A look inside my drawing kit

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Every artist should put together a drawing kit that works just for them. It could be as simple as a single pencil and eraser, or a full set of pencils and pens. Having the tools you need on hand means you have no reason not to draw.

This set is what I keep in my living room, so I always have them in arms’ reach when I’m watching tv. No matter what I want to draw, I have a pen or pencil ready to go. 

Watch me share what’s inside my drawing kit on my YouTube channel.

My drawing kit

I spend quite a bit of my time sketching with pencils, so I always keep several different types and grades of pencils in my kit. I’m also a printmaker, and use various ink pens when I sketch out my designs. A few other items round out my set, and I use most of them regularly. 

I keep everything in a Sonnenleder “Lasse” Vegetable Tanned Leather School Case. It was pretty pricey, but when I was working from home during the early days of the pandemic, I used the money that I would normally use on bus tickets to buy it. It’s incredibly good quality and should last my lifetime. I used to use a zip pencil pouch case but found that things would get lost in it, so I eventually changed to a case with slots that hold most of my tools. If you like organization, you would probably like a pencil case with slots. 

I have quite a few different types of pencils:

  • Three clutch pencils with 2mm leads. These are my workhorses. I have 2H, HB and 2B to give me a wide variety of values. They are fantastic for details and I do most of my drawing with them. If you’d like to hear more about these great pencils, check out my recent blog post on clutch pencils.
  • Two Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils in 3B and 4B.  I use these when I want to add dark shading or details to drawings I’ve done with my clutch pencils.
  • Two Blackwing pencils – one Matte and a special edition from a few years ago. These are great for sketches and shading. These ones in particular aren’t great for small, detailed drawing because they’re very soft.
  • A Derwent charcoal pencil. I use this when practicing gesture drawing on newsprint.

I also keep various ink pens in my kit:

  • Four Sakura Pigma Microns in varying sizes – I use these for final layers after finishing pencil sketches. 
  • A water soluble pen, similar to Microns but not waterproof. I picked a box of these up at some discount store. I have no idea about the brand because the writing is in a different language. 
  • A Pigma Graphic 1 pen for when Micron nibs are too small
  • A Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen. I use this when I want to fill in a large area with black ink.
  • A hybrid gel grip DX white gel pen that I use when I’m sketching plans for a future linoprint. I occasionally layer white gel ink over black ink as I plan out my next block print. 

I have a few different erasers as well:

  • A kneaded eraser. I couldn’t live without this. I purchased one that comes with a small plastic case so I can keep it clean and not pick up dirt from in the pencil case.  In another blog post, I share how to use a kneaded eraser.
  • A Tombow Mono Zero eraser. This is fantastic because it’s so tiny so you can be very particular with what you erase.
  • A Staedtler Mars stick eraser. Handy but I might not get another one once it’s used up. I have too many erasers!
  • A standard white eraser. Cheap and lasts for ages.

And finally, a few miscellaneous items that are useful:

  • A pencil sharpener. This is for all pencils except won’t work for my clutch pencils. I have to use a larger tub sharpener for those.
  • A small ruler to draw straight lines. 
  • A pencil extender, which I keep on hand when a pencil gets very short. 

My set includes quite a few items – some of which I use all the time, while others I only use on occasion or for certain uses only. Over time, I’m sure I’ll change up what I keep in my kit, but for now, this is what I keep with me so I can draw almost anything I want at any time. I do have other supplies and tools for drawing, but for the most part, everything above is what I use. 

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