hive artistis - need pens and pencils for christmas gift

[ktgrok]

My DD11 is sketching more, and wants to play with using pens - she draws soemthing in a journal every day and dates it and is enjoying seeing her progress. Think more anime style, japanese style, etc. 

I'd like to get her a nice pen set - and maybe a pencil set too. I have zero knowledge of this - can you help me out? Right now she's sketching with a number 2 pencil in a lined composition book so anything will be an. upgrade, but I don't want some awful set that is hard to use or smudgy or whatever. 

[mmasc]

I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I bought this pen a couple years ago just to write and play with, and it is so fun and pretty! Makes the prettiest lines!

[Tap]

Staedtler pencils are a great place to start Faber Castell and Derwent are all great student grade.  Kol-i-Noor, Caran d' Ache, and TomBow are great too but can get a bit more expensive.  With holiday sales you never know what will be cheapest. 

For a younger student, i would choose Dick Blick Studio markers. They are alcohol based and vibrent. If you have a Dick Blick store nearby, they sell a lot of individual markers. It can be fun to pick out your own colors, but also nice to replace a single dry or ruined marker from a set. An alcohol blender can be used to smooth things like skin tone, but it takes a special touch to get the effect without things getting messy. Sharpie makes a great student grade permanent liner.

My daughters favorite illustration markes are TomBow, Copic and Micron, but they can get a bit expensive. Amazon has a TomBow store if you want to check them out but expect them to be $3-5 per pen even in a set.

 

For a different type of practice than drawing anime....persepective notebook and how to. Knowing perspective really changes a kids drawing ability. 

 

 

[Tap]

You will also want to look at erasers as different types do differnt things. You can buy them separately or just a simple set like this.

For pencil drawing, blending stumps or tortillons are a must have. It makes blending more predictable and keeps the oils from hands off of the page. 

[Bambam]

This is a nice pen set. We got it for one of ours years ago, and she has asked for a replacement set. 
https://www.amazon.com/Faber-Castell-Pitt-Artist-Pens-Assorted/dp/B000TKEZDO?th=1

As for drawing pencils, we got a set from Hobby Lobby. I remember they were a turquoise color barrel and came in a variety of hardnesses. 

I'd also get a kneaded eraser if you get pencils. 

[Tap]

For colored pencils, Prismacolor are a wonderful place to start. Costco has an affordable set. Make sure to buy a brass sharpener or something like this from Prismacolor. Never use a plastic kid shapener on good pencils. It will break the soft core. I like that this one has two holes. Not for different pencil sizes, but for different sharpness of core. When drawing, you don't always want a super sharp point......but sometimes you do. It also has a container, so the artist doesn't have to worry about stray debris marking up the page.  A simple brass sharpener is nice because you can completely view what you are doing and control the sharpness that way. 

I have two sharpeners. One for colored pencils and one for greyscale. I don't want my softer leads to leave residue in my sharpener and get on my colored pencils.

For greyscale pencils like the Staedtler set above, I really like the sharpener by the same company. I like the sharpness and container, with the little flap to keep stuff inside. This was my go to sharpener for all my kids for school. They last a long time and are nice to use.

[whitestavern]

Have not read but my son uses and likes staedtler pigment liners, Coptic multi liners, and Pentel twist erase .7mm pencils

[Guest]

Tombow markers make amazing illustrative art. And Micron pens for all detailing. 

See below for artwork I did using Micron pens and Tombow markers.