Mitsubishi has an excellent record of producing high-quality graphite leads and colored pencils, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they would attempt to make a series of writing and drawing tools for artists.
The (un)imaginatively named ‘Artis’ series came out in 2003 and consisted of 3 types of utensils: a 0.5mm mechanical pencil, a 2mm drop clutch lead holder, and a ballpoint pen using Uni’s pressurized Powertank refill. In addition, Uni’s popular pocket sharpener was also produced in a special blue color for the Artis line.
The key distinguishing feature of the Artis series was its unusual oval body profile. I believe it was claimed to be done so for ergonomic reasons. The shaft was plastic and had two ‘grip strips’ painted(?) on the narrow edges. Personally, when I hold any Artis in my hands, it just felt natural for the broader sides to fall into the crook of my middle finger and flat of my thumb. This left the tip of my forefinger resting on part of the ‘grip strip’.
The other noticeable feature is the stubby clip with ‘Artis’ printed on it. This reminded me of certain clips on classic Sheaffer pens that were designed to be inconspicuous in a uniform pocket.
Lastly, one of the biggest challenges for collecting the Artis series is that 4 colors were produced for all 3 types of instruments: Blue, Pink, Black and Silver. Because the shapes are so similar, I couldn’t tell right away which was which just from glancing at a listing’s thumbnail. I really didn’t need the MP or holder in all 4 colors either, and so I settled on this combination through a sort of semi-logic: Blue and Pink for the ballpoints, because I could (probably) find alternative blue and red ink refills for them; Black for mechanical pencil, and Silver for the lead holder – although I could have gone for a silver MP and black holder just the same.
