Week Special: Tools of Trade

Over the years you pick up a few things, I never really started drawing until I was inspired, like all children who grew up in the nineties.

I grew up with such shows like Batman the Animated series and when Japanese Animated shows like Cardcaptors Sakura, Dragonball Z, Pokemon and Digimon came on to the scene how could I NOT be captivated by such shows.

Those were the shows that inspired me to draw and probably paved my first path down this way, I already enjoyed drawing and loved it more than anything in the world but when it came to people watching me draw I was shy, I remember my Primary Seven teacher watching over my drawing and when he saw the sheep I drew he was disappointed with me and even told my parents.

How else can someone in Primary school handle the eyes of masses in those days?

When I attended high school I tried to keep my love for anime and manga a secret because back then it was considered a childish thing but now I’m more open and comfortable with it.

---

Anyway in todays post I’m going to be going over the tools that I use for creating pieces of artwork.

Before programs like Photoshop and Paint Tools Sai, even a computer coming into schools, a pen, pencil and sketchpads were the only companions that you needed as you go through the development of creating art.

Before you can even ATTEMPT to start drawing in a drawing tablet and doing it digitally, you need to experience the feeling of having a pencil in your hand and watching your artwork taking shape and your skills growing as an individual and more importantly, find the inspiration through your art.

They don’t even need to be deep and logically, that makes things rather complicated, it’s the simple pleasures of life that can inspire you the most.

Down below are the materials that I use:

1.     Pencils and erasers

Probably one of the most important tools that I have come to love during my years, it’s the very first thing you have to take control off before you can even go on to sketch with a pen. Any type of pencil will do, it can be a HB Pencil to a normal one. You can find some good ones in Easons or any stationary shop. Having an eraser/rubber is also an important tool, especially when you want those little pencil lines out of the way after inking.

2.     Pens

These are handy for inking your pieces of artwork, it sometimes give your artwork the extra bit of oomph your looking for, especially when your looking to take your artwork further. But inking with a pen takes a lot of care and practice, it’s how you handle it that counts.

3.     Colouring Pencils/Copic Markers/Paint/Etc

Probably another important tool at your disposal is how your going to colour it, you can colour it in with colouring pencils, copic markers, paint, anything can be used as a tool to give your artwork that much needed magic, when drawing manga though I have come to love using the Copic Markers, but they are very expensive and hard to obtain, you can get a pack of five including a pen for £13.50 but any type of markers will do. A friend of mine says that magic markers work just as well.

But it’s up to you, colour with what you feel the most comfortable with and go with it.

4.     Sketchpads

The canvas in which you draw and sketch your ideas upon, there are many brands of sketchpads to choose from, I stick with one brand of sketchpad that I feel the most comfortable with but also make sure that you pick the right sketchpad, especially when your thinking about adding colour. I use a marker sketchpad because I like colouring in with markers, there are sketchpads that are suitable for watercolours and oil pastels, choose your sketchpad carefully though because there are some brands that aren’t suitable especially for the mediums that your going to be using.

5.     References

Magazines, comic books, photographs, these are probably more essential, drawing from the top of your head is okay but it’s not bad to have references, I get a lot of magazines that keep me up to date with the latest trends and materials that I could use for my own projects. Not only that but it’s good to look up tutorial sites and books on how to draw to give you an idea on what to create.

6.     Let your imagination run wild and have fun

The most important one out of seven, if you don’t have fun when your drawing then your in the wrong industry, don’t expect to get popular over night when you start drawing because that’s a fools dream.

On DeviantART there are many great artists but most of them get overlooked but don’t get disheartened because some of them have probably been in the same place as you and took years and years of perfecting their art to get where they are now.

They understand the hard work and enjoy doing it and that’s the right attitude to have, if you don’t come in to drawing with the right mind set then your going to fail way before you even start.

Anyway that’s all I’m going to be covering in this weeks special, come back again next week for more tips and showcases, an animation if I’m in a really good mood.

Thank you for your patronage

Come back again next week.