TOOLS OF THE TRADE


Traditional media

There are many different traditional media in art.
Some of the most popular are:

  • Acrylic colors
  • Oil colors
  • Water colors / Aquarell
  • Pencil / Coal
  • Marker (alcohol based), like Copics or Prisma colors
  • Colored pencils, like "Polychromos" (oil based)
  • Pastel

Drawing digitally or traditionally - both ways have their advantages and disadvantages.
For coloring with real media, it requires a different knowledge, how to work with a brush, how long it takes colors to dry, how they blend, which are the right materials to choose, etc. And of course you have a nice original piece of artwork at the end.

I would say drawing traditionally is more challenging than digital art, as you can't correct things as easily as in an image editing program.



Choice of material



There are a lot of good brands offering colors, pencils and other material. The higher quality brands are more expensive, but in most cases it's absolutely worth it. Which brands suit best to you you should find out yourself by trying. Some good brand suggestions are:

  • Schmincke (e.g. Aquarell / water colors, airbrush colors,...)
  • Faber Castell (e.g. colored pencils like Polychromos)
  • Copic (e.g. markers and fineliners)
  • Albrecht Dürer
  • Winsor & Newton
  • Lukas

My favourite media are Copic Markers, Aquarell colors by Schmincke and Polychromos coloured pencils by Faber-Castell. I am usually combining several media, like doing the basic coloring with markers and then add details with Polychromos colored pencils (they are oil based and very colorful).



Paper

Be sure to use the right type of paper for your work to get the best results. For example there is a special non-bleeding paper for markers, for aquarell colors there are also certain specially made papers. Oil paint or acrylics also need a special kind of paper for the best results.

And a small tip - also if it is only a pencil sketch, do not draw on paper with any sort of printing on it! It just makes your artwork look ugly and unprofessional.





Lighttable

A lighttable is a very useful piece of equipment.
If you have a sketch and want to trace the outlines of it in a clean way (instead of drawing them directly on the paper with the sketch and erasing the pencil afterwards), just put the sketch on the lighttable with another sheet of paper on it and copy the outlines of the sketch to it. That way you will also keep the original sketch for the future.

A lighttable is also useful if you want to have an inverted look at your picture (you just turn it over). It is easier to recognize mistakes that way, especially proportions, perspective, etc. A mirror will do that job just as well, of course, as will a window on a sunny day.

I use both a large lighttable in my room and a small portable one (on the picture below), which I got from an arts and crafts store in USA.





Graphic tablet

The most important equipment for digital drawing is my WACOM graphic tablet.

Until 2008 I was using a WACOM Intuos3 (A5), then I got myself a WACOM Cintiq 12WX. The Cintiq has an integrated screen, which makes it possible to directly draw on it, which brings a lot of comfort and new possiblities.

The biggest advantage of a graphic tablet is that you can really "draw" with the pressure sensitive stylus pen. The lines will get thicker if you press harder, and thinner if you use it softly, just like a real pen. That way you can draw in a way you would never be able to do with a mouse. Furthermore, the pen is simply more precise.


Wacom Cintiq 12WX:

Wacom Intuos3:


Wacom may be more expensive than other tablets, but it's absolutely worth it. I started with a Wacom Graphire 3, but I have to admit the Intuos 3 (price tag of ~300 EUR) and of course the Cintiq (price tag of ~1000 EUR) are even better. The pens include different interchangable tips, and there are additional hotkeys on the tablet itself, which are very useful. The Intuos has twice as many levels of pressure sensitiy than the Graphire. There is for example also a special airbrush pen you can buy. However, the Graphire has always been a great tool for me too and is surely fine for all artists who don't want to spend that much money.

But, using a tablet needs practice! Don't expect to suddenly start creating masterpieces just because you bought a tablet. Using it still needs skill to achieve the best results and master handling the pen.