Inktober Tools and Materials! (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

Hope you've all been well since last time <3 Today, I'm sharing the materials I've been using to create my Inktober pieces! It's very minimal, but sometimes simple can be good. :) Onto the tools!

1. College-ruled notebook: A relic leftover from my days as a university student, it's non-note-filled pages are now used as a sketch and warmup ground. For each Inktober piece, before any art-making happens I draw simple shapes and lines to warm up my hand. After I feel sufficiently warmed-up, I sketch out several drafts of the final drawing. I like to do at least two drafts so I can vary my options. I often end up going with a sketch that wasn't my first drawing of the day, so it's worth it to pump out a couple sketches even if it feels like extra work! 

2. Pencil: Pretty straightforward, no brand, part of a gift set I received from Paulina. It's a pencil, it works, and it helps me bring my ideas to life. 

3. White gel pen: Uniball signo, as per Tori's recommendation. It's a great white gel pen, amazing pigmentation, high opacity, and surprisingly it layers over itself really nicely. If you're on the market, I highly recommend this one! I bought mine on Amazon and it only sold them in packs of three so I am pretty much set for a few years haha. 

4, 5, 6. Copic Sketch Markers (colors E71, BG93, and R14 respectively): I LOVE copic sketch markers. Granted, they're the only alcohol-based marker I've ever tried, but goshdarn if they aren't amazing quality. The brush nib makes it so easy to get even color coverage and make detailed marks and strokes. I've been using these three colors pretty consistently throughout my inktobers and they've sorta become my signature colors for my dessert girls. 

7. Pilot Pocket Brush Pen - Soft: This is what I use to ink my pencil sketch. I love this pen for inking. The nib is flexible, but not too slack and provides enough bounce-back so you have steady control over the lines you draw. A great inking pen for beginners I find, can produce thin or thick lines very easily with a change in pressure. 

8. Prismacolor Color-Erase pencil (color Carmine Red): I love these colored pencils above others for one reason: they are erasable. Unlike regular Prismacolors, these pencils have very little color payoff. They're perfect for sketching, crap for actually coloring. Turns out I only need them for sketching so it works out for me. ;) I like the color Carmine Red because it has the right amount of warmth for skintones and my art is generally warm-toned. 
9. Pentel Eraser: An old torn-up thing, also left over from my uni days. It's a chunk of its original form, but it erases well so I keep using it. 

10. uni Palette pencil sharpener: Unlike everything else here, I wouldn't recommend this product. I bought it out of convenience, I was in desperate need of sharpener and picked up the first thing I saw. Its small compartment fills up quickly with pencil shavings, meaning you have to empty it every 10 pencil rotations or so. It's a pain to use and to put back together, since the actual sharpener part falls out often. I'm on the market for a new and better sharpener, let me know if you have one you like using! 

11. Rendr sketchbook: Also a recommendation from Tori, this is a great sketchbook for marker art. I have yet to see any ink transfer or bleeding (and I use a LOT of marker ink), the paper quality is thick (won't tear or fold easily) and has a nice even texture. Also the binding is flexible, allowing you to bend the book completely open and flat on a desk, which is incredibly useful when you're deep in a drawing and don't have to constantly bat the opposing page back down. 

So those are all the bits and bobs I've been using this October! I rarely make traditional art, but these materials have made my experience very pleasant and quite fun~ 

Hope this was enjoyable to read or helpful! Let me know some of your favorite traditional art-making tools, I'd love to check them out!

Till next time,

<3 Vicki