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A detailed list of the necessary and optional materials for the online hyper-realistic pencil drawing course. Required materials PENCILS SET • Pencils set: 2H, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B. Recommended brands: Caran D'Ache Grafwood / Faber Castell 9000 / Staedtler Lumograph *For LEVEL 4 add: Staedtler Mars Lumograph Black (4B, 8B) SOFT BLACK PENCIL / CHARCOAL • N. 1 charcoal pencil / black pencil (soft, not charcoal) Reccomended: Lyra Carbon 2B / Cretacolor nero extrasoft / Caran d'Ache Luminance (black) / Staedtler Lumograph Black 8B PAPER • Smooth finish paper sheets / sketchbook LEVELS 1, 2, 3 - A4 format LEVEL 4 - A3 Format Reccomended: Arches satin 300g / Strathmore Bristol Smooth / Fabriano Bristol / Winsor & Newton Smooth surface / Canson Bristol BLENDING STUMPS and ERASERS • N. 1 kneaded eraser • N. 1 pencil eraser • N. 1 precision eraser (Tombow Mono Zero, rounded) • N. 2/3 blending stumps (different sizes) BRUSHES • Brushes set (rounded and flat) Reccomended: make up brushes set (check on Amazon) CRANK PENCIL SHARPENER • Pencil sharpener Reccomended: Lebez Truciolo ​(suitable with Faber Castell 9000 e Staedtler) Helix (suitable with Caran D'Ache Grafwood) OTHERS For the trace • Squares set • Acetate sheets (A4/A3) • N.1 black permanent marker, small size (Stabilo Oh Pen S / Faber Castell Multimark) Additional tools • Tissues • Cotton swabs • Crank pencil sharpener • Cutter • White gel pen • Pencil extender Optional / Recommended Materials ELECTRIC ERASE MontMartre Electric Rubber or similar, with refills included. FIXATIVE SPRAY Winsor & Newton Spray for pencils and charcoal, or similar. MICRO LEADS Micro lead 0,5 HB. LIGHT TABLE DRAWING A3 or bigger. Useful for tracing with the transparency technique TILTING TABLE A2 / A3 size tilting wooden worktop LED RING LIGHT Useful to light up the work area if the environment around you is not bright enough PHOTO PAPER FOR PRINTER Photo paper for printers, useful to print handouts and pictures to draw. Recommended: Canon Pixma A4 size

Here are some of the questions I am often asked: “Why does the white pencil slip on the graphite and doesn't stick?” “What are the pencils that I can combine with graphite?” “What is the difference between pencils and charcoal?” The answer is one: it depends on the lead. Once we know the difference between ‘dry’ pencils and grease pencils everything will be clearer and it will be easier to combine all the materials in a simple way. Difference between dry pencils and grease pencils I distinguish the two types of pencils to differentiate the different types of leads. By dry pencils I mean all the pencils that are part of the charcoal category, which therefore have a dusty, oil-free lead. When we try these pencils on a sheet of paper, we will feel that the flow of the lead is rough and we will notice that the lead releases dust and small fragments. With the term grease pencils, on the other hand, I identify all those soft pencils that blend perfectly with graphite, and that can be associated by working on multiple levels together with common pencils. When tested on a sheet they are much softer and run smoothly. Furthermore, when we stop drawing they become translucent just like graphite pencils. Grease pencils compatible with graphite There are many types of pencils on the market, and I can assure you that in my career I have tried them all. This is because I love experimenting and as a self-taught artist I wanted to see by myself everything that the market offered. In the end, my choice fell on some products that fit perfectly with my way of working. For example, when we work with pencils and we have dark areas that we want to blacken without using charcoal, we can use different tools, such as black coloured pencils or charcoal. Black coloured pencils are easier to erase and therefore perfect if you have to draw a dark base and then extract the lights by using precision erasers (for example this could happen while drawing hair). The Staedtler Lumograph Black is my favourite and I generally use the 4B and the 8B. Caran D'Ache Luminance and Faber Castell Polychromos are very good, too. On the other hand, charcoal is a more intense and opaque type of soft black and for this reason it is used to create full and deep blacks and is difficult to erase. My favourite one is definitely Black Extrasoft Cretacolor, but Lyra Rembrandt char