My first ever set of alcohol markers was Ohuhu. I still love them to this day!

If you decide to use Ohuhu markers, I recommend the Ohuhu marker sketchbook, as the paper is excellent at blending with the markers. Another great option is the Canson Mixed Media Sketchbook (see paper section), as I found it to have great blending capabilities as well as being able to hold watercolour and acrylic paint markers.

NOTE: If you choose the large set of Ohuhu markers, you do not need to get the pastel set, it already has the pastel colours included.

 Arrtx is quite similar in quality to Ohuhu. The difference, I would say, is in the colour selection. The colours are more muted and toned down (although they do have quite a few bright colour options, I just don`t use them very much) which I enjoy as I do a lot of earthy kind of scenes in my illustrations. 

 The pastel marker pack is very nice, some of the colours are super light, which if you haven`t already gathered, I think is a plus.

 I don`t pull out the acrylic paint markers too often on camera, but I do like to draw scenes on my windows around Christmas time, and these are great for that. I also like to use them for highlighting in different colours over top of marker.  These ones have a brush tip and a nib tip, and a very nice paint consistency.

I always love the Faber Castell white pen for highlighting and finishing touches. It dries a bit transparent over top of my markers, depending on how many layers of it I use. I mainly use it as a quick wash over smaller areas, to lighten up and brighten something I want to stick out. If you want a full coverage white, use a Gelly Roll pen. (see the `Pens` section below)

I have the full range of Polychromos pencils and they are very useful if you are looking for the perfect colour to match with what your doing. they show up well over top of alcohol markers, watercolour, and even acrylic paint pens. Being that these are on the more pricey side, I would recommend that you try a smaller pack out, or even grab a few colours from an art store (a lot of places carry individual colours) before going all in on a big set.

 The products I like to use from Sketchbar are the alcohol markers, (Sketchmarker) and the Mirror Paper. The markers are super soft and smooth, (brush and chisel tip is what I use) and colour selection is perfect for me as it is more toned down and muted. I currently use the `People Set`, but depending on your needs, you may want a different set of colours.

 The mirror paper is the only marker paper I have ever used that has absolutely no bleedthrough to the other side. I have tested this thoroughly, and am still in disbelief. The colour of the markers shows up very well on this paper and looks stunning. I only wish they had a bit more size selection.

 For linework, I mostly use pencil these days. My go-to is always the Prismacolor Col-Erase pencils. They are my number one sketching tool as well as finishing detail tool. I start and finish most illustrations with these guys. I love that they are erasable, smooth and saturated with deep colour. I`m pretty sure I could not live without these pencils. I only wish that they still sold them individually as I use some colours quite a bit more than others. Alas.

 When I am doing quick sketches on my tiktok videos, I usually use the Blackwing Matte pencil for outlines. It is very black and shows up well on film. That being said, it is a bit hard to erase (leaves marks behind) so I find it difficult to sketch with. 

 The best sketching pencil for me is the Uni Kuru Toga mechanical pencil. It has a rotating lead inside of it, so you get a nice line every time. I usually use 2B lead in mechanical pencils.

 My go-to, day one paper is Canson Mixed Media. It`s a good price compared to other brands, and I like the ringed plain black sketchbook. If you are using markers with it, make sure to put a barrier in between pages, as it will bleed through to the back. A peice of kitchen parchment paper would work great for this. It is perfect for blending markers, and when I use my  pencils on top of the marker illustrations, the paper takes it very well and I love the finished look. It also has two different grain textures on either side of a page, so you have the option of smooth, or a bit more grainy.

 For sketching, I love to use the Canson Cream Drawing Paper sketchbook, it is also ringed and is plain black. The paper is a nice colour (cream, obviously) Which makes white highlights pop. You can use markers with this paper, but it is thinner than the mixed media paper so it`s not really ideal (altough I use markers on it often because I like to live on the edge). 

  As previously mentioned in the `Faber Castell` section, Gelly Roll pens are, in my opinion, the very best for quickly highlighting small areas. I have tried many different white pens over the years and I always come back to this one. 

 Muji Pens are great for outlining and sketching, they are super smooth. A great choice if you want a fine tip, very black, smooth ballpoint pen.

 Bic pens are one of my most favorite sketching tools of all time. I use them often for doing studies and rough sketching. They are very very smooth and come in quite a few different colours in this pack. I always tend to lean towards colourful sketching tools when I want to get motivated to draw. Try layering a few colours together when you are doing practice sketching! 

 Before I start adding colour to an illustration, I go over the whole drawing with a kneadable eraser. It will pick up any loose lead peices left behind by the pencil, and make it unlikely that the pencil will smudge when I go over top of it with my markers. I roll it into a long cylinder shape, and gently go over top of the drawing, still leaving behind the faint lines of the sketch.

 The Tombow MONO Eraser is such a great tool for pencil drawings. It looks and works like a mechanical pencil, and the tip is very small so you can erase teenie tiny areas.

 The KUM Long Point Sharpener is the best pencil sharpener I have ever used period. It has to blades for wood pencils (a step 1 and step 2) as well as sharpeners for clutch pencil leads on the sides as well.