Drawing Supplies
Charcoal Pencils: These are "soft" woodless charcoal pencils. Soft charcoal pencils are my favorite as they go on the paper smoothly and blend very well to give the darkness and depth that you want to acheive with charcoal.
Erasers: This is a nice set of the main erasers I like to use. The kneaded eraser in this set is especially of good quality as it's harder making small highlights on a drawing easier to achieve.
Drawing Pencils/ Graphite: This is a nice set of all the different types of graphite pencils which I use to initially layout all of my drawings before applying charcoal.
White Charcoal Pencils: I like to use these white charcoal pencils when I'm almost finished with a drawing to make the twinkle in a person or animal's eye stand out more. Or to even create a realistic look for bubbles.
Drawing Paper: This is my absolute favorite drawing paper as it works very well with graphite and charcoal. The texture on this paper is great to work with and it is nice and thick.
Sharpeners: Most sharpeners I've found do not sharpen pencils very well (especially charcoal) and do more damage. This three length, metal sharpener does an excellent job and doesn't require many turns to sharpen.
Blending Tools: These are an excellent starter kit of all the different size blending stumps to get areas large and small blended evenly. They also include the sand paper as another way of sharpening charcoal or graphite sticks.
Reference Book: This is one of my favorite charcoal drawing reference books. The drawings in this book are beautiful and show so much detail in how they were created. There is a section that explains the different supplies and tools used.
Painting Supplies
Watercolor Paints: These are some of my most favorite colors as I use them in almost all of my paintings. This brand of watercolors is great for blending and added layers and depth.
Watercolor Paper: This is my absolute favorite watercolor paper as it works very well when adding more and more water. I can tell it brings out the best of the color and allows for layering with the paint. The texture on this paper is great to work with and it is nice and very thick.
Watercolor Paints: These are great basic colors to have (or fundamental colros) and can be mixed with other colors. This brand of watercolors is great for blending and added layers and depth.
Watercolor Brushes: This is a set of great brushes that glide on smoothly and are good for getting fine lines and tiny areas. They even acheive larger areas when the brush is pressed at a different angle.
White Gel Pens: I like to use these at the end of a painting if I need a small area to have a white highlight such as a twinkle in a person or animal's eye.