Let us, for a moment, talk about supplies. One of the thing that keeps me drawing paper dolls is that I don’t need a lot of gear. I can get by on a pretty small set of art supplies.
Here’s what I use:
I keep trying out new sketchbooks. I’ll go to the store and I’ll stand looking at the sketchbooks and I’ll think… this time I’ll try this kind and then I try it and I don’t like it and I go back to my Carson Universal sketchbook. Seriously, I seem to always go back to this sketchbook. It takes both ink and pencil well. It’s a nice size. Also, it’s not too expensive.
By the way, I don’t date the pages of my sketchbook, but I do date the cover. That way I know when I drew the stuff inside.
I like cheap mechanical pencils with lead size .07. I buy them in bulk. I lose them all the time, but they’re cheap, so I don’t mind. I like Bic brand, because they have decent erasers. I tend to use the pencil eraser when I’m not thinking and if it’s a bad eraser than it ruins what I’m working on and I get mad.
3. uni-ball Vision Micro Point Rollerball Pens
These .5 mm black ball point pens are what I use for all my inking needs. I adore them. They are cheap, fairly smear proof (not entirely smear proof) and can make smooth lines. They work well on my sketchpads and they are much cheaper than actual art pens. Make sure you ge the .5mm size though, the larger sizes don’t work so well for delicate line-work.
4. Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser
Buy a few different erasers and decide what you like the best. I love these erasers, because they are soft enough not to damage my paper and I do a lot of erasing.
I bought this brush on a whim. I am totally addicted to it now and sometimes take it with me when I travel. Seriously, I am not kidding. It sweeps up all those little annoying left over eraser bits and brushes off you image. How is this not the best thing EVER?
I use these to draw circles (because seriously, who can draw a decent circle? Not me) and other geometric shapes. I like that they are small and thin. I have one for squares too.
So, that’s it. That’s my gear. What do you use to do your art?
I use crayola pencils & crayons, cra-Z-art crayons & pencils, prismacolor pencils & markers, charcoal pencils, normal pencils, watercolours, oil paints, canvas, notepad, watercolor paper, and the occasional sketchpad. 🙂 (I also use fire charcoal and the garage wall, but that doesn’t happen often.) 😀
I used a lot of Crayola when I was younger. As I got older, I moved into artist quality supplies. And then, at some point, I abandoned all color and returned to my pen and pencil roots and now I use the computer for my coloring.
I use primsacolor pencils and markers. I actually just used the markers for the first time this weekend when we were snowed in. They actually belong to my oldest daughter and we sat together and drew and colored for four days. I use mechanical pencils for drawing and generally prefer the cheap bic ones also. I have a set of Koh-I-Nor woodless pencils that are wonderful and blend better than any other pencils I have used but they only come in limited colors so I use my prima colors much more. I use various sketch pads and bristol board to draw on.
I love your paper dolls and print out all of the black and white ones to color when I need something to help me relax 🙂
I’m so glad you love my paper dolls. I want to learn to use markers, because I love the color effects they offer, but I’ve never really used them myself.
The brush is brilliant! I’m going to have to go buy one…
I use mechanical pencils, computer paper for first-draft sketches, sketchpad for final drawings, india ink with a dip pen, & micron markers (for when I’m lazy).
The brush is the best like seven dollars I have ever spent on an art tool. I do not know how I survived without mine and when I don’t have it for some reason, I get annoyed.
love the brush!
and i love mars plastic (and still use it for draft work). but for final art i now tend to use a kneaded eraser ~ no crumbs and less chance of rumpling the paper (since you can only rub it one way).
i’m surprised to see that you use plain roller balls ~ thought you used microns. cool!
: D
People often assume I use Microns and I do sometimes, very rarely. I use them for hyper detail work in very fine points, but generally I find that on my uniball gives me a smoother line.