Like most of my doodles this started out accidentally. I start with a couple of lines and just follow them to see where they go. Sometimes I end up with something, other times I just end up with a paper filled with nonsensical chicken scratches, but the way I see it: I have a bunch of paper and I can always just turn it to try again. No big.
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| Princess Bubblegum and The Morrow - 15 mins mechanical pencil and graphite on plain moleskin notebook |
Today I decided to talk about what I use on my day-to-day drawing. Any tool is good really, from rollerball pens to any pencil you can find, but as you practice you might want to experiment with different leads and types of pencils.
Until very recently I didn't have more than some conte crayons, charcoal sticks and a 0.5 HB mechanical pencil. To cheer myself into drawing more I started to research what storyboard artists, character designers and animators liked to use (I follow a bunch on twitter and make a point to read their blogs regularly).
I am not sure who recommended it first, but it was through them that I first heard of JetPens. This online store carries quite an incredible stock of pens, pencils, fountain pens, leads, lead holders and an awesome collection of pencil cases and other totes, bags to carry all your stuff around.
Pretty much all I use every day comes from there, the prices are pretty decent and their shipping is so fast I can't believe they are all the way across the country from me.
My favorite tools at the moment are a Uni-ball Kuru Toga High Grade Auto Lead Rotation Mechanical Pencil, (I actually have 2, one loaded with 2B and other with 4B leads), an E+M Workman Pocket Clutch Lead Holder with 5.5 HB graphite leads and the Cplay Sevenroll Leather Pencil Case.
I use the graphite to quickly figure out shapes, then go back and find details with the mechanical pencil, I use the 4B lead mostly for this.
My drawing hand can't take a lot of work just yet, the softer the lead is the easier it is for me to draw without pain.
The Kuru toga pencil is wonderful, the auto lead rotation really does help. At first I was rather skeptical about it, but after using it mostly on the road to do some quick life-drawing I feel rather sad when I forget it at home.
The e+m lead holder looked chunky, but I gave it a try, I can say it is more comfortable than it looks and the lead leaves nice and light lines on paper that are easy to draw over once I know what I want to keep.
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| What I use most right now. |
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