Pens are usually tossed into purses or lost under car seats. And with the rise of smart phones and other tech toys, they’re needed less and less.

That’s why passersby might have been a little surprised to learn that the long line of people winding around Seattle’s Gage Academy of Art Sunday was all because of a pen.

Of course, it wasn’t just any old pen.

Seattle cartoonist Jim Woodring debuted a seven-foot nib pen at the academy Sunday afternoon, drawing a crowd of people interested in seeing the instrument billed as “nibbus maximus.”

Woodring, creator of Weathercraft and Frank Comics, said he’s not a big fan of being in the spotlight. But he still hoisted the 30-pound pen onto his shoulder and apologized for not having tested it out before the big unveiling.

“Whatever happens will happen to all of us,” he told his audience.

The mechanics of operating the pen — from how much ink is applied from the bucket-sized inkwell to how it’s guided along the paper — is new to Woodring, who has worked as an illustrator and artist for decades.

Essentially, using the pen is like discovering how to draw all over again.

“It can take a long time to learn how to function with this thing,” he said. “And for me, this is going to be learning it all over again.

Why did he make the pen?

“I just wanted to have a giant functioning pen around the house,” Woodring said. “I thought it would be fun.”

The building of the pen, which features a six-foot wood handle and an engraved nib, was sponsored through fundraising by United States Artists.

Curious to see how it works? Watch Woodring show off his creation in the video below.