Step 15. Tools of the trade

A pencil and some sort of paper to write on - that's the extent of my concern about what tools to use when drawing. 

I don't pay much attention to remembering brands or qualities of materials I use, but I decided to take things more seriously and pay attention to the materials I use.

This weekend I went to a couple of  art supply stores to pick up some things I needed. The colored pencils I purchased are by Faber Castell. Faber Castell makes a few types of colored pencils, and the ones I purchased are polychromos. The colors blend well, and they are oil based. I also bought a couple of black pencils Prismacolor Verithin. I like the Verithin pencils because, well, they are very thin. I can sharpen them to a super thin point, which is great for a precise lines. 

After my little shopping spree, I stopped at a coffee shop and couldn't resist trying out the new pencils. I made a drawing in my lined notebook, using a Flair felt-tip marker to outline the design and the new color pencils to fill it in.

The design is based on an ancient Roman mosaic I saw on a recent visit to the Met. I liked how the pencils worked and I started a more detailed version of the same design when I got home.