My Tools

Such are they are. 🙂

Art Materials

Non-comprehensive.

From left to right, a selection of things I use:

  • Blackwing Palomino Matte pencil.
  • Niji Grip500 Mechanical pencil (0.5mm graphite, double-knock).
  • Tombow Mono Zero eraser.
  • Waterman 52V wet noodle fountain pen (vintage lever-filler).
  • Papier Plume “The Blues” fountain pen with Stylosuite EF Harpoon flex nib mod (cartridge/converter).
  • Pentel pocket brush pen.
  • DIY bamboo dip pen (a.k.a. a pointy stick)
  • Sun-Star Stickyle scissors.
  • Hobonichi double-sided tape sheet.
  • Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky sable brushes in sizes 1, 4, 6.

Pencils, Erasers, etc.: I’ll use anything. As for erasers, in my household this is “whatever I can liberate from my daughter the artist.” 🙂 One time, after giving her an eraser again, I went in her room and made her inventory her stash. SHE HAD SEVENTEEN ERASERS IN HER ROOM. THEY WERE BREEDING!!! I liberated one.

  • Palomino Blackwing Pearl when I can get them.
  • Palomino Blackwing Matte, ditto.
  • Yasutomo or Niji Grip500 mechanical pencil with 0.5mm graphite. They’re out of production, but I think there are similar double-knock mechanical pencils around.
  • Tombow Mono Zero eraser. Erika Lancaster introduced me to these and they are amazing for fine erasing! You can get refills, too.
  • I use some random pencil sharpener; sometimes I carry an Opinel folding knife for that, because that’s what I can use in a cafĂ© without freaking people out in the knife department. (I think things would end very poorly if I brought out my puukko – I’m in the USA.)

Inking:

  • most lines with a vintage Waterman 52V fountain pen with the most amazing wet noodle flex nib loaded with De Atramentis Document Black, bought from Mauricio Aguilar – spendy, but absolutely worth it; I’ve bought from Mauricio a number of times and recommend him highly. (David Nishimura is also terrific for vintage pens and dip pens.)
  • a Papier Plume “The Blues” fountain pen (limited edition) with a Stylosuite Harpoon EF flex mod nib for more control. (If you can’t make it to a fountain pen show – I’ve never been to one! – you can inquire about ordering one of Stylosuite’s flex mods through Instagram.)
  • a Pentel Pocket brush pen: refillable, and the cartridge ink is waterproof once dry!
  • various waterproof/archival fineliners: Sakura micron, Faber-Castell, etc.
  • various dip pens, from Brause rose (readily available) to random vintage ones.
  • a random homemade bamboo dip pen. Easy to make: whittle a pointy stick. That’s it! Or you can buy them, but if you whittle your own (or modify a bought one) you can get the point exactly how you like it.

Inks:

A non-comprehensive list; these are my mainstays. I refuse to disclose the age of some of these bottles of ink lolsob.

  • De Atramentis Document Black for my fountain pens. (You can’t use India ink in a fountain pen; it’ll destroy the thing.)
  • Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star India ink.
  • Eon Vortex matte black ink.
  • Kuretake sumi ink.
  • Deleter white for corrections, which I use with an expendable synthetic brush because that stuff junks up brushes fast.
  • Eon Void white ink, ditto.
  • For small/quick details or corrections, I’ll use whatever white gel pen is handy, or Schmincke titanium white gouache.

Markers: I don’t use them often, but they’re great when I need to work fast or sketch out some values.

  • Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen brush.

Paper:

  • Arches 9″x12″ hot press, although I have other watercolor papers in my stash that I should use up. Normally I use cold press, but for inking with a fountain pen, the smoother finish of hot press works better for me.
  • Canson comic book layout pages. Thanks to Layla Lawlor for pointing me toward Colleen Doran’s Tumblr post about these! That said, for thumbnailing, any random paper lying around will do.

Brushes: Special thanks to Eller and Erika Lancaster for introducing me to the importance of the right brush for the right job!

  • Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky sable for fine round brushes.
  • Sometimes Rosemary & Co.’s sables for round brushes.
  • I’m much less fussy about flats: I have synthetics from Escoda, Tintoretto, and Princeton.

Watercolors: My mainstay paints/pigments. I’ve bolded the ones I consider critical when I’m building a smaller travel palette. I do not use a balanced palette, especially for this project; I go heavy on the reds/oranges/yellows. (Blue, what’s blue?)

