I strongly recommend a set of six Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black pencils (ranging from HB to 8B).

These are the pencils I use in the lessons and they create really nice black tones that minimise the light reflecting off your drawing (which can make a big difference).

You can use any other brand of graphite pencils if you can't get the Mars Black - just make sure you have at least a 6 or 7B.

NOTE: If you get the set of Mars Lumograph Black pencils  (which I recommend), then you should also have a regular HB pencil. Any brand will do and you probably have one already. The HB pencil in the Mars Lumograph Black range is a bit rougher and doesn't give you quite the same smooth tones that we need for a couple of the projects.

Your sketchbook will be filled with beautiful drawings by the time you've finished the Draw Awesome curriculum! Any brand will do but there are some characteristics to look out for:

• You want a "drawing" pad of white paper, NOT a "watercolour" pad or a "mixed media" pad.
• The size should be about A4 or about 9 x 12 inches
• The weight of paper should be around 80lb (130 g/m2) but lighter or heavier is fine (just not too flimsy)
• It should contain at least 50-60 pages
• Spiral-bound is best because you can move through the pad without having to tear out pages

You'll find plenty of options at Amazon or any art store, that meet the above criteria.

Kneadable eraser
I like Faber Castell. Generals and Prismacolor make similar ones too. These are quite soft and pliable compared to say, Winsor & Newton, which are more rubbery. Both types are fine. 

Plastic or Vinyl Eraser
This is the regular kind of eraser most people are used to. They remove more graphite than kneadable erasers and you can cut slivers off them to use instead of a pencil eraser (see below). Any brand will do, I personally use one by Staedtler

Pencil eraser (optional)
I use the Tombo Mono eraser, which is the most popular and readily available. But any brand will do. The pencil eraser allows us to "draw" by removing graphite and is more precise than a kneadable eraser.

A simple, cheap sharpener is fine. I have a mechanical sharpener but it's a luxury and NOT essential! I don't recommend electric sharpeners as they burn through your pencils.

These tend to come in packs of several paper stumps of various different sizes. You can use a piece of screwed-up kitchen paper instead but paper stumps are really cheap and last ages, so it's worth getting a pack. 

They'll often come in a set with different grades (i.e. soft, medium, hard) and sometimes a few colours (black, grey, white).

Make sure the set has some (or mostly) black pencils in and a white pencil for future projects.

Brand doesn't matter but avoid Faber-Castell as their last batch of pencils were impossible to sharpen without breaking. Well-known brands that do sets include: Derwent, Generals and Conté à Paris.

If it's an unknown brand on Amazon, go with the reviews.

These are thin sticks of charcoal and typically come in sets of multiple stick thicknesses. Brand doesn't matter. Well-known brands include: Coates, Generals, Winsor & Newton and Conté à Paris. If it's an unknown brand on Amazon, go with the reviews.

I'm going to assume you already have a craft knife or blade of some sort. If not, get any type of craft knife or retractable blade.

You can buy a sand block for artists or you can use a piece of sandpaper.

Do NOT use a regular pencil sharpener on charcoal pencils. They will constantly break and it's not good for anyone's blood pressure! 🤬

We'll be using the sketchbook from Module A for these projects.

I strongly recommend you get a set of six black Sakura Pigma Micron pens (they range from a 005 nib to a 08 nib size).

You can get other brands, just make sure the ink is waterproof and resistant to smudging and bleeding.

Any brand will do, again make sure the ink is waterproof. Good brands include Sakura (Gelly Roll), Pentel and Uni-Ball.

While you can use a small amount of watercolour paint in your regular drawing sketchbook, it's well worth getting a watercolour pad as it will allow you to blend the paint more easily.

Watercolour pads are easy to find and you want one with the following characteristics:

• A cold-pressed surface (sometimes called a NOT surface). Avoid smooth or hot pressed for now.
• About A4 size of 12 x 9 inches.
• The weight of paper should be about 140lbs (300 g/m2). Higher is fine.
• Don't worry about spiral bound as most watercolour pads contain sheets that are gummed together around one or more edges.

Note: I don't pre-stretch watercolour for the purposes of our projects together. The paper will buckle a bit and it doesn't bother me. If you really want to, you can stretch your watercolour paper beforehand so it doesn't buckle at all. Click here if you're not sure how to stretch watercolour paper.

I only use two brushes in this module...

A medium round brush (size 12).

A small round brush (size 6).

For the Pen & Watercolour Module, you'll need a large round brush (a #16 or a #18) as well, so it may be worth getting this now.

Synthetic brushes are fine and much cheaper than animal hair brushes. If you get a set, just make sure it has the sizes above. You may have to get the large brush separately.

There's absolutely no need to spend lots of money on expensive brushes - If you're on a budget, use Amazon and get an independent brand with reasonable reviews.

There are a few types of black paint. I use lamp black but you could also go with mars black or ivory black.

I like tubes but if you already have a set of pans, and it contains a black, then that will do perfectly!

Student quality is more than good enough and can be half the price of professional quality.  

Note: While you can mix black from the three primary colours, it's not ideal for this module. It's going to be less complicated for you if you have black straight out of the tube or pan.

You don't need a specialist watercolour palette for this module or the later Pen & Watercolour Module. 

