My Favourite Items / My Drawing Essentials
Laura Eddy
So after getting a feel for how I work and what I need to achieve in each piece - here are my favourite drawing related items. I’m not claiming that these items are ‘the best’, these are just the items that I love and suit me and my drawing style!
- Staedtler Mars micro 0.5mm mechanical pencil
- Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils
- Faber Castell Perfection 7056 eraser pencil
- Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser
- Bristol paper
- Paper stump
- Tissue
- Staedtler permanent Lumocolor (Fine)
Brief Description
- Staedtler Mars micro 0.5mm mechanical pencil - I love detail and these are perfect for the job! To achieve a similar result with a normal pencil you would be sharpening every 3 minutes. They can give a fairly dark shade as well, so I can do quite a generous part of the drawing with this pencil (when I need it darker I will go over it with a 6B or 8B, sometimes a charcoal pencil)
- Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils - I have used other brands of pencil but I really do rate the Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils. They are smooth (as opposed to dry and scratchy like some pencils I have used!) as well as easy to blend, which is tops in my book!
- Faber Castell Perfection 7056 eraser pencil - I like this as I can erase tiny areas and I use it a lot for highlights (especially hair). I have recently ordered a Tombow Mono Zero Eraser and I feel like it may give this a run for its money ;)
- Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser - For large mistakes… and it matches my other items :) Also, I haven’t had any trouble with it, so no issues here!
- Bristol paper - Suuuuuper smooth paper. I love it! I do have a sketch pad which has a fine grain, however I found I didn’t really like it. Even with the 'fine’ grain, I could never create my own detail the way I wanted it as the grain would get in the way and leave little tiny grain gaps. Also the Bristol paper makes blending really easy. I don’t use any other paper.
- Paper stump - I use my paper stump ALL the time. I’m not sure what brand this is, I got it from my local art store. You can use it to smudge small areas with the tip or use it along the edge and blend a larger area. I have recently bought a new one as my first one is snapping in the middle, however I haven’t used it yet as I like older stumps better! Old ones are not so rigid and already have colour in them. New ones take a while to wear in! Stick it out though, they are great!
- Tissue - I use tissues to blend large areas to make a 'foundation’. I lightly shade the area with a pencil, blend with the tissue and repeat to get the shade / cover I want. This method also seems to erase well (if I need to add highlights). I use tissues a lot for skin.
- Staedtler permanent Lumocolor (Fine) - This isn’t actually part of drawing, however I thought it needed a mention. It is just perfect for signing my prints! It is firm but has a bit of give and makes a nice solid line which narrows / flicks a bit at the ends.
Note: It wasn’t intentional to have mostly Staedtler, however I do like them and it’s likely I’ll stick with them!
I hope this may help you!