The pencil is a very basic, simple to use materials that has been around for years. It is good to use in sketches, as well as adding detail, shading, shadows and outlining. Though it can be sharp, and you can jab yourself with it, it is probably one of the most dependable things in the history of art.
Charcoal i
s another interesting material with many different uses. Although it may be messy and smudge easy, it can be used to produce extremely realistic drawings/portraits. You can either use it to draw/shade directly, or crush it and apply it with a brush, to spread the colour easier without getting fingerprints everywhere.
Cross hatching is the technique in which you can use a pen/pencil to shade in/draw different things using nothing but a sequence of tiny crosses. You can use it to get loads of detail, or to emphasize the simplicity of a piece. The definition and different types of cross hatching make this technique an interesting and unique way of creating a brilliant piece of artwork.
Ink can also be used for many different things. Coloured ink is useful in paintings and it is really simply to blend with water to create some really cool effects. However, it can also be a pain to use, as it's a really thin liquid, it runs everywhere and is extremely messy. So you need to be extremely careful when using it. You can apply it with brushes, use straws to blow it on to a piece of paper to create a splatter effect, or just pour small bits on and let it run down the page.
Painting is a process that has been used for centuries. It involves creating an image on a piece of paper using different brushes or even your fingers. There are many different types of paint, such as oil, acrylic or watercolour, depending on what you want to paint/what kind of texture you want to build up. The wide variety of colours, and the ability to mix colours makes paint a very popular choice with artists around the globe.
Super imposing is the process of laying one thing over another. A tool that can be used for this is photoshop. It involves taking a scene and an object/objects that wouldn't normally be associated with each other, and laying the object onto the scene. This can be really effected with creating fantasy or just surrealism.
Rotary cutters are a very useful tool for collage or graphic design. It involves a sharp blade that cuts through cardboard/paper, it's a lot simpler and easier than using scissors, and it gives a really clean cut. However, they are a lot more dangerous. You must always use a safety mat and make sure to keep your fingers away from the blade, otherwise you could end up with a nasty cut or a missing finger.
Paint brushes can be used for many things, but more ordinarily are they used to apply paint to a canvas or any surface. They can come in many different shapes and sizes to create many different effects. They can also be used to smudge and apply charcoal to a drawing, and also splatter ink to create a really cool and rough look to a piece.
Stamping is the process of getting anything, a stencil, a rubber pre-made stamp or even a potato, and applying paint or ink to the reverse side and then pressing it down onto a surface and applying pressure, then pulling it up off the paper/whatever, and it leaves an imprint.
Pens can be used for many things, from simple note taking, to using fine-liners to define drawings and create more visual crosshatching. The biro can also be used for sketching, however it isn't as easy to erase a mistake, so you always need to be aware of what you're doing and what you're working on, so you don't mess up.
Monochrome is when you take the colour out of a painting/drawing/photograph and make it completely black and white. You can focus the monochrome on a certain area to make other areas stand out, or you can just cover the whole thing, making it look simplistic and clean. The monochrome technique is simple to use on photoshop as you just need to apply a filter, then you can erase it or leave it as it is.
Erasers are used to correct mistakes made with pencils by rubbing away the surface. They are very useful, however if you over-use them, you get a lot of rubbery residue and sometimes you can rub away a layer of the paper, leaving a nasty and scruffy look, which isn't very pleasant.
Chalk can be used to draw on many surfaces such as walls and the ground and comes in a wide variety of colours. Artists often use them to create visual illusions on the ground, which can look very cool, however Chalk isn't permanent in most cases, and blows/washes away over a period of time. If you use chalk on paper or a blank canvas, you need to apply some sort of substance such as hairspray to make it stick and stay as it is. It is also very easy to smudge, however when done deliberately, it creates awesome images.
Graphics tablets are very useful for digital images and manipulation. It essentially substitutes as a pen and paper, however the image appears on screen. They are very simple to use when you get used to them and they can be used to make detailed images on screen without having to scan an image in and draw with a mouse.
Cameras are used for photography, which essentially captures an image as it appears in front of you. You can use many different lenses and filters, as well as lighting to create really cool photographs of different things, be it people, objects, plants, nature or anything.
Photoshop is a digital manipulation program. You can use it to edit photographs, apply filters and even create a painting on screen using different brushes and effects. It is favoured by many graphic designers and concept artists from giving their work a final flourish or creating a piece completely from scratch. The work can be saved digitally so you can have it on you at all times or you can print it out and have it physically.
