# What media do you use to sketch?



## Maraxk Montale (Aug 26, 2010)

I know you guys are going to probably flame me but I enjoy using mechanical pencils. I enjoy having a sharp point to work with most of the time. In the long run I know it makes darker lines that I need on the paper but I need to see where I really want to put my lines when its time to ink.


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## Eske (Aug 26, 2010)

Why in the world would you get flamed for this?  


Anyway, with traditional media I use a wide range of pencils -- soft lead for broad strokes of shading, firm lead for the initial gesture, and mechanical pencils for the detailing.

Typically, however, I use digital media for sketches.  c:  I just go into photoshop, lay down a colour I like, and start sketching.  I used to use low opacity brushes, but lately I've taken to sketching with 100% opac brushes with flow on pen-pressure sensitivity -- it feels almost like drawing with markers!


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## Smelge (Aug 26, 2010)

I use freshly tanned badger skins for my canvas. First you have to peel them off the badger, which is tough because the selfish little bastard doesn't want to let go of it. You then have to stretch the skin on a rack, shave any goop off and slowly use Potassium nitrate to cure it. Once that's done, which takes 5 weeks per skin, I take my special inks. Generally it's several weeks of saved up semen with food colouring in it, though occasionally if the badger dies during the skinning process, I use it's fat mixed with some dyes.

For brushes, I only use finest horse-thigh bones whittled down to a nib.

Once the art is complete, I put it in a photocopier, thens can the photocopy into Photoshop, where I then trace over it and colour it digitally, because badgerskin looks terrible when scanned.


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## quoting_mungo (Aug 26, 2010)

"Sketch" in the sense of "pencil that I will ink over" I do with a mechanical pencil.
"Sketch" in the sense of "quickly hash out a rough concept" I usually do with a ballpoint pen.

Both serve me well.


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## Zydala (Aug 26, 2010)

Smelge said:


> I use freshly tanned badger skins for my canvas. ...


 
We got a pro here! Badger skins are for the hardcore! :3


I like traditional media best - I've been trying to use more digital media lately but I don't feel comfortable with it yet. I use a wide arrange of pencils - mechanical pencils, lead holders, etc. ...I love pencils :x


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## Runefox (Aug 26, 2010)

A lot of people say mechanical pencils suck, but a lot of people also say that those people are idiots. 

Anyway, I used to use mechanical pencils and printer paper, but nowadays I'm entirely digital. I have a tablet now, but over the past few years I've been using my mouse exclusively, which... Isn't pleasant.


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 26, 2010)

Runefox said:


> A lot of people say mechanical pencils suck, but a lot of people also say that those people are idiots.


 
No there is actually a valid reason for their opinions. Western art focuses on line. Mechanical pencil unlike a regular pencil cannot be turned to the side as well or sharpened in a way to create interesting lines. Most mechanical pencil work suffers from this sameness or people think "tight lines = good drawings" This is not always the case. 

http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/the-art-of-sharpening-pencils

Good blog on different kinds of points made with pencil. 

If you can't see your lines it has more to do with the lead, than the pencil.

If you can find this book it's a good way of showing how versatile a wooden pencil is. I keep forgetting to pick up a copy when I got to the bookstore, but I can always order it. 

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2844659&postcount=7


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## Taralack (Aug 26, 2010)

I use ballpoint pens to sketch in my sketchbook, because it's annoying having to pick up eraser shavings off the ground, especially when you don't have a vacuum cleaner. Other than that, there's of course my tablet. :V


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## Runefox (Aug 26, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> No there is actually a valid reason for their opinions. Western art focuses on line. Mechanical pencil unlike a regular pencil cannot be turned to the side as well or sharpened in a way to create interesting lines. Most mechanical pencil work suffers from this sameness or people think "tight lines = good drawings" This is not always the case.



This is actually what I used to tell people back when I still used traditional media; I didn't always use a mechanical, but grew into it largely because I didn't have anything better at the time. More recently, I have high-grade wooden pencils for traditional art, but they rarely ever see action for any reason. Still, though, there does seem to be some split among people who prefer one over the other, mainly for exactly the reasons you outline above. I'm guessing this doesn't quite hold for the professional world, however.


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## Ratte (Aug 26, 2010)

Some shitty BIC mechanical pencils that I usually find on the ground at school, or, if I'm feeling classy, the pencils with different hardness.  I would usually use a 2H for sketching.

For pens, a normal ballpoint pen works.  I highly dislike gel-ink pens for serious sketching.  They tend to smear and piss me off.

If at home, I'll use my tablet.  That way I don't have to dig through a bunch of shit trying to find my pencils or pens.


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## Asswings (Aug 26, 2010)

I pre-sketch in a blue photocopier pencil thing.

