Cash Strapped Sketching

"Dad, I don't know what's wrong with my TV, but it's not working!" when you get a call from upstairs like this, you know it's going to be costly. It was also my wedding anniversary in the same week so we chose to go out for afternoon tea as a treat (although the sandwiches did their best to alter change my view!) and then while waiting in traffic, a Lorry decided to roll back and wreck my car! Fate was not yet done with me it seemed, and towards the back end of the week, my dog needed the vets, which was not only worrying but was very costly! This is my long way of saying, that life, in all its unplanned chaos is bloody expensive - even without the threat of an articulated wagon crushing your car! It doesn't take much imagination why the budding artist in your family may find it hard to pay for materials.

Fear not though, the beauty of art is that it doesn't need to be expensive and still get great results! I've put down five drawing tools that won't cost the earth, and are easily available. So if you need cheap materials, read on...

Pencils

Pencils are my first destination for any drawing, even if I'm working out a drawing that I'll ink later, pencil is my first call. They're also dirt cheap! You can get tins of pencils from most bargain shops and even on Amazon for under £5 (about $7 to my American friends). If a tin is too much then get yourself four pencils, I would go for HB, 2B, 4B, and 8B. This will give you a good range of tone and shade, allowing you to get those nice solid black tones while at the same time allowing you to create lighter shades.

MY GO TO TOOLS:

1. Pencils
2. UniPin Pens
3. Bic Biro
4. Alcohol Markers
5. Blendable Colour Pencils

5 Tools to Buy on a Budget

Bic Biro

Don't underestimate the humble biro. I've put down Bic as they're the SAS of biros: tough, reliable and do the job, but there's certainly other brands you can get. I always love drawing things in biro, it comes from being a kid and drawing on the backs of envelopes, but I also love it as people don't think you can produce quality work - which I would definitely argue with. This portrait is done all with biro. It allows you to have good control, you can vary your tone and shade incredibly and all for the bargain price of a biro. I looked on Amazon and a pack of 8 comes in at just under £5!

UniPin Pens

Uni Pin pens by Uniball are my favourite fine-liner pens. They come in a range of nib sizes and they last and last. Even as they wear out and their nibs get smaller, they become excellent for cross hatching so they are well worth keeping in your pencil case. Packs are your best value as you get a range of different nib sizes included, but if you could only buy one pen then a 0.1 or 0.2 pen can be found for £3 ($3.52)!

Alcohol Markers & Colour Pencils

All this black and white is great (I'm colourblind so this is my go-to!) but pretty soon you'll want to add some colour. The costs here do increase, but there are ways you can be savvy with your cash. 'Felt tips' as we called them growing up have come on leaps and bounds. Alcohol Markers if you look at Copic prices cost a lot, and far too much for me, but a great alternative are Ohuhu Markers. Before I knew about these I picked up packs of alcohol markers from bargain shops in the UK like B&M or Home Bargains. Crucially, you're looking for 'Alcohol' not 'Water' based markers - these pens allow you to blend the colours so in effect, you get a greater range just because of this. Even using one pen and then letting it dry and colouring again will layer the colours, building depth into your art.

For coloured pencils Prisma are excellent, but they're expensive. These are wonderful as they have a wax-like quality that allows the colours to blend in a similar way to oil pastels. Replacing a tin of Prisma pencils though is costly, especially if you have children who also want your art supplies so I was able to find a great alternative in the form of Arteza pencils.

Cost wise, as you're buying a set they are money initially, but per pencil or pen, they still work out relatively cheap. A set of 48 Ohuhu Markers is £19.99 which works out at 41 pence a pen ($25.45 and 51 cents respectively). A tin of 72 Arteza pencils, while being the most costly one-off purchase at £32.99 ($42) it works out at only 45p (57¢) which is fantastic value!

Chris is a freelance writer & illustrator. Thanks for checking out our site. You can stay up to date with our blog, comics and artwork by signing up to our FREE newsletter.