Tools I useArt supplies I use for my drawingsColored pencilsI got a lot of questions about the materials that I use on a daily basis. On this page you can find all that I use and I will explain why. If you want to draw a colorful, realistic drawings like mine, you might also look for the tools I use. If you are looking for the highest quality colored pencils, yet not the most expensive and you want a lot of nuances, then Prismacolor Premier set of 150 pieces is your best bet. These colored pencils are really soft and can be easily spread over the paper. You can draw a smooth human skin, using Prismacolor Premier, which you cannot achieve with dervent or other cheap pencils. If you want to draw a variety of things, like I do, you shouldn't buy the set of 24 or 48, because they are just not enough for getting a really beautiful, colorful drawings. Of course, you can play with nuances, mix them up and draw with one over another, but this requires a lot of practice, patience and experience. I bought the set of 150 - which you can see in the upper right corner of this chapter - and I found this for a really good price (this set usually costs $190 and more elsewhere).
You can also buy an individual single colored pencil, which is a really good deal. You can see the links below with 3 important pencils for blending and burnishing that can also be applied over the dervent or any other kind of pencils. I'm always using these grey colored pencils and they are not found in the set of 48 colored pencils. After clicking on the White or Cool Grey 50% bellow, you will be led to the selling page where you can chose (beside these 2 pencils) 110 single colored pencils by Prismacolor, so you can chose which colors you want to buy. This is also good, if you have used up only one pencil from your set, you can get that pencil without having to buy the full set again. The last product below is the black colored pencil by Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer, which is the best black colored pencil that I've ever tried. The areas drawn with this pencil remain absolute black after many years, which is not the case with other black colored pencils. Get the colored pencils I use: Amazing Prismacolor Premier set of 150 pencils (you can buy exactly the same pencils I use after clicking the link/image below). Buy this set now while cheap (it may not stay cheap for long!) 'The Best Prismacolor Colored Pencils 
Prismacolor pencils are so soft and behave so much unlike any other colored pencils on the market. When used correctly, Prismacolor drawings can take on the appearance of a painting. They are perfect for blending and burnishing. Take a look at my drawings below. These are drawn with Prismacolor Premier colored pencils only. In these drawings I used a Warm Grey 60%, Cool Grey 50% and many other nuances, to achieve a lifelike drawing. Check out my YouTube videos to see how I drew all of these. 
Since there is a lot of colors that I use for my drawings, particularly portraits that Prismacolor does NOT manufacture, I've found them by Caran d'Ache Luminance. These colors are: Buff Titanium, Brown Ochre, Burnt Ochre 10% and 50%, Steel Grey, Olive Brown, Payne's Gray, Raw Umber 10%, Slate Gray, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and many more. You can buy an individual Caran d'Ache Luminance colored pencil (the same that I use) on Amazon after clicking the links below, but if you can afford the set of 76 colored pencils (link right/below), don't hesitate to buy these high quality lightfastness pencils for yourself and to make your work easier and successful. You cannot create smooth textures and amazing drawings with cheap colored pencils! Take a look at my fanart drawing below. Even the 'paint' splashes are done in colored pencil. I drew her t-shirt with French Greys. I used lots of colored pencils for her skin. The more colors we use, the more realistic skin will be. That's why I get all these pencils by Prismacolor Premier and Caran d'Ache Luminance. Watch time lapse drawing video 
The third brand and kind of colored pencils that I always use are Lyra Groove Slim. They color just as nicely as Prismacolor pencils, yet I can use them for drawing the thinner parts, because they have a harder lead. I'm using Lyra when I want to draw a precise, clean edges, which is pretty difficult to do with Prismacolor pencils. These colored pencils are amazing and I really love them. They are very creamy, yet we can press harder when drawing with them, because they have an extra break-proof lead. They are easy to hold due to their triangular shape and they will be less likely to roll off the table onto the floor and break. Lyra colored pencils are cheaper than Prismacolor, but they don't offer as large palette of colors as Prismacolor does, so this is why I'm using these two sets together and they are the perfect colored pencil supplies for me. If you buy these Lyra pencils from the upper right corner of this chapter, you got a good sharpener bonus (btw: I use this kind of sharpener, I don't use an electric sharpeners). If you have a kid that like to draw, this pack of pencils sharpener can be a perfect gift for them. As mentioned, they are easy to hold, non-breakable and last really long. I really love to draw with them. In the image below you can see the parts of some of my drawings where I achieved a clear, sharp edges, using Lyra Groove Slim colored pencils. 
