Art Supplies I use

My tools

This is a follow-up of my previous article about how I decided to pick up my long-lost hobby of making art. Many months later, I am still at it.

Revisiting an old hobby during confinement

When I share some of my artwork on social media, I often get asked what tools I used in the process. I figured why not write an article about it, with hopes that someone finds it useful for themselves or is looking for a gift for that artist friend. I mostly focus on graphite and pen and ink art so most of the item you see below will be more suited for these mediums.

Strathmore Bristol Smooth

For : Pen and Ink art, Graphite, Markers. I personally use this only for pen and ink since the surface is really smooth and bright giving that crisp blacks from pens. But applying pressure from graphite might make it irreversible when erased.

Pro-Art Strathmore Bloc de Papier Bristol Lisse 27,9 cm x 35,6 cm, 20 Feuilles

Old town of Antibes, France

Strathmore Bristol Vellum

For : Graphite. The texture has sufficient tooth for getting that typical graphite look and works really well while shading, blending etc.

Pro-Art-Bilderpalette Strathmore Bristol Papier vélin Papier Pad 9 x 30,5 cm, 20 Feuilles

Portrait of a friend's baby (with permissions of course)

I use a mix of the following for my graphite works:

Faber-Castell Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm

Faber-Castell 134599 Porte-mine GRIP 1345 0,5 mm (Noir) (Import Allemagne)

Faber-Castell 9000 set of Graphite Pencils

Faber-Castell 119065 Set "Art" de 12 crayons graphite CASTELL 9000

Tombow Mono Eraser

Tombow Mono Zero Lot de 2 gommes à bout rond 2 recharges Blanc

Faber-Castell Polychromos

Faber-Castell 9201-199 Crayon pastel noir

From left to right : Portrait of The Witcher, a Parisian apartment, Trying an Andre Kohn sketch

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens

Tombow 62038 Fudenosuke brosse stylo avec une pointe douce et dure, noir, 2 pièces

Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser

Faber-Castell 10003496 Gomme Mie de Pain Gris

Sakura Pigma Micron set of 6 fineliners

Pigma Micron 6 Fineliners Noir

Amritsar Golden Temple, India

Uni-Ball set of 5 fineliners

UNI-BALL - Uni Mitsubishi Pencil - 5 Feutres d'Écriture Uni-Pin - Pochette Feutres Noirs Fins …

Ruins of Hyrule : The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild

Pilot Fineliners

I generally use this for any note-taking and also, being a UX Designer, it's my go-to for wireframing too.

PILOT Lot de 3 Feutres extra fin Fineliner extra fin 0,4 mm noir

Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours

Winsor & Newton Cotman Aquarelle Set d'atelier

iPad Pro & Procreate

Quite recently I started trying out digital art using Procreate on my iPad Pro M1 and I'm really starting to enjoy this experience. The transition does take some time though.

I initially tried using the paperlike matte screen protector that so many seem to promote on YouTube but somehow I really did not like it since it messes with the gorgeous display of the iPad by altering the colours. For sure, it does add friction to the surface which helps while using the Apple Pencil since the feeling is closer to pencil on paper, but I use my iPad also as a media consumption device. And I am not a full-time artist or illustrator so I couldn't justify using a matte screen protector just for my sketching sessions.

Some of my digital works:

Done with Procreate