These are things I usemost when drawing. And so I don't get flamed later, I'll say righthere in the beginning. Tools do 'not' make the artist. A goodartist could use a crayon on a piece of toilet paper and it wouldstill look good! But, you have to admit. Good supplies can bea BIG help, speedwise, in looks, quality, and my favorite...scanability!;) Ask almost anyone that has tried Prismacolor pencils, theymake a big difference to the person 'using' them, easier to workwith and so forth. So...on to my art supplies!

Hehheh, these are in no particular order, but fromtop to bottom,I'll say what they are, and what I use them for. On the top isa Vision Uni-ball pen that you can get anyplace that sells officesupplies, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Office Max, Office Depot. I useit to go over my ink lines after I've colored a drawing with Prisma's,to make them stand out more. I like it because it rarely getscloggedand makes a nice dark line, be careful of smudging tho.Nextis my Eberhard Faber 'Blackwing' As it says on the pencil, halfthe pressure. twice the speed ;) Makes a nice smooh line for whenI'm doing plain pencil pictures. Next is a 2H pencil. My Mom gotit for me somewhere, I just know I like to use it for shadingand actually diong understucture, because it's a very hard lead,easy to erase later on. And on the bottom...all hail the mightymechanical pencil! I've used that pencil since late 98 to do themajority of ALL of my drawings. I love that thing :)

Onthe top left is my favored eraser. It's a white one, good forremoving drawing lines from a picture, once it's been inked. It'svery soft and can be broken easily tho, thats why I keep it ina little cardboard holder. Next to that is my gum eraser. Nowthis is GREAT for erasing pencil on rougher types of paper, andeven tho I have the rosart one scanned, do not, I repeat Do NOTuse a roseart one if you can fine a General's one. The roseartwill erase, but it likes to smudge at the same time :P The nexttwo are my disposable rapidiograph pens, these are what I inkwith. You can get these in all different sizes, from the sizeof a pin head on up. So far, these have been the best inking thingsI've come across, even tho I do love to ink with a brush now andthen.

Topleft is a blender! Is just a rolled out piece of hard paper, thoyou can by them like that in all sizes, works on pencils, andcharcoal to get a blended look, where ones fingers might be toobig. Next is an amazing revolution for color pencil users everywhere....thepencil extender! Get another two inches out of your beloved (Yethorribly expensive) Colored pencils! The next two are two diferentbrands of color pencil blenders, aka splenders. Very good fortaking out thos patchy white spots commonly found in color pencildrawings. And almost forgot! Upper right hand corner, I foundagum eraser thats still in it's package! Its very mallable, kindalike silly putty, so you can work it to whatever shape you need.Used mostly for charcoal types of work.

Not Pictured: My Non-PhotoBlue Pencil, it decided to go missing while I was scanning, haveit sitting in front of me right now tho :P Basically it's a bluepencil that you use for your roughs, it give you a different colorto work with, so when you add your final line, your picture willactually look cleaner, and they have the added advantage of notshowing up when photocopied. That's right, it may show up on certaintypes of scanners, but if you make a photocopy of it, the linesjust disappear. Used by animators, Comic book Artists, Architechs,and a number of other people, just cause it's so handy. I believeit comes in red too, if thats your thing ;) White out. Heck noI'm not scanning my white out :P Everyone knows what that lookslike, I'd hope.. Prismacolor pencil. IMO, the best color pencilsout there ;) And....

Paper! I use alot of differentkinds of paper for different things. Plain computer paper! (Thisis good to used to practice, you should be drawing ALOT for justpractice) and for pictures you are going to computer color, nosense in wasting the good stuff, eh? After that, I like to usepaper that is at least 80 lbs. (Basically, the higher the number,the spiffier the paper) For my sketchpads. One big one, one smallone I can lug around with me to draw wherever I go. Finally, Bristolpaper, just make sure it's the kind made for dry media. Cansonand Strathmore are good brands to try :)

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