Every Comic book Artist I know has their own work station.

A lot of luckier Artists have an entire room devoted to their craft, those who don't have a corner or a small place within their dwelling. It is this place they spend various hours putting pencil to paper, ink to pencils or painting. Most Artists definitely surround themselves with whatever inspires them to work on projects.

I will be talking about a few things in my drawing area to familiarize some non-artist folk to the tools, and stuff that surround us in our small creative bubble.

First off most artists have an array of Drawing pencils, a lot of new generation Artists tends to use a NON-Photo Blue pencil to do their rendering and sketching to get whatever pose they are looking for. Then they fill in with normal Pencil, I prefer anything from the H-B where it has a bit of a darker edge according to the pressure you apply.

For really detailed penciling I tend to use mechanical pencils, some of the favorite ones are the cheap Yellow Disposable ones bought at any Wal-mart, Meijer, Costco, whatever.

I will note that a lot of cheap Tools can be used; expensive Pencils and other Tools don't make an Artist.

I think an Artist uses what he can afford to get the job done. Onward to the inking equipment, inking tools vary on the skill of an Artist.

I started out using an Inking NIB which I think gives you a lot better fluency with line work, but takes patience to learn and replacing the NIBS are also costly as they wear out pretty quickly.

Brush inking is something new I've begun taking an interest in; here is where the EXPENSIVE tools can be definitely said to better the experience. Cheap brushes are good, but Expensive brushes can make the difference in some cases. I tend to invest in a few brushes, something that can last if you wash them and take care of them for future usage.

Inking pens, now this seems to be a newer phase of inking, compact, portal, and definitely less messy. There are a wide Range of Inking pens, I prefer the ones Manga Artists use, as you also can get some gray shading Markers to do shadows on work.

RickFlag1 I know is one of the few talented Artists who use Ball Point pens to ink work, which is a skill all in its own.

Let's talk about Reference material; I don't know one Artist who does not have a small Library of Anatomy Books, Photo books, Comics books, etc somewhere near their drawing haven.

I usually have several Anatomy books, perspective, and other photo books close by.

These come in handy when sketching, and rendering, or even warming up a project. Keeping current and past Comic books close at hand also gives you an indication of what different Artists use for layouts, and style.

Inspiration comes from all kinds of places as well; I like to keep stuff on the wall that I find interesting.

Last but not least is paper. This one is like Pencils; you have several different types for different situations.

Me, I personally like buying the big sketchbooks to drape over my desk for warm up pencils and sketches.

When working on a comic, again with the new age of Scanning and Digital work a lot of Artists do CELL pieces and combine them on pages.

I tend to still use the old school 11x17 Bristol board comic pages. I am slowly working into applying that to my projects in some aspects. For pinups, and character designs I tend to use smaller size Bristol board pages, and or regular computer printer paper at size 8x11.

Music tends to play a big role also in Artists work spot; I used to use a CD Player/Radio until I eventually bought a small MP3 player. I have seen other Artists who have home music systems, Computers, and TV's.

All in all, the Artist surrounds himself with his tools and inspirational belongings that aid him in his creative zone. It is this spot that allows the Artist to escape reality and enter into their own zone Of creativity.

I hope those who are not artists learned something from this article and of course those who are aspiring artists, Next time I will be giving some basic insight into the comic world of digital coloring, what programs colorists use, and a basic tutorial on flatting an illustration.

Thanks and be well.

Larry