illustrator, graphic artist, creator
My Tools
Everyone should try a wide variety of tools to discover what works best for them, but here are some tools that I like.
Pencils
rOtring 600 Holder, 2mm
This lead holder is weighty and reliable. I once dropped it in a gravel parking lot and found it over a month later with minimal wear. The thing is a tank! I like to pair it with the red lead refills below.
RedJune Gold 36 2mm Lead Refills
I like the red lead because it is a bit more saturated in color than the others, making it easier to key out when scanning artwork. Works perfectly with the rOtring 600!
Prismacolor Premier Turquoise Graphite Pencils
I really like these pencils. They are pretty cheap and always consistent in quality.
Pentel GraphGear 1000 Mechanical Pencil, (0.5mm)
Mechanical pencils have always been close to my heart and I have tried a whole lot of them. This one is my favorite. I love the weight of it, the grip feels great, the mechanism is smooth and solid, and the tip retracts fully into the barrel so it won’t jab your palm when you reach for it.
Erasers
STAEDTLER Exam Dust Free Eraser
I love this eraser for removing sketch pencil lines under an ink drawing. It picks up graphite and colored pencil better than any eraser I’ve used.
Pentel Clic Retractable Eraser
These are great for on-the-go erasing. I like that they’re retractable so they stay nice and clean even in a bag of art supplies.
Tombow Mono Zero Eraser
This is like a mechanical pencil but with a tiny 2mm eraser instead of lead. It works great for tiny, detailed erasing. I use it on my Stephen Gammell emulations constantly.
Pens and Ink Brushes
Copic Multiliners
These felt-tip pens are refillable and have replaceable nibs. They feel great and never let me down. And they’re waterproof so you can add marker and watercolors over them with no problem. They’re kinda expensive, though.
Kuretake Bimoji Felt Tip Brush Pen, Superfine Tip
This is a delightful drawing tool. Extremely smooth, super consistent ink flow, and the tip offers some nice line weight variation with a bit of pressure. Fully waterproof.
Copic Gasenfude Nylon Brush Pen
My brush pen of choice. It feels extremely responsive in my hand, always giving me just the line quality I was hoping for. Also totally waterproof.
Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen
Ol’ reliable. Waterproof and refillable, this classic brush pen always impresses me. I use it constantly.
Winsor & Newton Series 7 Sable Brush - Round #1
It’s the best brush I’ve ever used. You gotta dip it in ink every few seconds, but the bristle quality is obvious. Supremely responsive!
Winsor & Newton Drawing Ink
It’s just a really opaque and smooth ink. I like it a lot. Plus it’s waterproof!
Paper
Moleskine Sketch Pad, 3.5" x 5.5", Black, 48 Pages
The ideal daily sketchbook. Fits in most satchels and clutches. Relatively cheap for the quality, so no need to worry about filling it with crappy drawings. Markers bleed through, so use a piece of scrap cardstock under the page if using markers. Careful: pages fall out easily.
Moleskine Cahier 5" x 8.25" Sketch Album, Kraft Brown
For when I want to do a slightly bigger drawing. I love the feel of the paper and it has the perfect form factor. Also there’s something about the kraft brown cover that just really appeals to me.
Strathmore Vision 5.5x8.5" Mixed Media
These things are great if I want to add watercolors to an drawing. No need to worry about bleeding through. Also it’s fun to be able to decorate your own cover for the sketchbook. The paper isn’t too thirsty, so brush pens work nicely on this.
Markers
Copic Sketch Markers
Pictured is the basic 12-piece set, but copic has a lot of different color sets you can choose from. The “sketch” line has brush tips rather than felt, and I personally prefer the brush tips. These markers are the best I’ve ever used, but they are pricey.
Hardware
Macbook Pro
I prefer the Apple ecosystem, personally. The price is worth the quality and ease of use. Plus they’re sexy as hell.
iPad Pro
I’ve tried Wacom tablets. I’ve tried Cintiqs. I’ve tried the Mobile Studio Pro. In my opinion, nothing compares to the digital drawing and painting experience of an iPad Pro paired with the Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. I highly recommend this device.
Epson Perfection V600 Scanner
This thing is super reliable and consistent. I’ve been using mine for almost 12 years! Still works perfectly and quickly delivers crisp, beautiful scans.
EPSON Expression Photo HD XP-15000
This printer has served me very well. When combined with premium Epson paper and archival ink cartridges, it produces some seriously gorgeous prints. It’s relatively cheap, too. And it prints 13” wide borderless images!
Miscellaneous
Art Alternatives Stumps and Tortillions
Yes, that’s really what they’re called. These things are frowned upon by some fine artists, but I find them useful in achieving a specific softness in my Stephen Gammell emulations.
Drawing Glove
These things look kinda silly, but I actually love mine. I use it when I want to acheive long, smooth strokes on my iPad and when doing graphite work and trying to avoid smudging. It’s so bad.
LIHIT LAB Pen Case
This is my favorite pen / pencil case. I’m always shocked at just how many tools I can fit inside of it. There’s even a slightly larger size at ArtSnacks.com if this one isn’t big enough.
Software
Procreate for iPad
I can’t say enough good things about this app. It’s nearly perfect as a digital drawing and painting tool and they’re constantly making it better. I do most of my digital art with this app.
Adobe Photoshop
It’s the industry standard for image manipulation. I use it every day for all kinds of image editing and creation. It’s really a must have for artists in this digital age.
Adobe Illustrator
This app is underrated. It can be a paradigm shift working with vectors instead of pixels, but I’ve been using this app since 2008 and I can’t stress how useful it is for design work. My flyers, business cards, mailers, personal branding, and more have greatly benefitted by this valuable tool.
Adobe InDesign
I come from a graphic design background, so I was kinda forced to learn this tool and I’m so glad I did. If you want control over your book layouts and PDFs, you gotta learn this app.
Adobe Lightroom
This is another app that I can’t live without. It’s basically a super-powerful catalog of all my images that lets me make lossless edits to them on the fly. Makes for easy organization of my images, too.
Adobe After Effects
I use this app all the time. It’s very helpful for creating tutorial videos and time-lapse videos. Also, I do lots of animation so it’s great to have this tool on my belt.