Drawing Materials

. . . the necessities for drawing
and sketching

Here is a rundown of the drawing materials and tools I use to create my artwork. If you have an art store nearby, check out the different art supplies to see what paper and pencils you like best. Art materials often come down to an individual choice.

If you do not have an art store nearby, I have created links throughout this page to  so that you can see some of the drawing materials I use. If you prefer to order a catalogue, you may do so at the bottom of this page.

So! Here we go with my list.

Paper:

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 doing 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.

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 is called .

When doing pencil drawings, I don't need a particularly rough surface, but I always use a paper weight of at least 70 lb. I prefer heavier paper (80 - 140 lb).

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 .

I also use:

• - These are compressed charcoal sticks – 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.

Anytime I use a pencil, I use  (grades B to 5B). 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.

Other Drawing Materials

– these erasers are an invaluable aid to me. They lift charcoal off the paper, so I use them to create a variety of lighting effects.

If you are interested in a hands-on explanation of how they are used in different situations, go to the SiteSearch navigation button, and simply type in "kneaded erasers". This will provide you with a list of pages on my site where I discuss kneaded erasers. Search any drawing materials you wish. You may also like to see the videos on "How to Draw Hair".

I also use a limited number of drafting aids; one is a . It’s a highly versatile drafting aid made of lead-core construction (in simple terms it’s like a flexible piece of rubber which can be bent, and holds it’s shape in order to draw curves). Since such a large body of my work depicts jazz musicians, curves are often necessary to accurately draw the instruments.

I also use . They give me a broader range of curves which suit different drawing situations.

For a variety of very small shapes, I sometimes use a .

These last three items are used to solve a technical difficulty, not to solve an artistic problem.

- I use fine sandpaper while I work, to keep a fine point on my charcoal or graphite pencil. This is necessary when I'm doing very detailed work.