Manga style cartooning and art supplies recommendations for kids
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Gift Idea for Traveling kid artists (or the kid-at-heart)
Spotted this set of Pilot Watercolour leads kit at the Relay gift shops throughout the Hong Kong airport a couple of weeks ago. Each waxy watersoluble 3.8 mm thick color lead (6.0 cm/2 3/8" long) is contained within a color-coded Pilot Croquis holder (which so far, I have been able to find only in British websites). The holders advance the lead with a twist action mechanism and are refillable. The leads produce crayon-like marks which dissolve easily into watercolor-like washes of color with the provided waterbrush. Actually this set is a well-thought choice for a traveling kid artist since the holders protect the waxy cores from breakage while keeping fingers clean, and the waterbrush and 2 sponges (for cleaning the waterbrush tip between color changes) included in the kit keep the potential watercoloring mess to a minimum even within an airplane cabin. Bundled with a small watercolor pad, this kit would make an ideal gift for budding artists to take on long car rides, flights, or just keeping busy on a rainy day. I would have been nice if the whole kit were packaged in a sturdier carrying case rather than the simple cardboard box. The sample color chart below was done on Hot Press watercolour paper and compares them against some CaranD'Ache Museum watercolour leads. The latter are actually harder watercolor pencil cores that are more heavily pigmented than the waxy Pilotwatersoluble cores. The color swatches on the bottom right were done by wiping the waterbrush after dissolving the pigment in the circular samples. Since I have not seen this product in the USA yet, I guess for the moment is just a gift shopping recommendation for those traveling to Japan or Hong Kong. It retailed for $162 HKD or roughly $21 USD. Since Pilot refills are not readily available stateside, the useful life of this watercolour kit might have been rather short. Yet luckily the simple round plastic clip of the Croquis holders also work with the 3.8 mm CaranD'Ache Museum watercolour leads which can still be found through some online retailers. Each Museum lead just needs to be splitted in halves to fit within the Croquis holder. As much as I enjoy using the CaranD'AcheFixpencil 44 in my studio, the Pilot Croquis holder is a more suitable field sketching tool since it's lighter, inexpensive ($2-5 USD/each depending on currency exchange and quantity pricing), and has a comfortable shorter barrel (easier to fit within a pocket). Sample done on Hand Book Artist Journal. Tombow mono 6B graphite outline colored with Holbein and Pilot watercolours.
Welcome to Cartoon Sketching Manga Style Support Blog
Collection of cartoon speed sketches with heavy influence from Japanese comics (Manga), animated feature films, and TV series (Anime). Cartooning Classes support materials and samples of students' work. Art supplies reviews for customizing your child's sketching kit.Chronicles of my nieces' artistic development. For a quick list of recommended art reference and instruction books and suggested tools for sketching kits please keep scrolling all the way down on this right column.
My Other Sketching blog and Links to Sketching pages/Coloring sheets
Teaching Art Camps and Drawing Illustration Classes at Cary Arts Center, HIVE, and Durham Arts Council.
Also perform for kids' birthday party entertainment, events, and fundraisers with customized 1-2 hours cartooning workshops where kids learn how to sketch dragons, ninjas, mermaids, princesses, and fairies while getting their cartoon portraits drawn. Average speed: 12-15 black & white sketches per hour.
Alberto Lung ("Lung" being the Spanish-spelling for "Dragon" in Chinese) completed a Master of Science and worked in Food Safety/Brand Protection for a few years before returning to his artistic roots. As a self-taught artist combining a scientific academic background, a passion for archaeology and mythology, and some Manga inspiration, I currently design and teach cartoon-sketching workshops for children to promote their visual literacy and creativity. I often rely on speed-sketching demonstrations of ninjas and fantasy creatures to engage young audiences and introduce them to suitable art supplies to develop their drawing skills. Love to sketch Sci-Fi and action figure concepts (robots, ninjas, and monsters) while searching for cool art supplies.
Feel free to contact me if you need another opinion or advice on selecting your art supplies.
Selecting Kids' Art Supplies basics and a couple of tips
1. Initial supplies: a pack of printer paper and something to draw and color like crayons and regular pencils available at any retailer or local arts and crafts store would be a sensible start. When learning to draw one must go through many practice sketches and fill many doodle pages to loosen up, so it is smart to start with whatever inexpensive tools are already at hand. Once committed to developing your illustration skills, you can gradually try artist grade materials and be able to better appreciate their advantages.
