• Replicates the look of a brush with ink, but without the mess.
• Very portable, neat, and convenient.
• Comes in many colors.
• Can be mixed with a blending brush for gradients.
Brush Pens in Taiwan
Drawing in Guangzhou, China
Birthday Party Comic
• Not water soluble.
• Rich, vibrant colors.
• Does not erase.
• Layers beautifully.
• Slightly harder than Neocolor II.
• Water soluble.
• Rich, vibrant colors.
• Looks like watercolor when painted with wet brushes.
• Layers beautifully.
• Softer than Neocolor I, if it’s humid can get really soft and smeary in your hands.
• Excellent for drawing details at the very end of your drawing process.
• Difficult to erase.
• Sharpen with a razor blade, the charcoal often times breaks if you try to use an electric pencil sharpener.
• Available in hard, medium, soft
• Great for lighting a still life, a model, or your artwork.
• Portable and light weight.
• Easy to attach & position the direction of the light because of the clamp.
• Ranges from affordable to expensive.
Oil & Acrylic Painting
Self-Portrait in Charcoal
Self-Portrait from Life
Drawing with Crayons
• Not as messy as charcoal, but not stiff like pencil.
• Can be smudged with your fingers, but isn’t as fragile and powdery as charcoal.
• Comes in black/white/oranges/browns.
• Can be erased, but only to a certain degree.
• Can be erased, but you’ll never get back to the white of the page.
• Dark, velvety rich blacks.
• Use after sketching our your image with vine charcoal.
• Draw with the side for broader marks.
• Affordable crayons.
• Come in packs with tons of different colors.
• Can be melted and applied many ways if you experiment!
• A permanent drawing material, cannot be smudged.
• Terrific for erasing very small areas that the blunter erasers cannot get into.
• Refills are available.
• Requires pressure to fully erase.
• Don’t push out the eraser too far, it will become hard to use.
• Best for subtle changes in tone.
• Self-cleans when stretched out.
• A relatively “weak” eraser compared to others, therefore doesn’t erase large areas effectively.
• Malleable and can be formed into any shape.
• A beautiful, rich ink.
• Can be used with a brush, a bamboo pen, a nib pen and more.
• Is waterproof.
• Can be watered down to create a range of gradients.
• Spray over drawings in a dry media for protection.
• Very toxic!!! NEVER spray indoors, unless you have a spray booth ventilation system.
• Slightly darkens your drawing.
• The lead in a lead holder is thick, and therefore can be carved into a specific shape.
• Different hardnesses of lead can be placed in the lead holder.
• Terrific for casual sketching, has more versatility than a mechanical pencil.
• Staedtler is the best brand, most other brands are very poor quality.
• Disappears when photographed or scanned.
• Excellent for artwork that is intended to be reproduced, such as animation, illustration, etc.
• Oil paint in a stick, but much thicker & tackier.
• When purchased, have a skin that has to be peeled off.
• Excellent for painterly effects that are not so runny.
• Any surface you use oil bar with has to have a primer on it.
• Bright, vivid colors that are greasy & thick.
• Can be scraped w/ a knife or smeared w/ fingers.
• Cannot be erased entirely.
• Works well on paper or canvas.
• Inexpensive pen.
• Smudges a lot, is not archival.
• Line width is very versatile.
• Creates a nice flat, heavy shape of black.
• Has a crisp point & shades very well.
• Good for an under drawing.
• Used by professionals in animation & comics industry.
• Extends the length of your pencil when it’s too short to hold.
• Great if you have large hands.
• Keeps you from having to throw out half used pencils.
• A good investment for your pencils!
• Great at blending any dry drawing media such as chalk pastels charcoal, etc.
• Excellent for monotypes for creating marks on your plate.
• Cheaper than buying a blending stump.
• Easy to purchase.
• Reusable, can be filled with any type of ink.
• Comes in a wide variety of line weights.
• Excellent for achieving a very clean, consistent line.
• Fills with a tiny bead of ink.
• Lets you create a thin line of ink along the side of a ruler.
• Great for drawing straight, neat lines for comics panels
• Transparent paper, can be used for tracing, sketching, drawing, animation, and more!
• Tape down before using so you don’t lose your place.
• Available in pads and rolls, and is affordable.
• Rips easily because it’s so thin.
• Doesn’t smear much, has a crisp & sharp line.
• Great for fine details as well as shading and a softer edge.
• Terrific tool for sketching.
• Very easy to erase.
• Easily damaged, and therefore is not good to use for the vast majority of your drawing.
• Will always be lighter than compressed charcoal.
• Strong, stiff eraser for clearing out big areas.
• Never needs to be cleaned, no matter how black it gets.
• Staedtler makes an excellent white plastic eraser.
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