Illustration Tools Keep Coming Back To (And Why It's Almost Always Pencil)

Most of my illustrations begin with a pencil. Over time, I've tried many tools — different papers, pigments, and materials — but I tend to return to a small group that works reliably for the kind of vintage-inspired scenes I draw.

Some of the illustration tools I return to most often — pencils, textured paper, and a few colours that work well for layered drawings.

Pencil

Graphite is usually where a drawing starts. Not only for the first lines, but for tone. A soft pencil makes it easier to build atmosphere slowly — the slight unevenness of graphite often carries more character than a perfectly clean line.

For colour work, I often use coloured pencils rather than paint alone. Luminance, Prismacolor and Polychromos, for example, all behave slightly differently. Some give softer transitions, others hold a sharper edge. I tend to mix them depending on the drawing rather than staying loyal to one brand.

What matters more than the brand is the way the pigment sits on the paper. When the grain is right, the drawing develops almost on its own.

Paper

Paper changes everything.

For most illustrations, I prefer paper with a light texture — enough grain to hold pigment, but not so much that the drawing becomes rough. Fine-grain papers from Hahnemühle or similar brands tend to work well for coloured pencil and graphite together.

A recent colored pencil illustration — a kitchen interior built through layered pencil and texture.

Some papers absorb too much pigment, making blending difficult. Others are so smooth that the drawing feels slightly lifeless. Finding the balance is mostly a matter of trial and error.

Over time, I’ve started recognising which surfaces work best for the kind of scenes that I tend to draw.

A Slow Process

Most drawings develop gradually through layers — graphite first, then colour, sometimes followed by small adjustments or digital finishing. Some drawings later become art prints available in my shop.

The materials themselves are fairly simple. Pencil, paper, and a small group of colours. What changes from drawing to drawing is the atmosphere I’m trying to build.

A riverbank, a kitchen interior, a garden path. Scenes that rely less on action and more on small details — trees with texture, the edge of a field, a few objects placed on a table.

When the tools are right, they become almost invisible. They simply support the drawing while the scene takes shape.

One Mark at a Time

I still experiment with materials, but the tools I return to are usually the ones I naturally enjoy the most. Pencil, textured paper, colours that sit slightly inside the palette rather than standing out too strongly. The goal isn’t to showcase the materials themselves. It’s to build an image slowly enough that the atmosphere has time to emerge.

One mark at a time.