Some of My Favorite Supplies

I wanted to keep in sync with Deb's and Roz's posts so I decided to blog about my favorite supplies or tools to work with.

As you might know, I usually work with watercolor first and then finish my work digitally.

My favorite watercolors are Yarka St. Petesburg. They have the yummiest brightest colors I've ever seen in watercolor.

As for watercolor paper, my favorite is Arches hot press.

For cold press I like Lanaquarelle, it has a really nice texture to it. Not too rough not too smooth, just perfect. I work with blocks. I take each page out and work on it. So why do I buy blocks you might ask? Because, and this is very sad.. (I can pause if you'd like to go look for some kleenex), there is no good watercolor paper available in this country.

I told you it was sad! So, I have to buy mine when I visit the US. You can imagine the weight of my suitcases when I travel. Fun stuff. Blocks are easier for me in that way.

I transfer my drawings using a light box. I used to have this one:

but recently bought this one and love it much more:

It has a good thickness, the other was way too thick and it's uncomfortable to have it on top on your desk while tracing. This one is pretty lightweight and has a handy indentation for keeping my pencil and eraser too.

I cannot live without my lapdesk. I sketch all my books on it and always on my couch or bed. I like to be really comfortable at the thinking stage. These lapdesks have a soft beanie pillow on the other side.

They make great nap buddies too.

What? Those are good for creativity. ;o)

Of course, I can't forget my lucky cat that I got in Japan Town in San Francisco. He has been very good to me. If you don't have one, you have to got out right now and get your own lucky cat.

For working digitally I love this Apple 30 inch monitor. It's huge! Actually it belongs to my hubby, he got it as a birthday gift from all his best friends. I keep hinting my best friends I want a Cintiq, but I don't see any movement there.. ;o)

I use Photoshop. I have two favorite tools in PS too. My favorite has to be the "undo" button of course. Nothing beats that!

The other is the stamp tool. I love it because it lets me keep my real watercolor texture.

How about you? What tools or supplies do you love?

Weekly Theme - Favorite Art Supplies

Illustration - As a digital illustrator, I could cop-out and say that my favorite art supply is my computer, but that would be like a traditional artist saying "my favorite tool is my entire studio."

So I'll dig a little deeper and mention my favorite programs:
1. Painter
2. Photoshop
3. Illustrator
4. InDesign

And if I keep on digging, I'd have to name my favorite tool within Painter as the vine charcoal. I love sketching with this. It glides across the screen. I know it's ridiculous, but it actually FEELS like real vine charcoal on the Wacom. The above sketch is done with digital vine charcoal on the basic Painter paper.

Writing - Now how weird is this? While my favorite tool for drawing resides on the computer, my favorite writing tool is my sketchbook! How very analog of me. I jot down ideas and draw out little story board boxes to help pace my story. I love that it doesn't have lines. As the story ideas brew, I can just jot them down anywhere on the page. I've tried using lined paper for this, but find it quite stifling.

Weekly Theme: Favorite Art Supplies

For sketching, I love to use nice, soft 4B graphite pencils on tracing vellum. I keep a fistful of pencils ready, so when one point dulls, I have sharp ones ready to go. My favorite vellum is Clearprint Design Vellum. It's translucent, but not so thin that marks on different layers are distracting. It is 100% cotton fiber, erases beautifully and scans nice and sharp. I love the tooth, it's a nice tug against the soft pencil.

I draw as if I'm in a big hurry and I make a mess. Graphite is smeared on my hands, face, clothes and anything else within my reach. Snippets of paper are flying around and bits of graphite-grungy tape are stuck on everything. It's fortunate that I finish my work digitally. On a computer, clean-up is a snap!

My digital tools include my beloved Mac, Wacom drawing tablet and the program Painter.

Weekly Theme - "Favorite Supplies"

One for the money...
Linoleum cutter, couldn't work without it.

Two for the show...
My two favorite carving surfaces are Golden Linoleum and Softoleum.
Golden offers great line quality, detail and will print many times. Softoleum cuts like butta, doesn't crumble and has a very nice printing surface.

Three to get ready...
My favorite paper is vellum from the scrapbook section at Michaels. This is for work that is 12 x 12 or under. Larger sheets can be found at art supply stores.

And four to go...
Holbein oil pastels. I prefer open stock so that I can pick my favorite colors. They go on smooth, offer a thick surface to add texture and come in all my favorite colors.

Want to see the step by step process of printmaking? Here you go.

Weekly Theme- "Favorite Art Supplies"

I'll give my top 3:

First, would have to be the felt that I use for my illustrations. It's called Holland wool felt and I special order it from "A Dream Come True". It is a thinner felt that is easy to manage with less fibers flying all over the place!

Second, my FISKAR scissors, especially the ones that have rubber padding. I have tried several brands but I always come back to these because they just seem to fit my hands well. Sometimes, I'll be cutting away for hours so comfort is KEY.

Third, my favorite glue right now is "liquid stitch". Great consistency for the work I do. Not too loose or too thick. I can quickly dab, dab, dab the glue as I build the illustration which is a bonus when on a tight deadline.

Weekly Theme: "Favorite Art Supplies"

It’s taken a few years to discover the art materials that fit me best. Watercolor is the only paint medium I really use. It was a lot of trial and error to “find” my process, and I’m continually looking and trying new things to see if I might like something else better.

Here’s my list:

Pan watercolor: Sennelier—the colors are wonderful.
Tube: M. Graham—handcrafted, rich, yummy colors, with a lovely consistency.

Tracing paper: anything that is cheap! I use lots and lots (and lots)
Watercolor paper: I will use Arches or Fabriano, I love them both. Extra white is my preference, hot or cold pressed, just depends on the project.

Pencils: I’ll use nearly anything that will make a mark, but my favorite is any brown tone of Prismacolor. The pencils "give" and can be really soft, thin, fat, etc. I love them. For coloring, I like to use Bruynzeel pencils.
Pens: Love Faber-Castell artist pens, also use a quill with Winsor-Newton inks, just depends on the line I'm going for.

And of course, tools that I cannot do without are my trusty computer, Wacom, and coffee mug!