After colored pencils, the tool that is a must on my table is a white gel ink pen. A lot of people ask me every day what I use to draw whiskers over the drawn areas. I use this tool, because that is easy to draw over the colored pencils. We can leave a white color of paper for the whiskers and draw around them, but this is really difficult and can never look as good as when drawn with white ink gel pen. I also use this pen when drawing the eyes. I draw the reflection of light over the previously drawn pupils and it's really easy to do with this tool. Sometimes I just forget to leave a white dot in the middle of the pupil and this tool helps to achieve it even at the end of the drawing. If you draw an object, this pen can also be useful for the highlights. This ink gel pen lasts really long, although I use it in almost every drawing. I buy one pen once or twice in a year. I really love this tool. It helps me to achieve the realistic whiskers, not to mention that the lead of this pen is really thin, allowing us to create amazingly detailed parts of the drawings. I've put some of the areas of my drawings where I used this tool in the image below, so you can see the usage of the white ink gel pen. You can buy it on Amazon after clicking on the image in the upper right corner of this chapter. The product next to this pen is Uni Posca white marker. I use it when I have to whiten larger areas. 
The next important thing for being successful in realistic drawing is a smooth paper. I draw usually on 11* x 14* or 9* x 15* smooth white paper. You can buy it here: Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper Pad, 9 by 12-Inch, 20 Sheets I often draw on toned paper, because my drawings appear even more realistic. It is really interesting to start a drawing with white or other bright colored pencils. If you take a look at my drawings, drawn on green and grey papers in the image below, you can notice that they are way more lifelike than those that I've drawn on white paper. If you haven't drawn on toned paper yet, you should try that, you won't regret. In the last couple of years I rather draw on toned paper than on white paper. You can buy a really good pack of toned paper after clicking on the link in the upper right corner of this chapter. 
When drawing an animal, I always use a colorless blender. Colorless blender is just colored pencil with no pigment in it, it is used as smudger. This is really good tool and helps me to achieve a soft looking animal fur. This is a non-pigmented, wax based pencil, perfect for blending colors and softening edges of colored pencil drawing. They last quite a while. I buy the pack of two pieces by Prismacolor (that you can see in the upper right corner of this chapter) and I have it for more than two years(!!!), although I've been drawing a lot of animals. This tool is really helpful and is a must have for achieving a beautiful animal drawing. It makes a transparent layer over the drawn areas and eliminates the visible white dots of the paper. One more good thing about this tool is that you can go over it again with colored pencils. For a bit more money you can get even a better deal (link/image left) with the package of 2 colorless blender, 2 burnisher, plastic sharpener(which I'm using) and eraser. The blender pencil is soft and colorless and allows you to blend 2 or more colors together; the burnisher is a hard colorless pencil that provides a rich, glossy finish. In the image below you can see the difference between my drawing of cat before I used a colorless blender and after colorless blender. Note how softer appear the fur after going over with the colorless blender! 
When it comes to the graphite drawings, I'm using these amazing graphite pencils from the set in the upper right corner of this chapter. This pack includes 7 pencils (8B, 6B, 2B, B, 2H, 4H, 6H), 4 woodless graphite pencils (2B, 4B, 6B, 8B), and 3 water-soluble graphite pencils (HB, 4B, 8B), magic rub eraser, large kneaded rubber eraser, steel pencil sharpener and sanding board. I'd been drawing with graphite pencils only for almost ten years and have tried a lot of brands and this one by Prismacolor is all I need. I don't use a kneaded eraser, I don't like it, but for those who do use kneaded eraser it's fine to get together with these pencils in one pack. When I was drawing with cheaper graphite pencils, I always had a problem with the tiny grains that are found in those pencils and they always suddenly scratched my paper, before I could even suppose that it would happen again. This Prismacolor graphite pencils are so great, high quality pencils and I really love them. My favorite pencil is 2B, I'm using it for getting a rich, smooth, absolute black surfaces. I'm also making a powder from them and spreading it over the paper with tissue. I've put some of my graphite drawings in the image below, so you can see the results that I got, the absolute black background, a lot of shades of grey and perfect shadows, using these amazing graphite pencils. 
I also use a blending stump for blending both, graphite and colored pencils. If you are currently struggling with making your portrait look realistic, you will see a big difference once you use a blending stump. Right in this chapter you can see the blending stumps I'm using and my book 'How to Draw for the Beginner', graphite drawing tutorials, and get it on Amazon after clicking on this link. As a subscriber on Amazon, you can borrow and read for free. In this chapter you can see additional tools that I use. Very useful tool is the pencil lengthener. With this sliding-grip holder, you can use almost every bit of a pencil before having to throw it away! The pencil lengthener adds that feeling of balance and allows for a good grip. It holds both round, triangular and hexagonal pencils securely in its nickel-plated ferrule with a sliding ring. I'm also using a battery operated eraser for both colored pencil and graphite drawings. Of course, the colored pencils cannot be totally erased, but we can make a highlights using this eraser, eliminate the excess of the color, create the tiny hairs and many more things. Also, you can see the camera and I use for making my time lapse drawing videos and sometimes I use my Samsung Galaxy Edge which is also great for taking the picture of the finished drawings. I've added two links to the camera tripod and the phone holder I use. After clicking these Amazon links below you can get the same products I use. 
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This is the cheapest selling website that I could find. Bristol Smooth Paper is amazing quality paper, great for sketching with graphite pencils, drawing with colored pencils and for any other medium. I wouldn't recommend a smaller paper, because when we draw on a small paper, we cannot go much into details. 
