Pencils - I do all of
my rough drawings with a mechanical pencil with a 5 mm 2B lead. The
pencil I use is a Uni Kuru Toga. It's inexpensive and the unique design automatically rotates the lead while you draw so it is always sharp.
Paper for
Roughs - For
roughs I use 75 gm photocopy paper, just your regular run-of-the-mill
stuff.
Light
Table - For years I never used a light table, but now it
has become standard equipment. At first I had one on a separate table
and would have to go back and forth and back and forth. I figured, "This
is ridiculous!" So I built one that sat on my desk and doubled
as a drawing surface and light table. It is made of wood with a slanted
surface as I like to work on a slight incline. The frosted glass
is set in to the right side of the top, flush with the surface. When
I need to use it I just flip the switch and I'm in business! (The
picture at right is illegible, I know. In order to read the dimensions
and see it clearly, save it to your computer and view it at its full
size.)
Drawing
Tablet - For my final art I have switched over to using
a Wacom Cintiq 12WX tablet . The drawing area is 16.5x26 cm. I'd of course prefer the larger model Cintiq but that is not financially possible at this time :-)
Tools for Conventional Drawing
The following are the tools I used
to use before I switched over to doing all of my final art on the computer.
Pens - I have a six pen set of Pigma
Micron pens made by Sakura. The ink is permanent pigment ink. The points
are slightly flexible so you can get a bit of a thick to thin effect
like a brush. I used to use Rapidographs, but they were a drag and
needed constant cleaning and coaxing to get to work. These pens are
much better.
Brushes -
I use a Japanese brushpen for most of my inking. The ink is not waterproof
but if you're careful and don't sweat a lot, it's not a problem. You
can probably get better lines using a sable brush and India ink, but
I find the brushpens faster and easier to work with. There are various
brands but the name of the one I use is all in Japanese so I can't
tell you what it is—ha! (See pic at right.) The felt-tip is only about
2 mm long. There are other brushpens with a tip that's about 9 mm long
but the point is a bit rough and not good for fine detail. I use the
longer tipped pen for filling in large black areas. When not in use,
I keep my brushpens—point down—in a rotating holder. They
never drip and are always ready to use.
Erasers - I use an eraser pencil, similar
to a mechanical pencil, for smaller erasing. I use a Staedtler Mars plastic eraser for larger stuff.
Whiteout - I like a ballpoint correction
pen. The one I'm using now is a BIC Wite-Out pen.
Tape - The way I do
my final art is to tape a clean sheet of final art paper on top of
my rough, place it on a light table and then ink. This saves having
to transfer your final sketch to your final art paper, inking, and
then having to erase the pencil lines. The tape I use is Scotch
Removable Magic Tape. It has a low-tack adhesive similar to Post-Its so that
it won't tear the paper when you remove it.
Paper for Final Art - For
finals,
I use a 120 gm paper called Opaline. I
have also used 90 gm laser printing paper with a nice surface.
Templates - I have a
few templates I use. A French curve, oval templates, circle templates,
rulers.
Light
Table - For years I never used a light table, but now it
has become standard equipment. At first I had one on a separate table
and would have to go back and forth and back and forth. I figured, "This
is ridiculous!" So I built one that sat on my desk and doubled
as a drawing surface and light table. It is made of wood with a slanted
surface as I like to work on a slight incline. The frosted glass
is set in to the right side of the top, flush with the surface. When
I need to use it I just flip the switch and I'm in business! (The
picture at right is illegible, I know. In order to read the dimensions
and see it clearly, save it to your computer and view it at its full
size.) 
Drawing
Tablet - For my final art I have switched over to using
a 
Brushes -
I use a Japanese brushpen for most of my inking. The ink is not waterproof
but if you're careful and don't sweat a lot, it's not a problem. You
can probably get better lines using a sable brush and India ink, but
I find the brushpens faster and easier to work with. There are various
brands but the name of the one I use is all in Japanese so I can't
tell you what it is—ha! (See pic at right.) The felt-tip is only about
2 mm long. There are other brushpens with a tip that's about 9 mm long
but the point is a bit rough and not good for fine detail. I use the
longer tipped pen for filling in large black areas. When not in use,
I keep my brushpens—point down—in a rotating holder. They
never drip and are always ready to use.