Drawing Materials

Did you know?
Charcoal has been used for drawing since pre-historic times. Charcoal is ideal for loose broad stokes when sketching. Charcoal sticks are made from vine, willow or beech twigs charred in high temperatures in a kiln. It is also available as compressed charcoal and charcoal pencils.
P.S. Always have a cloth to keep your fingers clean as charcoal can be messy. You can use fixative to protect your drawing from smudging. This can be bought in any good art shop.

Pencils are wonderful for quick sketching or finely detailed drawings.
Drawing pencils come in a range of grades. H for hard. B for soft. The hardest is 9H and the softest is 9B. Grade HB or 2B are ideal for sketching. *By the way, the lead in lead pencils isn't lead at all but graphite.

Erasers are used for drawing alongside a graphite pencil by some artists to achieve special effects. And you thought they were just used for rubbing out!

Colour pencils are great fun to use. They are quick, clean and portable, and very handy for outdoor sketching. Some are even water soluble so you can use a light wash of water with a brush over your colour drawing to great effect. I find it very handy when sketching wildlife, especially birds.

Pastels are made from finely ground pigments mixed with chalk or clay and bound with gum. Pastels come in a wide range of colours, the most popular are the soft pastels.
Wonderful effects can be achieved by drawing with pastels and blending the colours.
To fix your finished drawing to prevent smudging you can use a light fixative.
*Hard and oil pastels are also available.

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