  • PR254 – Greenleaf & Blueberry pyrrole red – a great primary red, used for the Mwennin/Lanterners.
  • PR144 – Roman Szmal azo red. My favorite cool red, used for Jedao.
  • PV19 – Daniel Smith quinacridone rose, Greenleaf & Blueberry quinacridone magenta – incredibly useful magenta, especially for mixing flesh tones.
  • PO36 – Greenleaf & Blueberry benzimidalone orange, alternately the Roman Szmal version, alternately Da Vinci benzimida orange deep – useful for mixing the lighter flesh tones.
  • PO49 – Daniel Smith quinacridone gold, or alternately the gorgeous version from ProdigalSonsPigments on Etsy (currently on hiatus) – yes, this is actual PO49. I have a stash of it from various suppliers. I love it in mass tone – a deep gold, but a lyrical yellow in wash.
  • PO65 – Old Holland Golden Barok Red. Useful for lighter flesh tones in light wash.
  • PY154 – Roman Szmal benzimida yellow or Winsor & Newton Winsor Yellow – a primary yellow.
  • PY213 – Greenleaf & Blueberry quinoxalinedione yellow – a cool yellow.
  • PG7 – Daniel Smith phthalo green blue shade – super weird “straight” (although I have use cases for it), but useful for mixing. If I have this plus PY154, PO49, and some PBr7, I can get a great range of greens with a little preparation time. If I need to do greens more quickly for landscape reasons (e.g. the establishing shot on #0 p. 4), I have a separate landscape palette of ALL GREENS ALL THE TIME from A. Gallo that I break out. I don’t use green a ton, by which you can tell I rarely do landscapes or botanicals.
  • Daniel Smith jadeite genuine – convenience green. I like the way it behaves.
  • PW4, PB15:1 – Roman Szmal blue sky – a pretty sky blue, although I may swap this out for ProdigalSonsPigment‘s glorious PB33 now that I have some. I use this for Cheris’s robot cat friend.
  • PB16 – Greenleaf & Blueberry phthalo cyan or Daniel Smith phthalo blue turquoise – A nice cyan blue for mixing. It’s eccentric to omit PB29 (ultramarine blue) from my usual palettes, because it’s a terrific mixing color, but I don’t enjoy it. (I still have PB29 in the large palettes.)
  • Daniel Smith amethyst genuine – in real life, we all suspect this gets its tinting power from PV23 or PV37. It’s my favorite for shadows. I use this for Kujen.
  • PV37 – Greenleaf & Blueberry’s dioxazine violet, or Winsor & Newton Winsor Violet.
  • PR102 – Greenleaf & Blueberry violet hematite.
  • PBr7 – Various earths as indicated, e.g. burnt sienna, burnt umber, etc. One I also use for convenience is Daniel Smith’s Van Dyck brown, a mix (so they say) of various umbers etc.
  • PBk6 – Daniel Smith lamp black. A nice neutral black.
  • PBk8 – Schmincke liquid charcoal grape seed. This is a cool black that I enjoy.
  • PBk11 – Roman Szmal Mars black or Daniel Smith lunar black. When I want granulation.
  • PBk26 – Eller introduced me to this gorgeous inky black and I’m enamored. It’s eccentric to use blacks in watercolor, but listen, SOMEONE has a lot of Kel uniforms and black-haired people to paint. I don’t have the patience to sit here mixing PG7 + PR179 (or whatever) EVERY TIME I need a black, kthx.
  • PW6 – Artistic Isle titanium white or Daniel Smith titanium white. Alternately, Schmincke titanium white gouache.

I have others in my larger palettes as needed, but these are the ones I’m likeliest to have on the go.

If you’re getting started in watercolor, Jane Blundell has some fantastic resources! My starting point was her lovely six-color limited palette, but she also has a fabulous rundown of triads.

  • triads: I’d be boring and go for PV19, PY154, PB16 for CMY. (In real life, I’m too impatient to do that much mixing.)
  • split primary: PV19 for magenta, PR255 for warm red; PY175 for cool yellow (I don’t trust PY3), PY150 or PY154 for warm or neutral yellow; PB16 or PB15:3 for cool blue, PB29 for warm blue.
  • primaries + secondaries: PV19 for magenta; PO36 for orange; PY154 for yellow; PG7 for green if you like mixing, PG17 or PG50 for a single-pigment green that you can use “straight,” or a convenience mixture that appeals to you; PB16 or PB15:3 if you prefer a cyan, PB29 if you prefer ultramarine; PV23 or PV37 for a violet.

If you already know you are ALL IN on e.g. botanicals, ignore me and get yourself some nice greens. 🙂 I’m a hobbyist and you should get advice from a real watercolorist based on your goals! There’s nothing wrong with mixtures if you prefer them, I just find single-pigment nerdery entertaining. My own smallest palettes tend to be incredibly weird; even my main large palette is 70% reds, oranges, yellows, and earths (because of portraiture/skin tones), with 1.5 lonely greens wondering what they’re doing.

Oh, and for love of little foxes, check the lightfastness on any pigments and don’t trust the manufacturers. Stay away from PR83 (alizarin crimson) or genuine aureolin or indigo. Handprint.com has a terrific Guide to Watercolor Pigments, although it doesn’t have a bunch of newer ones. For newer pigments, The Color of Art Pigment Database is my go-to. Kimberly Crick keeps a list of Fugitive Pigments and a Pigment Database with swatches; she also reviews some of the more avant-garde paints like mica/chameleon watercolors. Thanks to Eller for help with this!

