Drawing Buying Guide

A regular old pencil  and some printing paper  may suffice for doodling during grandma's phone lecture, but what happens when you look down and realise that you want to shade your doodle?  Or make it into a bigger piece?  Or that the colour is dull even when you are pressing with all your might? Your arm is burning because regular pencils can be too dull--or not dull enough--and computer paper is an AWFUL drawing surface. Since the phone conversations seem to be getting longer, you may want to buy a few quality drawing materials.

Drawing Utensils

Erasable, Semi-Erasable, and Permanent Ink
Graphite Pencils  Graphite pencils range from the very soft and very dark 9B to the very hard and very fine 9H. It’s worth experimenting with pencils of various hardness to find the type that suits you best. You will probably find that you keep two or more levels of softer pencils and a harder one for lighter and finer work.	Coloured Pencils  The coloured pencil is becoming increasingly popular due to its versatility and precision. It allows artists to create photo-realistic drawings by layering the various available colours.	Charcoal  Charcoal sticks  can be very messy to use, so some artists like to opt for charcoal pencils.  Like graphite pencils, these are made of a thin rod of charcoal encased in wood or plastic to protect your fingers from the charcoal dust.	Conté  Conté sticks are a charcoal and wax compound which makes them easier to use and slightly more resistant to breakage than pure charcoal. Conté drawings (like charcoal and pastel) require a fixative  to prevent smudging.	Pastels  Pastel is available in a few formats: soft,  hard,  water-soluble,  oil,  and pastel-lead pencils --all in a wide range of colours. Because pastels--especially soft pastels--tend to smudge, it is best to use a paper or board with a toothy texture to capture the particles and give your artwork depth. Water-soluble pastel drawings can be manipulated with a damp brush to blend colours, and oil pastel drawings can be blended using a solvent or linseed oil.  If you do wish to preserve your art, I recommend that you use a fixative.

Brush Pens  Brush pens have a flexible tip - sometimes found as a double-ended pen  with a hard fibre-tipped pen on one end for outlining, and the brush tip, for shading, on the other. These pens are ideal for the vibrant art of hand-drawn graphic novels, as they offer solid colour in a set palette.  Precise shading of colours can be built up by layering.	Chisel-tipped Pens  Chisel-tipped pens have that thick tip found on highlighters,  which makes them great for covering big surface areas. Throw in a nice range of colours and this becomes a fun and interesting tool for experimentation.	Brush  and Ink  Before pencils, and even drawing with charcoal became popular, artists would sketch their subject matter with a brush and paint to make a basic plan of positioning and pose. This method of using ink and brush is still used today--often it is seen in Asian-style ink drawings.	Felt-tipped Pens  Any type of pen can be used for drawing, but felt-tipped and fine-liners are the most popular with artists. Pen can’t achieve the close shading marks that pencil does, so light and shadow representation becomes a precise study of shape and the creation of texture using hatching techniques.	Copic Pens/Markers  Copic pens are multi-liner drawing utensils that are waterproof, environmentally friendly, and the first drawing utensils created especially for designers.

Drawing Paper

Smooth Papers  This type of paper--also called hot-pressed  paper--is great for ink and graphite drawings. It provides good surface for contrasts, light and shade effects, which makes it ideal for drawing portraits.	Different Grains Fine Grain Paper : This paper is good for graphite, wax  and coloured pencils, because it works well for smoothness of shading and tonal blending. Medium Grain Paper : Suitable for pastels, coloured chalk,  crayon  and washes such as watercolour  and inks. Course Grain Paper : Is pretty much used for watercolour work.	Ingres Paper  Ingres paper has a ribbed or woven laid finish, a medium weight, and some tooth which makes it excellent for charcoal, conté and pastels--and good for ink and graphite. It is available in many colours and weights from several manufacturers of art paper.	Bristol Board  Bristol is a multi-purpose paper with a medium  or plate  finish. Plate is great for ink work and fine detail drawing--and it can also withstand wash work. Vellum-finish (medium or kid finish Bristol) is smooth enough for ink work but has enough tooth to accept graphite, coloured pencil, pastel and charcoal.	Illustration Boards  Illustration boards are available in both archival  and non-archival  types, and smooth  (hot-pressed) and medium  (cold-pressed) types. Strathmore 500 is more durable than most illustration boards and holds up to excessive erasing.

Traditional Tools

What, you thought it ended after paper?

Kneaded Erasers	Templates	Eraser Brushes

Digital Drawing

What is Digital Drawing? Digital drawing is the act of drawing or painting directly into your computer--think MS Paint, but much more modern. In the last few years, advances in hardware and software have made it much easier to get a high quality image, and much more accessible to the general public. These days, artists are creating digital drawings for posters,  book covers, illustrations, video games, and even matte paintings for Hollywood blockbusters. Unlike other computer graphics, the foundations of digital painting are in traditional art skills, rather than filters or design techniques. It's a very simple process, and many people use little beside the paintbrush tool and eraser. Once you have a few basic techniques down, the only limits are the amount of time and practice you commit--you can create a doodle or sketch in minutes, or a masterpiece in weeks.

This is an example of a great digital system recommended by PolyKarbon.com: A Pentium III  or AMD Athlon  Processor 600-700mhz 256 MB of Ram 256 MB of Ram  32mb Video Card  13-25 GB Hard Drive  Wacom Tablet  5 button Mouse  48-56 cm Monitor Adobe Photoshop 5.5  Digital Camera Scanner

Related Guides

Drawing for Kids	Arts and Crafts	Arts and Crafts for Kids	Arts and Photography Books	Gifts for Artistic People

 

External Links

• HereWriteNow: Drawing materials and descriptions.
• WetCanvas.com: Different types of drawing papers and their descriptions.
• PolyKarbon.com: What materials you will need for digitalising your art.
• Graphic-Design.com: An introduction to digital art.