional circles, sold in enough volume to keep them in the catalog and therefore were not heavily advertised.”
A point of interest for this blog is the documenting of instances of the Blackwing in popular culture, including photographs of well- or even lesser-known people using them. Doing so, I think, doesn’t at all suggest that these individuals preferred them (except in the case of Steinbeck and Sondheim, who clearly stated so), and I think my position in the Wright post is pretty clear. Given all this, I have to disagree that I (or “we” as you put it) am/are “overestimating the popularity” of the Blackwing, since I’ve been unable to even simply estimate its popularity to begin with.
If you feel, perhaps, that I’ve just been too one-sided in favor of the Blackwing, well…it’s a blog about the Blackwing. 😉
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