2. Some reliable brands: Crayola, Faber Castell Red Line, Sakura, Pentel, Pilot, Staedtler, Caran D'Ache, Prismacolor, Canson, Strathmore, Tombow.
3. Paper selection: a ream of copy/printer paper is a good value choice for warm-up and practice drawings. For sturdier support choose some scrapbooking paper or 8.5"X11" white card stock. A 9"X12" - 11" X 14" hardbound sketchbook is ideal for documenting each kid's artistic development. A spiral-bound sketchbook is a practical choice for field sketching.
4. Some nice pen and marker choices: Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, Prismacolor Premier Archival Marker Sets, Copic Multiliner Pens, Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Tombow Dual Brush-Pens, Pentel Color Pens, and Copic Sketch Markers.
5. A few creators to look up for inspiration: Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, & Ben Caldwell.For further reference and other artists’ work check the art books and collections in the Manga/Anime section of your local library and bookstores.
6. What to draw: Choose what you like, for you are bound to draw and practice more often whatever subject you enjoy most. Though every once in a while focus on areas that you might find more challenging and commit a few sketchbook pages to them. Art wooden manikins, family members, plastic animals, and action figures can serve as handy reference models. You might also find yourself particularly motivated after reading some good books or exciting comics, watching a movie or some anime, or attending a theatrical performance. Always have a sketching kit ready to take advantage of those times when you are particularly inspired and charged creatively.
7. If you would like to draw better, sketch everywhere as often as you can: I believe that everyone can draw. It naturally takes hard work and lots of practice to develop your skills. Just like with any sports and other artistic endeavors, proficiency requires constant practice. The beauty of sketching and drawing is that the process is so much fun and that the minimum materials required are quite affordable and portable. Attending workshops and classes available in your area will expose you to other artists' methods and styles and help you find your own style more quickly. There are many books and online resources to help you along the way. I have compiled a list of some of my favorite reference books near the bottom of this column.
Couple of gift suggestions for dedicated art students and special occassions
1. Sakura Pigma Sensei Manga Drawing set is a well rounded starter set with 4 drawing pens of different nib sizes, 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, and eraser.
2. Uni-ball Leadholder - 2.0 mm - F is a personal favorite sketching pencil with its break-resistant F graphite lead that retains its fine point longer between sharpenings.
4. Niji Waterbrushes and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Artists' Crayons make a compact efficient coloring kit.
5. Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens provide waterproof archival inks with a variety of nib sizes packaged in convenient sets or open stock. Excellent choice for drawing and coloring. Now also available in Big Brush format for quick coverage of large areas and large scale drawing.
9. Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils are in my opinion the best graphite wooden pencils available in the World, and we are quite lucky that they are now available in the USA.
Sample Sketching Kits
1. Minimal Starter kit: handful of copy paper sheets and pen or pencilis all that’s needed to start doodling. A clipboard is handy for support and keeping sketches neatly together. A 0.5 mm mechanical pencil would be a good choice since it doesn’t require sharpening and often features a small eraser .
2. Compact Take-anywhere kit: a small 3½" × 5½"Moleskine-type sketchbook, a mechanical pencil, and a nice black gel pen can easily fit in a jacket pocket for sketching anywhere.
3. Regular field kit: a small shoulder bag loaded with a 7" × 10"-9" × 12" double wire bound Canson Field Sketchbook, a mechanical pencil, acouple ofFaber-Castell Pitt Artistpens, a waterbrush, and a small watercolor crayonsset can cover most situations on a moment’s notice.
4. Portable Studio: keep all options open in a messenger bag or backpack loaded with a large 9" × 12" or 11" × 14"mixed media sketchbook, favorite mechanical pencil or handful of drawing pencils, Pilot Foam eraser,set ofpigment liners, pan watercolor set, waterbrush, and anything else you care to carry.
Drawing Books to check out at the local library or bookstore
1. Books for young kids: "How to Draw" books by Christ Hart.
2. Books for kids of all ages: "Action Cartooning" and "Fantasy Cartooning" by Ben Caldwell, "The Art of Animal Drawing" by Ken Hultgren, "Let's Toon Caricatures" by Keelan Parham, and "Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair.
