Sketching "Tool Kit"

Blogging more has inspired me to purchase a few more new items to add to my sketching "tool kit" so to speak, so I thought I would do a quick visual inventory of what I typically have on hand to sketch.  When it comes to sketchbooks, as an architect I am pretty much addicted to Moleskine's, so it's no surprise that the two new sketchbooks I just purchased are also Moleskine's (I did seriously ponder purchasing a different sketchbook, but just couldn't bring myself to it).

For color, I tend to use watercolor crayons a lot, though have also worked with the typical pigment base that allows you to mix your own colors. The nice thing about the watercolor crayons is that the color is ready for you to use, meaning less time spent mixing colors but you have less color options. Using straight pigments, I can get whatever color I want, but will often spend more time mixing and playing with colors than actually painting with them. Now, I have just purchased a new palette of watercolors in the hopes of finding a happy medium between these two.

Of course there are a few token items such as brushes (I have a few good ones that I am using constantly - all natural sable), a ruler (another architect thing, though I prefer my clear triangle that I can't find at the moment), and a few containers for carrying around water.

For the initial sketch, I tend to start with pencil first, layer on the ink, and then move to color. While I can't claim a strong preference for a pencil, micron pens are definitely my pen of choice for sketching.

There you have it, my "tool kit" in a photo!