Assembling a Manga Sketching Kit

Just put together a custom sketching kit for Daniela, one of my nieces in Peru, that I just recently learned is really into Manga and Anime. I included a selection of several of my favorite sketching pencils and brush pens along with a reliable 2mm lead pointer and foam eraser. For drawing support I bundled it with a gift set of Naruto Hardbound Sketchbook and Journal by Rock Paper Pencils. The full rundown of tools included in the pencil case:

1. Sakura 127 0.7 mm mechanical pencil with spare Pentel Hi-Polymer leads
   
2. Staedtler Mars Technico 2 mm leadholder with Mitsubishi Uni F refills.
3. Tombow Mono 4B graphite pencil.
4. Sakura XRFW-100 Foam Eraser.
5. Maped Tattoo canister pencil sharpener (not shown).
6. Staedtler 2 mm rotary lead pointer tub.
7. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen black brush pen.
8. Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pen Shades of Grey
   6 pen set.

This assortment should meet the needs of most fledgling artists in Middle School through High School after they have had some initial practice sketching and drawing with regular No. 2 pencils. They would then be best able to appreciate the different feel and advantages of mechanical pencils: mainly eliminating the need for frequent sharpenings and having a uniform length, balance, and grip all the time since they do not get shorter after each sharpening. The Pitt brush pens offer some of the performance of a brush with their ability to smoothly lay down an organic line of varying width with the convenience and clean-handling of a modern pen with their self-contained reservoirs of waterproof India inks. Their brush nibs might not be as resilient and durable as I would prefer, but at least they are reversible prolonging their useful life. The hardbound sketchbook and journal provide an adequate permanent personal record of the artistic development and progress of each students though I suspect that many older students might prefer a plain black sketchbook instead of the Shonen character branded books shown above.