[Lizzard]

Hi folks,

Haven't been around here in a long time. Last time was when we had a thread of those black and white drawings.

Anyways, on to why I'm posting today. I'm heading out to Cumbria (UK, countryside type thing) and am taking a summer hotel job. Not sure if I'll have access to a PC for a while, and I thought I'd make a proper foray into the good ol pencil/pen and paper type of art.

Where to begin? I bought a 3mm black fine liner and a few double sided brush pens (A few colours to mess around with). Then the whole Cumbria thing came up and I'm thinking I need to keep myself busy for about 6 months. So... pencils? More brush tips? Varied fine liners? What would you suggest.

Tight budget as well I would like to eventually do the Feng Zhu concept type drawings (until I find a style of my own, though his and Joe Madueira appeal to me greatly), but I'd like to get waxed on perspective and basics of drawing again (been a long long time).

If anyone could suggest a book to learn from, (preferably one, maybe two, the budget thing again *sigh*) I'll see if I can buy it before I go.

Thanks everyone!
Wayne

[Tronbot]

if you want to try the "feng zhu"-style, i think he has got a tutorial about his way of drawing, where he also lists the pencils, markers, papers etc. he uses.

but, for me 3 pencils would be enough--one normal HB, a harder 2H and a soft 3B.
maybe + a 6B to get really dark areas and a 7H to get very precise gradients.

then a sharpener, an eraser and some cheap paper, that would be enough for me not to get boring at least for half a year.

[Tzan]

I tried the Feng style earlier this year and got some of the materials listed on his site. One of the important things is paper. A normal sketch paper wont work well. It absorbs the ink too fast and doesnt give a smooth finish, it looks bumpy. I couldnt find any specialty marker paper. I started by practicing on regular copy machine paper, then later, on smooth bristol, which isnt cheap. You could probably get a freind to snag a handfull of copier paper

I got some Micron pens .2mm and .35mm
and some Prismacolor markers at a minimum you should get a 20% cool grey and a 50% (30% is nice and he starts his drawings with a 10% but you could use a pencil or a blue pencil)
White paint for the highlights, well you should have some of that around. gouache is good, ( I couldnt find any, I really must find a better art supply store. ) I used a white acrylic.