My Illustration Toolkit
I have experimented with countless types of mediums and brands over the years. Certain things just click, and others don’t. Granted, as our style and priorities evolve, so will our tools. This is my current list of most used tools for illustration.
Pencils
I never thought brand/graphite number would matter, but it makes a massive difference. I was using mechanical pencils for the longest time, but those never erased well. I started using “professional” pencils from Blick. I thought those were nice, but still weren’t vibing with me. Then I gave Blackwing a shot, those are overpriced and I didn’t like the feel of them.
Then last month I decided to give Staedtler a go. I’m loving them right now. People rave about these pencils online and they sure hold up to the hype. They sharpen nicely, the graphite holds up better, and it erases nicely. I plan on ordering more since they are so nice to sketch with and do layouts for final pieces.
One other pencil tool I use is a white charcoal pencil. I use it to go over marker and put in highlights at the end of a project.
Erasers
I use a Tombow Mono Knock Stick eraser to get into tiny corners and erase without brining up the ink I laid down. It’s also nice to hold and is easy to store.
I also have a generic white brick eraser like everyone does, but only use that for level 4 massive earth shattering disasters.
Pens
I mostly use the Tombow Fudenosuke pens now because they are easy to use brush pens and give a nice line variety. You also get a ton of control with the two different pens. One is a shorter nib with less variety, and the other is a more pliable nib where you can get very fine lines and bulky lines in one stroke.
Once and awhile I’ll break out the Micron fine liners. These work best with Copics and other mediums like watercolors when it comes to smudging and smearing.
Markers
I have used tons of different markers in the past 15 years. I always come back to Copic! They really are my favorite. They are expensive, but if you buy refills and take care of them, the cost per use is lower than other brands like Prismacolor. I can not wait to go to Japan and buy all of the Copics. They are much cheaper of there ($3.80 vs $5.85)
Copics have the largest variety of color, offer refills, nib replacements, AND the best color. I also believe I get the most smooth looking coloring and blending with Copics versus other name brands.
Paper
Since I predominantly work with markers and ink, I use Smooth Bristol boards. I just use Canson, nothing special! If you are thinking of getting into markers, please save your markers soul and use marker paper. It makes the experience so much better. More control, smooth blending, and less ink being sucked into the paper.
Sketchbooks
I love Field Notes for writing down ideas for drawings or blogs. They are compact and easy to carry around. I WAS using a nice leather bound Moleskine, BUT I figured out I wasn’t sketching as much (that is not good!). I didn’t want to waste this nice sketchbook on my poop drawings. That is when I went with the generic $5 ( sometimes less if they’re on sale) spiral sketchbook at Blick. I have done about 8-10x as much sketching in the past 2 months I’ve been using it. More sketching = more practice = better work.
Tech
As a hardcore physical medium creator, I was hesitant to jump into the digital world. I was playing with the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil at the store one day and it was the closest thing to drawing in real life. I decided to get one and I use it for simple black and white drawings, or if someone requests digital work for a printer. I only use Procreate because I despise Adobe. No one wants to pay for Adobe Creative Cloud!