A non-comprehensive list of palettes I use and love:

  • The 12-color Demi Palette from Art Toolkit is the one I use most often. They have a range of size options and will sell you pans in various sizes so you can customize! Right now this is my main working palette for this comic. It’s about the size of a business card when closed, shown below:
Art Toolkit demi palette and painted swatches with some demonstrated mixtures
  • row 1: PR144 Roman Szmal azo red, PR254 Greenleaf & Blueberry pyrrole red, PO36 Greenleaf & Blueberry benzimidazalone orange, PV19 Greenleaf & Blueberry quinacridone magenta.
  • row 2: PBr7 Daniel Smith burnt umber, PO49 ProdigalSonsPigments quinacridone gold, PY154 Winsor & Newton Winsor yellow, PB16 Greenleaf & Blueberry phthalo cyan.
  • row 3: Daniel Smith jadeite genuine, PG7 Greenleaf & Blueberry phthalo green, Daniel Smith amethyst genuine, PB26 MaimeriBlu neutral tint.
  • mixtures: PV19 – PY154 – PB16, PG7 + PB16, PV19 + PG7, PR254 + PY154, PY154 + PG7, PO49 + PG7 PBr7 + PG7, PB16 + PR144, PR254 + PB16.

Other palettes:

  • the 12-color mini palette from BlueStarCraftsMX (Etsy), which is exquisite, although note that the wells are tiny (and not standard…eighth??? pans) and drilled directly into the wood, so you will have to fill from tubes. I have this loaded with PV19, PR144, PO36, PO49, PY154, PG7, Daniel Smith Primatek jadeite (my weird choice for a convenience green), PB16 (I don’t use blues often), Daniel Smith Primatek amethyst, PBr7 (burnt sienna), PBr7 (Van Dyck brown), PBk6.
  • quackPlume‘s (Etsy) lovely minimalist Mondrian palette (accepts standard half- or full pans).
  • the Etchr circular mini palette as designed by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, 37 tiny wells that need to be filled from tubes, but lovely if you like a heavier porcelain palette with an accompanying tin and want LOTS of colors.
  • NatsumeHandmade (Etsy) has some adorable palettes. I reserve the TINY eight-color mini travel palette for when I have to travel even lighter than usual, but it’s lovely. Note that wells need to be filled from tubes since they’re dot-sized. Some of their other palettes may accept regular half? full? pans. Mine’s loaded with PV19, PR264 (before I realized there can be issues with this pigment; I’d replace it with PR144 now), PO49, PY97, PG7, PB29, PBr7 (burnt sienna), PBk11.
  • If you like a LARGE circular palette and don’t mind non-standard pans (they’ll sell you pan liners for their palettes), my LARGE palette is a Robax, and it’s terrific for when I’m painting at home and want ALL the colors.

Camera and Photography

  • my iPhone for quick reference.
  • Canon Eos Rebel T7 with a Zoom EF-5 18-55 mm lens (?), a very generous gift from Camera Benefactor(s).
  • Joilcan 74″ camera tripod. I find the quick-release plate especially useful so I’m not constantly screwing/unscrewing the camera to the tripod, especially when I’m doing this in my backyard!
  • Aodelan wireless camera remote.

Water: you laugh, but when I’m on the go, I use a small Nalgene bottle intended for juices. I hope no one accidentally drinks my paint water with its weird paint and ink residues?! My catten prefers dirty paint water to her water bowl, so I have to guard my paint water cup when I’m at home!

Miscellaneous:

  • washi tape is surprisingly useful for taping down things temporarily when I’ll be removing the tape later, or for motivational washi tape progress trackers. 🙂
  • ditto double-sided tape. I carry sheets of Hobonichi double-stick tape because it’s overpriced but compact.
  • glue. Just school glue, like Elmer’s Glue. Sometimes in thumbnails, it’s useful to glue a new panel sketch over the janky one that didn’t work!
  • SunStar Stickyle Scissors. They’re not the best ever scissors, which is due to the fact that they’re designed with an emphasis on extreme portability rather than extreme scissoring. They’re amazing at extreme portability, which is why they’re in my travel kit. At home, I use full-size scissors.
  • When traveling, my straightedge is one of those cardboard bookmark 6″ (inches and cm) rulers that St. Louis Art Supply includes when you order from their online store.

Apps:

  • Scanner Pro on my iPhone because I don’t yet own a scanner for 9″x12″ (or larger). I aspire to one that can handle up to 11″x17″ (A3-ish).
  • Pixelmator Pro for utility knife image processing.
  • Affinity Photo 2.
  • Affinity Designer 2.
  • Clip Studio EX for lettering, page layout, other comic-specific stuff.
  • RoughAnimator for iPad animation doodling.
  • TVPaint for more serious animation exploration.

Comic fonts licensed from Blambot:

  • Anime Ace BB.
  • DeathRattle BB.
  • Off Worlder BB.

Otherwise:

  • The (non-comic) title/logo font is John Roshell’s Hyperspace Race – I bought licenses for a range of variants because I fell in love with it!
  • Times New Yorker by D.O.C.S. from dafont.