suggestions for materials

BenJonesDesign

Active Member
Right, after deciding to get myself back on track with illustration and to take it seriously, I've already looked into good books for progressing my skills and now I want to look into what materials are best for each type of illustration, what materials are more affective. The following is what I currently use:

Cartoon (comics) - Pencil, ink, touched up in photoshop / illustrator
Fantasy - Pencil - Gouache - photoshop
Landscape - Water colour, Gouache (Gouache preferred)
Portraits - Water colour, Gouache (Gouache preferred)
Sketch - Pencil

What materials do you use, or in my case what should I be using instead?
 
Mac, black fineliner, Photoshop/Illustrator/Freehand, wacom tablet, blue lead sketch pencil, trace pad, sketch pad/paper, black pencil, low tak tape, lightbox, scanner (A3 is good), scalpel, printer, sorted.

Markers, soft coloured pencils, watercolours, brushes, ink pen on standby.
 
Typo said:
Mac, black fineliner, Photoshop/Illustrator/Freehand, wacom tablet, blue lead sketch pencil, trace pad, sketch pad/paper, black pencil, low tak tape, lightbox, scanner (A3 is good), scalpel, printer, sorted.

Markers, soft coloured pencils, watercolours, brushes, ink pen on standby.

:up: Pretty similar, except I don't use a lightbox so much.

I'd be lost without at least two thicknesses of fineliner. Mechanical pencils are great, especially with blue lead for roughwork (though it tends to snap a lot - be light with it). Tracing paper is great to work with too for doing linework.

It's all about trying things out and seeing what works for you and the style you're working in, try a bit of mix & match. Hell, I've had some nice results even with a Bic biro.
 
I get Goldline layout pads from Ebay and the local art shop (when they have them) and pay between £3-£4 per 80 sheet pad.
I find that I treat them less preciously than trace which allows me to flow and develop better and care less about mistakes which I tend to do with expensive trace.
Plus I find that pencil doesn't smudge as it does on trace.

I have the same problems with Moleskines.
I just like em too much and don't like to spoil them so I just use basic copy paper.
 
My rough work is often done on basic cheap-as-chips copy paper, then use trace. Layout pad is fine but I tend not to use it for much rough work.
 
Yup, cheap as chips paper for sketching out.
I've a whole load of the stuff in front of me now as I type.
A nice trace pad is however costly and I find myself using every scrap.

I have a Wednesday deadline on a job...but the PS3 is calling....

....hhmmm.
 
thanks guys, I'll have to take your advice on the cheap paper part, mind you after being in Hobbycraft you can sure get some bargains in there at times.
 
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