Majolo

This is a list of the tools I use to create my doodles and finished artwork. It is in no particular order. I will also add more items as and when I remember them. I hope that you might find this page useful if you were thinking about buying a new pc, scanner, or if you are just interested in what type of pens I prefer to use.

I use an Acer Aspire AZ5610. It has a 23inch screen which is perfect for using graphic software. Because it is an all in one PC it was a nice compromise between a desktop PC and a laptop.

I know that it is considered to be a trendy thing to have a 'Moleskine' but I don't care. I love the texture of the pages, and the fact that they are cream rather than stark white. I have got other sketchbooks and note books that I also use for doodles and sketches, but my Moleskine is my favourite one.

I always prefer working with paper and pen so my scanner may be one of the most important tools that I use - hence the long 'story' which is going to follow:

I am now on my 3rd scanner! (I'm not sure if that is a bad thing or not). My first scanner was an Agfa snapscan and then I had a Canon CanoScan Flatbed Scanner. The Canon was nice and slim and hardly took any desk-space up, but unfortunately if you tried to scan anything thicker than a sheet of tracing paper, you would get blurry edges. The Agfa was better, but when it broke, I was unable to replace it as that particular model was disontinued. I used to search forums and websites trying to get other peoples opinions about a scanner that would be good for 2d as well as 3d, but was always unsuccessful.

A couple of years ago I worked as a typesetter for a printers in South London. Lots of the equipment we used was out of date, but I do remember the scanner was brilliant. Sometimes when there was no work to do, I would get bored, so when I wasn't doing film quizzes on Facebook, I used to scan stuff. I scanned chocolate bars, cans of drink, whole packets of biscuits, keys... my shoes - and the occasional work related item too. This scanner was an old Epson Perfection, I can't exactly remember the model name, but it was amazing.

So I saved my money, (I had to, Epson Perfection scanners aren't exactly the cheapest you can buy - when I got mine it was almost £400) and when I had saved enough I ordered the V700 model. Now, this thing is huge, we actually have a special shelf for it because it is just too big to fit on my desk (dimensions - 30.8 cm x 50.3 cm x 15.3 cm, weight approx. 7kg). However, it is worth it because every scan I do is crystal clear.

So for anyone else out there who is looking for a scanner that can, in some cases improve the quality of your 'paper' based work, then I would highly recommend going for the Epson Perfection V700. I know you can buy them from Amazon and Ebuyer but if you are on a budget Ebay is probably going to be the best place.

Ever since I can remember, I was interested in stationery, especially pens. My favourite shop when I was younger was WHSmiths, and I would love spending ages in there, just looking at all the pens and pencils and imagining the amazing pictures that I could draw. My obsession hasn't changed, actually, now I'm older and have actual money, it has probably become worse. If I go to buy one pen, I will never leave the shop with one pen (it's quite sad isn't it!).

My favourite pens to draw with are dark (usually black or brown) fine liner pens. I like to combine thick and thin nibs, but I do alot of my work in either a 0.5 or a 0.8. Typically if I am sketching or drawing an image, I like the effect of creating the outside line or 'outline' of the image in a thick pen and then any internal lines and detail with a thinner pen. My pens of choice at the moment are a Pilot drawing pen, a Uni Pin Fineline and a very thin 0.2 Staedtler Pigment liner.

I used to only use acrylic paints in my work. But as I started to sketch more and more when I wasn't at home (with paint brushes, running water, a large table, oodles of newspaper etc...) I realised that I should probably find a paint substitute if I wanted to add colour to my doodles. On one of those shopping trips that I mentioned earlier, where I was supposed to go to the shop for one pen, and consequently left the shop with a whole-bag-of-stuff, i discovered Letraset ProMarkers. I was attracted to them to start with because the box they came in looked really cool. They came all sorts of different themes and colourways, I think the set I chose was imaginatively named 'set 1'.

They are twin-tipped markers (one thick square tip for block or paint effects and a more traditional 'felt-tip' on the other end). The ink has a lovely flow about it and you can layer one colour over and over again to get a nice shading effect.

You can buy them online at Letraset or Fred Aldous. Happy shopping :)