First of all I use 4 ply Bristol smooth paper which I get locally at Jerry's Artarama in Fort Collins, Colorado. I of course have no idea who might be viewing this blog or where in the world they may be viewing it from so I can't really give you advice on which paper to use. The main difference in paper is how much texture it has (how rough it is). This texture is referred to as the "tooth" of the paper. This will determine how much graphite the paper can take and how it will take it. Bristol paper is the smoothest I have found and it works the best for my type of drawing. Some people like a paper with more tooth to it and again this is just something you will have to determine for yourself. The other thing to consider is how well the paper will hold up to the actual drawing and erasing process. Bristol holds up very well while other papers will actually fall apart if you press too hard while drawing or when your erasing. Take your time and try several different papers before you settle in on a certain one. You may even be able to get some small sample pieces of different papers from an art store to practice on. Another thing to consider is that you may use different paper for different drawings. If your doing a portrait for example Bristol may be the right choice for that. Then if your doing a drawing of an elephant for example you may want a paper with more tooth that will give you a much rougher look to it. Again this is a very personal choice that you will ultimately have to make for yourself.
The next obvious thing is what you use to get the graphite onto the paper. There are really only two choices for this and they are the original wooden pencil and mechanical pencils. While wooden pencils are initially less expensive and come in a wider range of hardness they have there drawbacks. You constantly have to sharpen them and as you do they get shorter in length, weigh less and feel different in your hand as they become shorter. The feel of the pencil may not seem important but it can effect the pressure you use to get the same results and as such will constantly be changing the way you draw. One of the most important things to drawing is consistency. If you think about it when you sharpen a wooden pencil the lead is shaped like a cone. Initially it is very sharp but as you use if it becomes wider and wider until you sharpen it again (not consistent). This brings us to mechanical pencils. They always feel the same, remain the same length and the lead size is uniform. There are several different sizes and quality of mechanical pencil available for you to use. Fortunately the super cheap mechanical pencils you can get anywhere work just as good as the more expensive metal ones. This is a good place to note that another nice thing about drawing is you can get into it with a very minimal investment! So start out with these and if drawing turns into more than a passing hobby you can later invest a little bit more in metal ones. They come in different sizes which are .3mm, .5mm, .7mm and 2mm clutch pencils. Obviously this means they go from very thin to much thicker leads. I would highly recommend starting out with the .5mm leads pencils as this allows you to fill in large areas rather easily while still being to handle the details that you will need to do. My drawing has evolved to where I use mostly .3mm mechanical pencils with .5mm for most everything else. I have all of the sizes listed above but really only use these two. Before I get too far into all things pencil you should know that pencils come in many different grades or hardness. The harder a lead is the lighter it will look on paper. The range goes from 9H (very hard) to I think 6B (very soft). To get an idea of what this means the good old number 2 pencil which is the most common wooden pencil you can get is actually an HB hardness. This obviously means it is in the middle of everything which is why it is so common, it gives you a good dark line while being able to hold up to a good amount of pressure applied to it. The harder a lead is the longer it will stay sharp and give you a finer line while a soft lead will become dull very fast. While you can get every hardness grade they make (9H, 8H, 7H, 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H, HB, B 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, AND 6B!) this is really not necessary, In the .5mm size I have 6H, 5H, 4H, 2H, HB, 2B, AND 4B. They actually come in 6H to 4B. So I essentially have every other one except the 5H which I had this before I went ahead and got the 6H for really light areas. The .3mm size has less range which is why I use the .5mm for when I need a lighter or darker tone. I think it only ranges from 4H to B with the reason this very thin lead doesn't come in a softer lead is it breaks very easily. I could probably keep going on about pencils for far too long but this has to be getting so boring that I have probably already lost most of you so lets move on!
The next obvious tool after you have put the graphite on the paper is taking it back off! There are a lot of things to use to erase graphite. The very best thing I have found is Blue Tack. This is not actually made as an eraser and I have no idea who figured out to use it for this but it is amazing. Blue Tack is like a kneading eraser but it is softer and lifts graphite off of paper like nothing else. The only place I know of to get Blue Tack (in the USA) is on Mike Sibley’s site. As I understand it is widely available in Europe but there is not a distributor in America. Don’t worry if you decide to get this buy three of four and it will last you for years. The next, and more easily accessible, is the kneading eraser. This can be found in every art or hobby store and while it works similar to Blue Tack it has no where near the ability to lift graphite off of paper. Another thing to note is that both of these are shapable and can be used to erase both large areas and fine lines. I will cover the way to use these in the video tutorials. The most common eraser is the hard rubber ones that are on the end of most pencils and the larger hand held types. I almost never use these as they destroy the tooth of the paper and changes the way the graphite looks. Again I will show you this in later video tutorials.
Ok lets move on and go over the last item I will cover here and that is blending tools. I have mixed feelings about these and try not to use them very often. However, there are times that they are invaluable and there is no other way to achieve a very smooth texture. Two of the most common are tortillion’s and chamois. Tortillion’s are small tightly wound “sticks” made of paper. They work very well on small areas but can be difficult to maintain a uniform look on larger areas such as skin. I use these on the whites of eyes a lot and tighter spots because they have a pointed tip. The chamois is easily the best way to achieve the smoothest and most uniform look on large areas of a drawing. I have found nothing else that works as well as a chamois. The drawback to using these blending tools is you lose all detail but it can make for a beautiful portrait especially on the female figure. There is an almost endless list of items you can use to blend graphite. I often use a toothpick for really small areas, felt, paper and others will all give you a different texture when you use them. As I don’t do much blending myself I won’t go over these too much in future video tutorials but if anybody specifically wants me to explore some of these I would be more than happy to.
This honestly has to have been the most boring thing to read and I am sorry for that but I wanted to cover the tools and materials I use so if you are just beginning you will have an idea where to start. Everything I have gone over here, with the exception of Blue Tack, can be found at any good art store and most arts and crafts suppliers.
I will now move on to the video tutorials, as I have said before I am new to making video’s so have patients, and don’t hesitate to offer advice on areas I can improve to make these tutorials better and more helpful to everyone.
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