From soft pencils to graphite powder, ballpoint to fibre-tip pens, conté sticks to watercolour pencils, this unique guide covers everything you need to know to begin mastering and combining different media in your drawing. Use it as a reference for using a particular tool, or as a catalogue of inspiration when seeking new ideas to try.

Drawing can be defined as the picturing of objects on a surface, and as such anyone can draw. This spontaneous childhood activity is often dropped as we grow up and become more critical of our efforts – the gulf between what we can see and what we can draw seems too great and we give up in frustration. Drawing, however, can be learned and, as with most things, practise improves our skill even if it does not always achieve perfection. Start by setting aside a short time each day for drawing. Always carry a small sketchbook and pencil with you and fill in the odd five or ten minutes by drawing anything you can see around you. Look at the scene or the object and draw what you see, rather than what you expect the subject to look like. Use exercises, such as drawing negative spaces, to make you look really hard at creating what is in front of you. As you improve, try to build up a collection of references for future compositions; aim to capture a movement, the essentials of an object, an interesting juxtaposition of elements in a scene. Your sketchbooks will soon become an invaluable resource. Once you get hooked on drawing you will want to experiment with the many different media available. The physical differences between using crumbly charcoal, powdery pastels and greasy oil sticks will dictate what you draw and how you apply them to the support. For fine detail, pencils of all kinds, pens and ball-points cannot be bettered. Working large with bold sweeps and strong lines needs drawing tools such as charcoal, felt-tip pens or pastels. Some drawing media can be erased easily, others stain the paper; some demand you work quickly and confidently, while others are capable of delicate, precise lines where just a suggestion is enough to create an interesting image. What you draw on is as important as choosing what to draw with and matching the medium to the support can be the key to a successful picture. Drawing accurately is not the only skill. Creating an impression or a feeling is equally important. When drawing from life try to work on the picture as a whole rather than concentrating on a small area. Use a variety of lines – fine and light or dark and heavy, continuous or sketchy – to keep the drawing interesting and lively. Introducing contour lines, building up the shading or adding a wash will make the composition three dimensional. It is never too late to start drawing, the materials are as cheap or as expensive as you choose and the subject matter is all around you. Now pick up a pencil and begin. Keep your old sketchbooks and first drawings and after a few months look back to see how much you have improved.

acrylic ink 72–3, 138, 148–9 ballpoint pens 76–9, 116–17, 120–1, 124–5, 128–9, 131, 134–5, 139, 141, 147–51, 155 broken edges 55 brush pens 84–7, 154–5 burnishing 20 chalks 43–5 charcoal sticks/pencils 30–5, 106–7, 114–15, 118–19, 122–5, 133, 137, 140, 144–5, 152 colour blocking 50–1 coloured pencils 16–21, 104–5, 108, 114–17, 122, 126–7, 154–5 conté sticks/pencils 36–41, 109, 112–13, 123, 126–30 crayons 62–5, 140–1 cross hatching 4–5, 19, 30–1, 50, 58, 62, 76, 78, 80, 86–7, 109 depth 78–9 erasing 7, 14–15, 21, 33 expressive drawing 44–5 feathering 50 fibre-tip pens 80–3, 120–1, 134–5, 139, 147, 152–3, 157, 159 fixing 14–15, 106, 123, 133 flicks 4, 5 frottage 62 graphite pencils 4–7, 104–7, 126–7, 132, 136, 146–50 graphite powder 12–15, 112–13 graphite sticks 8–11, 108–11, 122, 140, 156, 158 hatching 4, 5, 30–1, 40, 42, 48, 58, 62, 66–7, 76, 78–9, 82, 109, 129, 131, 148, 155 highlights 32–3, 99, 108 impasto 100–1 ink pens 66–75, 142–3 layering 94–5, 97, 140 lifting 21 marker pens 80–3, 152 mixed media 104–69 nibs 66–7, 68–9, 70, 74–5, 153 oil paint sticks 96–103, 158–9 oil pastels 88–95, 156–7 overlaying colours 28–9, 59 pastel pencils 42, 44–5, 130–1 pastels (hard) 56–61, 110–11, 116–17, 130, 133, 136–9 pastels (soft) 46–55, 106–7, 109, 112–15, 118–19, 123, 132–5, 137, 151 quill pens 74–5 sandpaper 52–3, 91 scribbles 5, 76, 80 scumbling 54, 60–1, 90–1 sgraffito 21, 60–1, 64–5, 102–3 stippling 80 texture 5, 10–11, 14–15, 19, 34–5, 38, 40–1, 48–9, 52–3, 58, 76–8, 80, 96–7, 99, 119 tone 4–5, 8–9, 12–13, 30–1, 33, 43, 46–7, 62–3, 76–7, 90–1 washes 2, 24, 52, 59, 108, 121, 132, 142–3, 147 water-soluble coloured pencils 22–9, 108, 144–5 water-soluble inks 70, 124–5, 146–7 watercolour pencils 104–5, 118–19, 120–1, 132 waterproof inks 68–9, 120–1, 128–9, 131, 138, 141–2, 144–5, 153, 155 white spirit 29, 102