3. Books for older kids: "Drawing the Head & Figure", "Cartooning the Head & Figure", "How to Draw Animals", "Drawing Scenery" by Jack Hamm, and "Face Off How to Draw Amazing Caricatures & Comic Portraits" by Harry Hamernik.
4. Books for teenagers: "Figure Drawing for All It's Worth" by Andrew Loomis (Though originally published in 1943, it is still probably the best book for a solid artistic foundation on figure drawing), "How to Draw Manga Sketching Manga-Style" by Hikaru Hayashi, “How to draw Anime & Gamer Characters” series by Tadashi Ozawa, "Incredible Comics with Tom Nguyen", and "Dynamic Figure Drawing" by Burne Hogarth. Though harder to find, some art books by Japanese Artists can provide a broader perspective: look up the work of Tetsuya Nomura, Hayao Miyazaki, and Capcom's Bengus. Worth a look: "Groundwork of Evangelion the Movie 1", "The Art of Final Fantasy IX" published by Brady Games, "Rahxephon-Official Illustration Collection", and Capcom & SNK Video Games Design and Character Illustration books. "Street Fighter Tribute" by Udon is a nice collection of SF art created by a wide array of artists.
5. Book on Comics creation: Take a look at Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics", "Reinventing Comics", and "Making Comics".
6. Books on Human Anatomy and Figure Drawing: Even when the goal is to draw mainly in a manga/cartoon style, a working knowledge and understanding of human anatomy can significantly improve the believability of your characters.To that end I would recommend the following Dover value books: “Bridgman’s Life Drawing” by George B. Bridgman, “Drawing the Living Figure” and “Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists” by Joseph Sheppard.
7. Additional suggested reading: Also check out books on conceptual art for movies like the "Art of Star Wars" series. Seek inspiration and collect reference material from illustrated texts on Zoology, Archaeology, Mythology, Anthropology, History, Folklore, Travel, and Architecture.
Spotted this set of Pilot Watercolour leads kit at the Relay gift shops throughout the Hong Kong airport a couple of weeks ago. Each waxy watersoluble 3.8 mm thick color lead (6.0 cm/2 3/8" long) is contained within a color-coded Pilot Croquis holder (which so far, I have been able to find only in British websites). The holders advance the lead with a twist action mechanism and are refillable. The leads produce crayon-like marks which dissolve easily into watercolor-like washes of color with the provided waterbrush. Actually this set is a well-thought choice for a traveling kid artist since the holders protect the waxy cores from breakage while keeping fingers clean, and the waterbrush and 2 sponges (for cleaning the waterbrush tip between color changes) included in the kit keep the potential watercoloring mess to a minimum even within an airplane cabin. Bundled with a small watercolor pad, this kit would make an ideal gift for budding artists to take on long car rides, flights, or just keeping busy on a rainy day. I would have been nice if the whole kit were packaged in a sturdier carrying case rather than the simple cardboard box. The sample color chart below was done on Hot Press watercolour paper and compares them against some Caran D'Ache Museum watercolour leads. The latter are actually harder watercolor pencil cores that are more heavily pigmented than the waxy Pilot watersoluble cores. The color swatches on the bottom right were done by wiping the waterbrush after dissolving the pigment in the circular samples.
Since I have not seen this product in the USA yet, I guess for the moment is just a gift shopping recommendation for those traveling to Japan or Hong Kong. It retailed for $162 HKD or roughly $21 USD.
Since Pilot refills are not readily available stateside, the useful life of this watercolour kit might have been rather short. Yet luckily the simple round plastic clip of the Croquis holders also work with the 3.8 mm Caran D'Ache Museum watercolour leads which can still be found through some online retailers. Each Museum lead just needs to be splitted in halves to fit within the Croquis holder. As much as I enjoy using the Caran D'Ache Fixpencil 44 in my studio, the Pilot Croquis holder is a more suitable field sketching tool since it's lighter, inexpensive ($2-5 USD/each depending on currency exchange and quantity pricing), and has a comfortable shorter barrel (easier to fit within a pocket).
Sample done on Hand Book Artist Journal.
Tombow mono 6B graphite outline colored with Holbein and Pilot watercolours.
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