Otherwise I lose lines, and things get blurry and messy. Then I sketch over that in mechanical pencil, specifically for the fact it's small thin lines.

Then I ink it with pens.


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 26, 2010)

Runefox said:


> I'm guessing this doesn't quite hold for the professional world, however.



The instructors for a class I was at recently really disliked the use of mechanical pencils. Not everyone suffered from it but the instructor was pretty much on the ball being able to tell who used one and who didn't mainly for the reasons I previously mentioned. Whereas traditional pencil works were harder to tell if it was pure pencil or mixed with some other media or if someone made their work to emulate the non varied line of a mechanical pencil.

I actually use drafting pencils a lot because I don't like messing with wood casing of pencils, and this is a nice middle ground.


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## TopazThunder (Aug 29, 2010)

Ratte said:
			
		

> For pens, a normal ballpoint pen works. I highly dislike gel-ink pens for serious sketching. They tend to smear and piss me off.


 That's the main reason why I don't like using gel pen in general! That stuff irritates the hell out of me. I use a white gel pen for highlights in my colored pieces but that's about it. That's when I actually use the smearing to my advantage, lol.



Arshes Nei said:


> I actually use drafting pencils a lot because I don't like messing with wood casing of pencils, and this is a nice middle ground.



Hmm, that's an excellent idea. I might have to try that sometime...

Anyway, with about 98% of the time I'm using my 4H or maybe my 2H pencil. If it makes any difference it's Prismacolor brand. *shrug* Sometimes if it's an involved picture that I'm not as comfortable doing right without too many erasures I use 6H and sketch ultra light, then as the "framework" for the subject gets more and more solid I switch to my darker pencils for details.


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## Zydala (Aug 29, 2010)

TopazThunder said:


> Anyway, with about 98% of the time I'm using my 4H or maybe my 2H pencil. If it makes any difference it's Prismacolor brand. *shrug* Sometimes if it's an involved picture that I'm not as comfortable doing right without too many erasures I use 6H and sketch ultra light, then as the "framework" for the subject gets more and more solid I switch to my darker pencils for details.



I used to use a lot of H pencils as well. Be careful, though! using them too much can ruin the paper you use - it can make grooves into it if you're too tough, and inking over those are a pain sometimes. I've found it easier to just be suuuuuuuper gentle with a darker lead. But everyone has their way! Some people just use papers that can take the abuse - that's just as well too :]


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## Jw (Aug 29, 2010)

Putting it simply, I use 2H, HB, 2B and 4B pencils, mechanical pencil for really crisp lines and hairs, and most importantly I use a kneaded eraser. A lot of times (for simplicity's sake), I might just draw with mechanical pencil and eraser so I don't have to worry with the need to sharpen constantly. Then I might finish it later with my entire set of supplies, so I guess you can say I like to draft with the mechanical pencil.

But yeah, Hs can seriously kill the tooth/grain of the paper if you're not careful. For me, that's what 2H is sometimes useful for-- creating a line that's unnoticeable at first glance yet really ties in the picture to texture. Also, you can use them to expand our drafted image a bit, and they're easily covered by other, softer media. Plus, you can use them to kill the grain, which is awesome for some highlights stuck in the core shadows that you see with rough textures (like hair, sand or concrete), meaning it' s really difficult to shade over that area. 

But I'm a fan of tossing in some random item every now and then to draw with. Compressed charcoal if my favorite to sue for shadows, though it potentially can come off as clumpy looking if you don't use the right hardness. 

Anyway, the idea of using 2H to make those phantom lines can be seen here in a really recent drawing of mine. 



Click the pic, and take a look at it in the smaller version. Then go full size and look at the base of the tail,  the backs of the legs, and basically anywhere the fur tufts out a bit. Course it's a sketch, so it's not going to be perfect by any means, but you can at least see what I've used there.


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## Arshes Nei (Aug 29, 2010)

There's an actual term for those groove marks or painted over pieces. I need to go look it up. But it happened even with the old masters too. So don't feel too bad when it happens with you. It's those indentations that helped them uncover how many mistakes Old Master painters went through before settling on a piece.


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## Zydala (Aug 29, 2010)

Arshes Nei said:


> There's an actual term for those groove marks or painted over pieces. I need to go look it up. But it happened even with the old masters too. So don't feel too bad when it happens with you. It's those indentations that helped them uncover how many mistakes Old Master painters went through before settling on a piece.


 
I can't remember the term right now either... :\ but yeah I know it's not entirely a bad thing. but I found after a while that I would create grooves that would pool ink in them sometimes, which is why I started working with softer leads. but the pencils are definitely useful, esp. for drafting.


