Essential Tools for Drawing Manga Art

Most people who want to draw manga are sometimes clueless as to what tools to buy. You can spend up to $100 just on basic essentioal in drawing manga characters. For greater quality artwork, more patience, time, and better tools will be required.

PENCILS

Pencils will be the first thing you want to purchase. Sure #2 pencils will be find until you get the hang of how to start drawing, but you will eventually want some quality grade pencils by Prismacolor or some other brand that makes h, hb, b, f, and other grade pencils. If you have done drafting before, your mechanical pencils will be fine, too. Purchase some cheap ones and only fill them with certain types of lead. Mark in the outside of the pencils what type of lead you have in them so you don't forget. Pencils will be your best friend.

Don't forget to purchase non-copy blue lead pencils so that you can quickly sketch out what you want to draw. You can fill in the rest later without having to erase any of the line work. Be careful not to draw too hard with these because even though they say they won't copy they will if you press down too hard.

ERASERS

Unless you like pink erasers, stay away from them. These are notorius for smearing linework on paper and can leave a pink trail that you may not be able to remove. The best eraser for the said purpose is the white plastic erasers by Alvin or Staedler. These can sometimes erase ink as well. Try not to touch the eraser as it will soak the oil out of your skin and transfer it to the artwork.

The light tan 'gum' erasers are crumbly, and are not usually preferred by beginners since they don't see the benefit of them. These are what I call the final eraser as they can pick up debris as you sweep them off the artwork with your artist brush. The other eraser that is also a favorite among many artists is the kneaded eraser. This is that gummy dark gray eraser that you may not like at first, but it is such an essential.

Mostly used for enhancing linework and putting in highlights, the kneded eraser can be used over and over. This ultimate eraser will bring out your pencil worked Manga to its full potential. With much practice you will learn how to shape it to fit your needs.

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