Materials I use for my art

 

 

For digital art, there's only one friend for me right now with whom I spend my time: Photoshop CS4. It's not necessarily because it's better than other professional Digital art programs, we've just gotten to know each other quite well and I'm hesitant to look into alternatives or third wheels for our friendship. Plus digital painting programs are expensive as heaven, even the student versions. I simply can't afford any additional friendships in this field as of now.

 

 

When working traditionally, I've got quite an arsenal at my hands. Here's what I'm usually working with, doesn't mean they're the best choise for other people of course. Or even me, some times I'm just being a cheap bastard.

Hm, perhaps I should include some pictures here...

 

Paper for water colors: I've got no favourite brand yet, instead I have about half a dozen different block lying around, being used almost on random. Of course the paper has to be thick and sturdy, preferably 240 g/m² or above. A coarse surface is easier for getting the colors to flow neatly, but when working with ink linearts there's got to be some compromising done. It's simply impossible to get a clean and detailed ink drawing on a surface that feels like it's made of pressed saw dust. 

 

The watercolors i use are of high quality, and definitely not on the cheaper side. Thankfully that means they also last quite long, so replacing any colors is something I don't have to bother with very often. The brand I use, and have used for years now, is Schmincke. Very much recommended, even for beginners. When it comes to watercolors, a high quality set with a strong pigment does make everything so much easier.

 

Black markers is something I've turned my back on almost completely, and instead moved on to dip pens and ink (waterproof, of course). Also very much recommended. Even though the way of drawing with a dipping pen might be difficult to get used to and could take a couple of weeks of practicing, it's so much more fun than drawing with markers. It's also cheaper as one bottle of ink+the nib will last for longer than dozens of thin markers, which tend to dry up or break quite quickly when used frequently.

There are of course several different types inks and nibs for the dipping pen, some are more difficult to use than others and are suited for only certain purposes. I have a whole bunch of different exchangeable nibs for my pen, most of which I've deemed too weird for me to use. My favourite ink brand so far has been Daler Rowney's acrylic artist ink. It's thick enough to not drip out of the nib at random and dries relatively fast.

 

When drawing the linearts for my comic I nowadays use the dipping pen and ink, (didn't do that during the first 50 or so pages) but also some thin black markers for the more delicate areas, like hands and faces. I always draw on A3 sized, really cheap water color paper. With the speed I go through one block using anything expensive would make me hate every single page for vasting my money. And since cheap watercolor paper usually has a really smooth (and completely useless for actual watercolors) surface, yet is thicker and more resilient than regular drawing paper, it's quite nice for some ink work. The nib of my pen still breaks the surface a bit gets mulchy paper stuck in it now and then, but all in all cheap is good in this situation.