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## Jw (Aug 29, 2010)

Zydala said:


> I can't remember the term right now either... :\ but yeah I know it's not entirely a bad thing. but I found after a while that I would create grooves that would pool ink in them sometimes, which is why I started working with softer leads. but the pencils are definitely useful, esp. for drafting.


 
Sorry to butt in, but I think you're talking about "impressed lines". Like I talked about, I use them as help me keep some strands of hair lighter in a heavier shadowed portion of my drawing. It kinda works in the way of a FabergÃ© egg in that it locks in a color and allows you to color over it without completely killing the color difference. 

I used to do that in elementary school where I'd color in something with crayons really heavily and scrape off the extra wax with my fingernails, which killed the paper's tooth where I scratched. In high school I remembered doing that and found out how to do it with pencils after I tried a 6H pencil for the first time. That was sort of exciting to me-- learning a new trick that I sort of came up with by myself and not learning from someone else. When I talked to a college professor about that technique, he knew what it was and called it "impressed line". Not a big surprise other people knew about it anyway, haha.

But it can be annoying-- that's why I lightly sketch with 2Hs and don't bother using anything much stronger. when I tried a sharpened 8H, it could cut/score into watercolor paper, leaving a neat effect after the pigment pools there. You could try that out sometime when you're bored.


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## TopazThunder (Aug 29, 2010)

Zydala said:


> I used to use a lot of H pencils as well. Be careful, though! using them too much can ruin the paper you use - it can make grooves into it if you're too tough, and inking over those are a pain sometimes. I've found it easier to just be suuuuuuuper gentle with a darker lead. But everyone has their way! Some people just use papers that can take the abuse - that's just as well too :]


 
I used to have that problem all the time when I was younger before I knew better. But that's because I pressed down too hard. These days whenever I sketch I do it incredibly light, so I don't get that ghostly line effect anymore whenever I color over it. XD In fact, I rarely ever use my 6H and my 4H these days. My B pencil is the "stumpy" one in my drawing set, lol.


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## onyxavia (Sep 8, 2010)

Though I've recently switched to a tablet for my sketch work as well, I used to sketch with a mechanical pencil all the time.  The line variations that I have in my work are instinct from years of practice - I mostly just need some editing on placement.  Once I can get that down, it's all go.


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## Yur Fur (Sep 14, 2010)

I use Mehanical pencils when I have them close by, for the sharp lines. It doesn't really matter because when I'm done, I go over what I want to keep in pen.
I sometimes sketch with a regular ball point, if I'm feeling confident.


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## Twink (Sep 14, 2010)

i'm an uber noob at drawing... i mean i'm not drawing stick figures but after middle school (some 6-7 years ago) i never took any art classes. I don't have much money for drawing so i use mechanical pencils and ink with Sharpie pens. I do exclusively flat are so i have no problem with the combination idk... got to start somewhere


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## Aegis (Sep 15, 2010)

5B-4B Graphite on Canson Sketch Paper (50_s) or 5md Lead pencil on Cl_Sketchbook.


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## maria-mar (Sep 16, 2010)

Common black ball point pen 
It's dark and not as messy as pencils (although it does look a little messy in the scan): http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4367248/


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## greg-the-fox (Sep 16, 2010)

Mechanical pencils are cool to sketch with, I never got into it, but for people who are good at it and know what they're doing it can produce some pretty amazing results. I mean it really doesn't matter what medium you use as long as you're comfortable with it and it works for you.

Lately I've been improving at sketching with my tablet, but I cheat at it >> I'll do a super rough sketch and then I'll lasso parts and edit them, move stuff around, use the liquify tool, etc... and then I'll do a 2nd refined sketch on another layer
Haters gonna hate :V

Sketching with pencil still feels more like I'm in control though. I don't think it matters how you get to the end result as long as that looks good


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## Non-devotee (Sep 20, 2010)

Well as of now, I actually use my iPod touch to draw all my art. I like useing ArtStudio for drawing and coloring. It actually offers very useful pencils and tools, and a lot of different settings and shapes for every brush/pencil. PhotoFX for more option/filters/effects and just to adjust the tones and color

But once I get enough money, I'll be buying the newest model with a camera and I'll probably start drawing on paper and then taking a picture of it and edit/color it digitally.

Basiclly on artstudio I'll make a rough sketch, with a pencil at about %40 opac at 2px, and once I get the desired image, I'll add a tranceparent layer onto it and trace the main image out, with %100opac and 2-4px, I'll turn off the rough sketch add another tranceparent layer and color and shade it. Then I'll mix the two layer, turn back the rough sketch and change the opacity of either layer(until it looks best) and I'll mix them, export them to PhotoFX, add filters/effects and export it back to ArtStudio, and I'll mix the moded one with the original(till it looks best). Then export to computer and give it a final touch on PhotoShop


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