Drawing Materials

. . . the necessities for drawing
and sketching

Below is a rundown of the drawing materials and tools I use to create my artwork. Art materials often come down to an individual choice so experiment with different art supplies to see which paper and pencils you like best. Shop wherever you like . . . you can experiment at your local art store, or order on-line.

Not only that, I am an affiliate. That's right! Not only do I get to show you images of the art supplies from the Dick Blick website, but if you choose to purchase supplies by following my links, I earn a commission. So feel free to buy all the drawing material you wish!

You'll love the great service ... and I'll love that you were properly looked after. (If you prefer to order a catalogue, you may do so at the end of this page.)

So! Here we go with my list of drawing materials.

Paper for Charcoal Drawings:

Many of my charcoal compositions have been done on Meridian paper. It is a paper, which can be used with charcoal, pastels, ink and watercolour. I have also used cold press   .

Look for a strong paper with some tooth on it. ("Tooth" just means the roughness of the paper...the heavier the tooth, the rougher the paper.) You need a paper strong enough to withstand charcoal applications.

When drawing with charcoal, you want a paper with at least a medium tooth on it for the charcoal to adhere to. If you like to work in fine detail, a very heavy tooth will interfere.

Paper for Pencil Drawings:

For my pencil drawings I use various papers. Strathmore, Canson, and Meridian are some of the brands I use. The particular Strathmore is called .

The Canson paper seen below is called .

Charcoal, Charcoal Pencils and Graphite Pencils:

Until recently, I had exclusively used RITMO charcoal pencils. Because they would glide smoothly across the paper, they allowed me greater control. Poor quality charcoal pencils tend to "skip" across the paper and often scratch the surface.

Within the last few years, I had heard that Ritmo changed its formula, and that they have lost their quality. I panicked when I heard this, so I ordered a large bulk of Ritmo pencils. I don’t know if the pencils I ordered were before or after the formula change, but they work just fine.

Since then, I have tried other good quality charcoal drawing materials on the market, and have found that the   works great, as do .

• - These are compressed charcoal sticks. They come in a box of twelve. I use the soft ones for covering large areas like backgrounds.

• - Vine charcoal comes in stick form. It’s a very fine charcoal so it works well for subtle effects (like smoke or reflections).

• - This is pure powdered charcoal dust that comes in a jar. Be careful with this . . . it’s very messy, but effective when used properly. I use it for smooth, subtle shading effects.

I also like Derwent pencils. There is a wide variety of good graphite pencils on the market. I often work only with pencil.

Blending the Charcoal

For blending I use watercolour brushes. Here is one place where you can get away with buying cheap art supplies. You can buy more expensive brushes if you wish, but for the purposes of charcoal blending, it isn't necessary. I apply the charcoal to the paper with a 3B charcoal pencil and then I use brushes to move the charcoal around. In this case, essentially I am painting in black and white.

I also use tortillons (paper blending stumps), tissues, and my finger to blend charcoal. (Sweaty fingers will leave marks on your paper that cannot be erased. Fortunately I don’t have that problem.)

Sharpening Charcoal Pencils without breaking the lead.

How to sharpen charcoal pencils was a problem for years, until I discovered the following pencil sharpeners.

I use a Boston electric pencil sharpener (made in U.S.A.) I also use a manual , both of which are discussed in the video below.