Sandeep Deb's Home Page
Sketches, Paintings and Carvings
  Tools that I use
Pencils
Did you ever realize that the core of a typical pencil, which is also called 'lead' doesn't have any lead in it :). In fact it is typically made of a mixture of finely ground graphite, clay & wax additives baked at high temperatures to form oblong blocks which are machined to get the cylindrical core.

After much experimentation, I have found Staedtler Lumograph and Derwent Graphic brand of pencils to be of very high quality and grade. I have found Lumograph pencils to be better on the hard grades while Derwent behaves better on the softer grades.

I own a 12 pencil set of Lumograph and have recently purchased a 24 pencil set of Derwent Graphic pencils. I have also experimented with a variety of local pencils like Apsara, Kohinoor, Natraj but will not recommend them for serious sketching.

For my hard experience, never, never switch brands in between sketches. Decide on the set that you are going to use up front and stick with it for the sketch. B of Lumograph is not the same as B of Derwent and before you get adjusted, you might just have made history out of your sketch.

Graphite Crayons
Graphite crayons have the exact same composition as normal pencil cores, but without the outer wooden sheath. Graphite crayons come in various shapes and sizes which vary from small rectangular blocks, to short and stout sticks usually 4" long. These are especially useful when you need graphite on bigger canvas images. For example, these pencils were invaluable when I was sketching David or Pieta. These are not suitable for small, fine sketches. I own six of them, one Faber Castell 4B and others from Koh-i-noor in varying shades. NOTE: These have a nasty habit of leaving shiny graphite streaks if not handled carefully.

Erasers
Erasers are not a tool for error correction anymore. They are integral parts of sketching and invaluable during shading. I use two types of erasers, hard erasers which are typical white rubber erasers and kneaded erasers. The later variety is slightly different and needs special mention. Kneaded erasers are quite unlike the traditional erasers which are blocks of hard rubber, instead they are quite malleable and can be squeezed into different shapes. They are very soft and very effective in picking up charcoal and pastel dusts. They can also be used to dab on existing shadings and create an area of negative shading. Look at David's cheek, you can see how the cheekbones have been given a negative shade by the use of kneaded erasers.

BTW, a nice trick... if you want really soft touches of negative shading you can use white bread without the crust in place of a kneaded eraser. It's quite effective indeed.

Soft Pastels
Once you start dealing with bigger canvasses, pencils prove quite inadequate. You need instruments which are as maneuverable as pencils but with a bigger coverage area. This is a time you start appreciating the stubby graphite sticks. However, graphite sticks bring another set of problems into your life.. they shine. My good wife had bought me a set of soft pastels on one of her UK trips. This was the time I was working on David and struggling with the shine factor and the pastels were a savior. They had all the good characteristics of charcoal, but were much darker and easier to handle. These are messy buggers and need very careful handling. They smear on your hands and you need to be extra careful with your hands in terms of touching the paper.

Soft pastels are available in all black or shades of gray. Since these are dye based, you can find them in all varieties. I have used soft pastels on medium sized canvasses too, for example Father's Pride has significant use of gray shades of soft pastels.

Tortillions
Tortillions or blending stumps are generally used for 'constructive' smearing of charcoal, pastel or graphite strokes. Tortillions are late editions to my tool set. I started smearing with my finger tips, then progressed to using small pieces of paper, then to softer papers.. it was quite late by the time I realized there were specialized instruments to do it. Tortilions come in various tip sizes and hardness. Quite useful when you have to blend bigger areas or achieve that extra layer of smoothness. You can see how I have used blending in Pieta.

Fixatives
Once you finish your sketch, it's in an extremely fragile state. Most of your charcoal, pastel and graphite 'dust' that creates the shades are just sticking to the paper. With time and age, they start falling off essentially decomposing your sketch. Also, the paper surface is prone to atmospheric oxidation which can result in your sketch taking on the brownish tinge. It's quite important to choose the quality of paper that you wish to sketch on. Always try to use an acid free paper which can ward off the oxidation for a long time.

To give your sketch that extra life, it's always advisable to spray it with a coat of transparent fixative which can help bond the particles to the paper. These are special fixatives and require special attention during application.

DONOT ever try with a cheap fixative or apply it from too close. One careless deed can wipe off months of your effort. I use a Windsor & Newton artist's fixative and it has worked well for me.