Yasutomo Yasutomo Sumi Ink Stick Artist Quality

I used to be a comic book inker (I’m still an illustrator but I don’t do comics anymore). Ink is very important to me. I still love India ink but even diluted, you get hard edges in your tones and it can be difficult to manage. There’s something organic about stick sumi ink that gives you subtlety and your denser tones don’t become reflective adding emphasis where you don’t want it. It feels and looks different. A friend of mine that’s an abstract artist has an obsession with high quality materials. He bought a stick of sumi ink for something ridiculous. I think it was over $200. I can verify that using his ink then using this… side by side… there’s no discernible difference. Do I know for sure it’s the best ink money can buy? I don’t. At least I can verify it is high quality enough to meet the standards of someone that paints for over 3,000 hours a year

I rely on Yasutomo inks and other supplies. With an inkstone, add water gradually, hold the stick upright and grind gently in circles. You can experiment to learn what ink fluidity you like. I recommend counting the water you add by spoonful - so you can re-create your favorite inks, thick or thin.

The quality of this ink is very good for the price. I find that using an ink stick is exceedingly difficult to me, so I tried a few times and switched to ready-to-use ink. This is absolutely NOT the product’s fault but my own. Anyway , beware that using ink sticky is very hard labor and requires a lot of patience (much more than I am willing to give it just to write a few kanji for practice and fun).

Yasutomo Yasutomo Sumi Ink Stick provides a variety of tones. There is a dot of authenticity on the end. Lok for the dot. Because this was a gift, the first one I ordered did not have the dot and was returned . I reordered and the correct one was sent. It measures: inch x 3.13 inches x 9/16 inches. When finished using; wash, clean and dry after each use.

Sumi-e artwork Good quality ink Wonderful fragrance

No shine from deep black when dry on half-cooked xuan paper. Stick arrived intact though the stick was put in padded shipping envelope with green lid stacked on the back (see video) exposing the cellophane-covered stick to shipping dings. But thankfully it arrived intact. The ad promised a single dot on the top end of stick to show it is genuine but there is NO DOT!!! Is this genuine Yasutomo ink??? I have seen Youtube videos recommending the single dot type and purchased it due to this promise in the ad. The ink works fine. See photos for long test swatches to see gradations of color. Very smooth velvety grinding and pigment grinds very fine. Not as black as I imagined. Excellent pleasant fragrance to this ink. I will enjoy using this ink regardless. I do not have experience with Yasumoto ink sticks so cannot tell how this compares in strength, fragrance and quality. I dinged this rating by one since there is no promised dot and because the box was shipped with the cover lid stacked behind the holding box exposing the stick to possible impact damage from the front. UPDATE: I live in a very low humidity desert area. After one month this stick broke in two ( all by itself—never dropped) length-wise so I have two “pencils”of ink stick. I have taped it back together with black tape.

Very nice and useful for the price.

This ink stick produces a high quality pigment without excessive grinding needed to achieve it.