Beginning/Continuing Materials and Ways to Use Them

7-10 Sticks Vine Charcoal SOFT
7-10 Sticks Vine Charcoal MEDIUM

• Vine (or willow) charcoal is very very soft, airy, and light. You can practically blow it away. Use it to do preliminary sketches and to create compositions, but NOT to finish a piece. Vine charcoal at its deepest is a dark grey.
  

3-4 Sticks Compressed Charcoal (soft)
1 each "General's" Charcoal pencil HB AND 6B

• Think of compressed charcoal as many many many pieces of vine charcoal compressed  together. Compressed charcoal creates a very rich and deep black and can make very crisp lines. Due to it's deep nature, it is very difficult to erase (contrary to vine/willow charcoal) making it ideal for finalized lines and shading.
• Charcoal pencils are graded in a similar way graphite pencils are. The higher the number, the 'softer' and darker the shade will be.

1 only Graphite pencil 2B or regular #2 pencil
1 only "Cretacolor" or "Prismacolor" Woodless Graphite 8 or 9B

• 2B is the artistic name for the academic #2 pencil. Its value range is fairly medium--a decent dark that's still erasable. A woodless graphite pencil offers the option to turn the pencil on it's side or make a beveled edge to get a more varied range of lines.

1 only "Derwent" white drawing pencil (Chinese white)

•  A white pencil can offer another option for whites on a composition, however it will be a different white than that of the paper. Using a white pencil over graphite or charcoal will create a muddy grayish color--so use sparingly or with purpose.
• However, if beginning on a colored paper, a white pencil can create  a beautiful range of value--with the pencil creating the highlights instead of the paper.

1 each Medium blending stick/stump
1 only Chamois Cloth

•  A blending stick and "shammy" are very useful tools when trying to smooth out and completing a composition but can also be used to create value. If your blending stump or cloth is getting a little too dirty, why not use it as a drawing tool? (eta: Most people with vision deficiency issues [such as myself] use a chamois cloth everyday--when we clean our glasses)

1 only "Design" Kneaded Rubber Eraser
2 each "Magic Rub" Erasers

• A kneaded eraser is helpful to create texture (by lifting up the charcoal or graphite already laid on the page) or putting value in (similar to the dirty blending stick).

1 only 1"wide tape (masking or other)
1 pad 18"x24" Newsprint (rough texture, 100 sheets or more--"Ingres", "Fabriano Tiziano", "Mi Tientes")

• Newsprint is used to get all preliminary and study sketches out. Any "rough drafts" you need to make are best made on newsprint. 

1 only Masonite Drawing Board