Sketching Materials

Artist Stuart Loughridge describes the materials he uses for sketching. He shows a well-loved small trifold sketchbook that fits in a jacket pocket. He can easily pull out a sheet of paper and his mechanical pencil from the sketchbook and start to draw a pencil outline with his thumb as an anchor on the paper. If he chooses to work on toned paper, he will bring a white pencil, though he prefers to bring the sketch back home and add the white highlights later. This is a great solution for quick sketches in a tight window of time.

If he has somewhere to sit down while he sketches, he may pull out his pencil kit. His kit holds clips, several different brushes and pencils, a kneaded eraser, a ruler, watercolor medium, titanium white gouache, a pencil sharpener, blades, water, and a cap to hold the water.

Stuart’s homemade color kit—made from a used book—has a palette of colors, a bottle cap for water, a brush that has a pencil on the end, paper, and clips. More brushes and pencils are available underneath the palette. The paper is stored in a fan file in the back of the book. He’ll also carry water and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof Zinc White for white highlights, which he highly recommends for watercolor painting.

For larger expeditions with a tripod and larger landscapes, he has another kit available, made out of a day planner. This kid holds many wash and detail brushes, both a regular and mechanical pencil, water, clips, a kneaded eraser, a Cotman palette, and a homemade brush pocket protector on one side. Paper for painting and paper towels go on the other side, with a mat board protecting them from any damage the palette side may do. Once the day planner is closed, everything is protected and won’t blow away.