sketching Materials?

FEMTO

Hi folks,

Can anyone recommend me good drawing paper and pencils and stuff like that, which they use for all their drawings.

oh and it must be equipment avilable in the UK

rooster

my favourite pen is the pilot g-tec-C4.. really thin and crisp line, very smooth action. that reminds me to pick some up..

Eric Chadwick

Ooh, gonna look for one of those.

I like sketching with a photo-blue pencil, then going over that with pens. People used to use these pencils because a film camera would ignore the blue color, so you wouldn't have to erase the sketchy lines when scanning. But it's still fun to use one because it forces a light line, you can't draw dark with it, so it's easier for me to refine the sketch since I tend to press hard.

I like mechanical pencils too, using an H lead (or harder, again it forces the light touch).

Paper is whatever. Unless you're using marker pens, then you might want a non-bleeding surface, like illustration board. More expensive tho.

I like keeping things in a sketchbook, makes it harder to lose stuff.

FEMTO

hey thanks guys!

i have been reading up on how Carlos Haunte does his work...big fan of his style. and he seems to use a prisma colour pencil and teh bienfang 360 marker paper. i have been looking for these in teh uk but they are only available in North America. does anyone know of good substitutes for these that wouldbe available in the uk? i really love carlos's style of drawing and wish to try and practice achieving a simlar style..of course not identical...but it is always nice to have an influence as a starting guideline.

just one other thing the equipment you have said you use...do you have an example of work so that i can see what kind of an effect it has. thanks!

cep

He's uses prismacolor pencils? I had 2 dvds of his, on which showed what he used, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.
I thought he used a regular pencil, I'd like to try these prismacolor pencils.

Eric Chadwick

Prismacolor is oil- or wax-based, something like that. So you can't erase, if that's important to you. They blend together nicely though which is cool.

FEMTO

actually you can erase, but you need one of those special rubbers for pens I believe! that does the trick also with teh prisma pencils.

FEMTO

[ QUOTE ]
He's uses prismacolor pencils?

[/ QUOTE ]

yes he does, but suggests using it on the bienfang 360 marker papers. In his owns words "paper from the gods".

Weiser_Cain

I usually like to draw on bristol paper, right now I'm using Borden & Riley's #234 paris: bleedproof paper for pens. It's really smooth and withstands multiple erases without falling apart like ditto paper, has survived me taking a nap on top of my work without smudging or being otherwise damaged.
I draw just about everything with a .3 mechanical pencil, currently I'm using the papermate protouch II, which works well and doesn’t jam often. When I want a softer line I stick with mechanical and use a 1.3 pentel ‘fiesta’.
I’ve tried a lot of pens but none have beat the paintbrush (sable hair #1) when it comes to inking (though the brush tipped felt pen I think is from faber castel comes close).

ironbearxl

That Beinfang 360 marker paper is a beast when it comes to working with pens. Very smooth and you can even blend with out caking or smudging.

killingpeople

.05 mechanical pencil and printer paper!

[edit] .5!

Snowfly

0.5 Drafix mechanical pencil for lines, Staedler eraser, Derwent 4B to fill in large areas, and...printer paper!

FunkaDelicDass

I don't know if they are readily avaliable in the UK, but I use Hi-Tec-C pens with Copic Markers. You don't necessarily need the Bienfang marker paper for this combonation to work, but it certainly helps. I do a lot of work with these on normal printer paper and even in my sketchbook. Hi-Tec-Cs come in mltiple sizes and colors. I usually stick with black/navy in .3 .4 and .5. It's a nice fine line that's permanent, so you can go over it with markers as much as you please.

The Copic markers can be tough to find (and expensive) but they are well worth it. For one, they don't have a strong odor like Prismacolors and they last for a very long time. If you can get a hold of the Gnomon workshop drawing DVDs by Feng Zhu, you'll see some good demos with Hi-Tec-Cs and marker.