I use an old white dinner plate (a small side plate for sketches and a large dinner plate for bigger paintings).

These work just as well and cost nothing (if you're sneaky enough!).

If you own a palette already, then obviously you can use that.

I strongly recommend you get a set of Pitt Pastel Pencils by Faber Castell. This is what I use for all pastel pencil projects. A set of 24 or 36 is plenty (I use the set of 24).

You can use other brands too and you'll need to substitute colours for something similar to what I use. I help you do this at the start of each lesson, so it's not difficult. Just make sure you get a set of at least 24-36 colours to have enough of a variety.

UPDATE (July 2022): Faber Castell have recently changed the colours in their set of 24. This means that if you buy a set of 24 pencils now, it will contain different colours compared to the set I use in the lessons. However... the newer set has a much better variety of colours and is a big improvement on the set I use. So while you may not have the exact same colours as me, you can easily substitute for other colours in your set.

I use and recommend a pastel paper called Canson Mi-Teintes  (because it's widely available worlwide). This has a honeycomb texture on one side and a smooth texture on the other. 

• The size should be at least 9 x 12 inches.
• I use the grey tones pad purely because I like the look of grey paper. I also like the earth tone colours and could easily have used this. So choose either of these two. I don't like the assorted tones because there's a couple of colours in that pad I wouldn't use.

If, for some reason, you can't get Canson Mi-Teintes pad, you can buy large loose sheets quite cheaply, and cut them into a few smaller sizes. 

Good alternatives loose sheets are Fabriano Tiziano and Canson Ingres. The texture is a bit different but it won't make a difference to the techniques.

Avoid velour and sanded textures. These require slightly different techniques and give quite a different look. Later on in the syllabus, we'll do some projects with Claire Fontaine Pastelmat paper. But I'll let you know when you need that and it will only be optional.

It's important to remember we won't be doing full-blown watercolour paintings in Draw Awesome. We'll be adding colour to ink drawings and using pen work (where needed) to add detail, texture and value. This means we can keep our watercolour palette nice and simple.

Student Quality Vs Artist Quality Paints

I use a small set of watercolour paints by Winsor & Newton called Cotman. Cotman are "student quality" as opposed to "artist quality". They contain less pigment and are quite a bit cheaper but they are more than good enough for the pen and wash style we'll be doing. 

If you have watercolour paints already, just check the list of colours below to see if there's anything you're missing. The brand isn't important so long as it's not a really cheap set from a discount store.

If you don't have any watercolour paints yet, I definitely recommend going for Winsor & Newton Cotman as they are excellent quality for the money and readily available in the USA and Europe. 

The Colours in My Set

Manufacturers change their sets all the time and the colours in the same set can vary slightly from country to country. I've listed the colours in my set below so you can see exactly what I use. 

If you are using a different brand to Winsor & Newton, then your colours will be slightly different to mine (i.e. Winsor & Newton's lemon yellow will differ slightly to, say, Daniel Smith's lemon yellow).  But for our purposes, that difference will be irrelevant and you don't need to worry about it. So just look at the names of the colours below and make sure you have those in whatever brand you choose.

Where a colour below says "Hue" it just means it's a less intense student version. So if I list Lemon Yellow Hue and you have regular Lemon Yellow, that's perfect!

• Lemon Yellow Hue
• Cadmium Yellow Hue
• Cadmium Red Pale Hue
• Alizarin Crimson Hue (you could switch for Permanent Rose)
• Ultramarine blue
• Cerulean Blue (some sets come with Intense Blue / Phthalo Blue, which is fine) 
• Sap Green
• Viridian Hue
• Yellow Ochre
• Burnt Sienna
• Burnt Umber

You should also have the black from the ink drawing module. 

Sets Vs Individual Tubes or Pans

The Winsor & Newton Cotman set I use in the lessons contains all the 11 colours above plus Chinses white (which I don't use). Here's a link to the set:

Winsor & Newton Pocket Paint Set  - Amazon UK

In the USA, there are very similar sets with just one or two colours different. One set for example is the same except it has Dioxazine Purple instead of Yellow Ocre. So you could just get this set plus a tube or pan of Yellow Ocre and you're good to go!

Winsor & Newton Pocket Set - Amazon USA

If you can't get this set, either look for a similar or slightly larger set that has most of the colours and supplement with a few individual tubes or pans for missing colours. Alternatively, you can buy all the colours individually from any good art store (i.e. Dick Blick or Cheap Joes in the USA and Jacksons or Ken Bromley's in the UK). 

It doesn't matter whether you buy tubes or pans. It comes down to personal preference. If you do buy all the colours individually, then go for tubes as you probably won't have the tray to hold the pans. 

You should have most of what you need from the previous ink drawing module. 

If you only have two brushes (the size 12 and 6) round brush, then you will need to get a large round brush for this module (size 16).  

I strongly recommend you get a set of Faber Castell Polychromos coloured pencils. There are cheaper brands but these are the best overall in my opinion, and will last you a long time.

A set of 24 or 36 is plenty (I use the set of 24).

You can use other brands too and you'll need to substitute colours for something simialr to what I use. I help you do this at the start of each lesson, so it's not difficult. Just make sure you get a set of at least 24-36 colours.