My Favourite Items / My Drawing Essentials

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!

1. Staedtler Mars micro 0.5mm mechanical pencil
2. Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils
3. Faber Castell Perfection 7056 eraser pencil
4. Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser
5. Bristol paper
6. Paper stump
7. Tissue
8. Staedtler permanent Lumocolor (Fine)
    

Brief Description

1. 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)
2. 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!
3. 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 ;)
4. 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!
5. 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.
6. 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!
7. 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.
8. 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!