I came here to recommend the Derwent battery-operated eraser, so I guess I'll just second you. :) It erases everything from gel pen to really dark pencils, which makes coloring a lot more relaxing, especially when I'm working with tiny lines.

Eraser in action

So for the past few days, I've been organizing my coloring space. I found a picture that I had really liked from when I first start coloring, but I didn't have any eraser at all of the time and actually coloring the paper Dahlia and dark purple from prismacolor instead of the Sand I meant to pick up. I I did some in Sand as well as Light Aqua b/c I honestly had no clue at all.

I completely forgot to take pictures of it all, but the first picture is from near the end of the first round or erasing, only seconds after I got all I can - these have had fixative sprayed on them since October.

So here are the pics after erasing, I left the forest person, but completely erased from the girl in scrolls - erased pics

Here's the new version.

Edit to add a few things

Derwent's blender and burnisher set works so well. I had gotten the prismacolor because that's what I was advised to get for my newbie starter kit. With the really creamy colors, it worked fine. Buy when I really needed it, like on scratchy colors, it seemed even more scratchy. Also, on grayscale pictures, it looks like uneven skin tone gray scratched on randomly. :/ These are very and have also blended gel pens and pastels. The burnisher is also very good at adding shine.

Not sure how long they'll be there, but they have little crates at Walmart from the back to school sale for $1. They're supposed to fit together like Legos, but there are quite a few that don't fit perfectly. Depending on how many your store has you might be able to find enough that fit perfectly, but someone got mine for me without knowing they fit together and I've just banded them together, so I can move them easily without worry. [pic] (https://imgur.com/gallery/dTLx9)

Also, if you do any loose leaf work, clear paper protectors are a must. I have. Here's a pic. As you can see, you have to remove it to take a picture, but it protects well, fits in a binder, and is only $0.88 for 20 sheets. again, got these from Walmart, and not sure how long I'll be there after back to school is over. However, I have a couple hundred printed out and a couple thousand on my Pinterest, so 6 or 7 packs seemed well worth it.

I also find a fan brush extremely useful - if you blow or use your hand you risk adding moisture and making it stick.

Also, if you use pastels, Yoplait has a new French flavor that has little pots perfect for mixing colors together. For blending pastels, I also like silicone blenders although I haven't tried them on pencil or anything else yet. I also like a beauty blender with a solvent if you know how the paper will react and have quite a few layers.

Also a flashlight is so useful - allows you to make sure you everything looks as good as you think it does.

Also, I would recommend having lots of extra cups for pencils or whatever you're working with. That way you can separate things for organizational purposes, ie clothes, hair, skin, plants, etc.

Here's a few pics my coloring corner, so you can see how I organized things. The middle pic has a close-up of the flashlight (they're super cheap, I have like 3 of them from Harbor Freight, and they have three different kinds of light).

You can also see my eraser, my fan brush, silicone blenders, my mini Derwent pencil sharpener on the right of the desk (got it yesterday so I can't speak to its quality). Also, beside the flashlight is the Yoplait container I mentioned earlier with a chopstick to grind the pastels. I got three more today, and I am usually a huge food snob, but I have to admit, it's delicious and has great containers.

You can also see that the second shelf has my replacement box (erasers, gel pens|, etc), a couple of bottles of workable fixative, a travel pencil case, and my case of pastels. I just moved them into this container because although I can't say no to $6 for 64 colors, Mungyo's was just not sufficient. I got it from Michaels or AC Moore a long time ago in the jewellery department. Here's a close-up

Oh and how could I forget - bookends. I just got 3 cheap ones a few days ago and, is so nice not to have to worry about the imminent slide whenever I take anything out. I use one for my combination shelf of coloring books and pencil cases.

Another I use for the big file box that holds my Ioose coloring pages. Not sure if many people have this but I have a good two hundred and don't want them to get bent/curved, which was starting to happen previously. Here is a pic of the kind of book and I use, and these are the files in the black box beside the crates. Here is an example of the files, which I do my best to keep organized so I can easily find the kind of picturet I'm in the mood for.

Whewww, this forever so hopefully it helps someone.

Thank you so much for all of this information! It helps a great deal.

I do work in pencil for detailed things, but sometimes I want a break so I do something easier & faster in markers. I especially like mandalas, so a fine point is a must! I like Sharpies and Bic Mark-Its extra fine points but they are so limited in colors. I've tried just about every kind. Of marker, but the nice high ends like Copic are too pricey for just coloring.

218 colors is amazing!

I did find this set on Amazon that looks good. I'd love a brush/fine tip combo.

So many options!

(I do the marker/pencil combo, too!)

Well, everyone has different preferences, but I'd suggest getting one with pictures (this is lovely and very popular - she might find her friends have got it also, if they color) and one with patterns, (don't have this one personally, picked it at random) so she can decide which she likes to color more.

Fine tip markers like Staedtler, and a set of decent but not top-of-the-line pencils like Prismacolor would be a good start. If that's more than you wanted to spend, a smaller selection would probably be fine, or a cheaper good brand such as Staedtler Noris colors which I personally love. Oh, and get her a pencil sharpener and eraser as stocking fillers :)

[edit for links] - not linking the Staedtler Noris colour pencils because I'm in the UK and am not sure the Amazon.com ones are exactly the same.

Ugh, there's nothing worse than having great line art for coloring be ruined by shitty quality paper.

>I'm too lazy to copy everything to better paper

Doing this actually isn't that difficult! The best paper I've found for printing line art on to is the Springhill, Digital Vellum Cover White, 80lb paper. (There are some better quality papers that are specifically for colored pencils, but they don't come in reams (they're in spiral-bound notebooks with perforated pages) and they have to be trimmed down to 8.5" x 11".) It has a really great weight, and the paper has a lot of tooth for the colored pencil pigments. Through trial and error, I found that the tooth is the single biggest determination of how well colored pencils will work on it. Little-to-no tooth means that the colored pencil pigment won't really "stick" to the paper very will and, as more is added, will just begin to smear around instead of blending nicely.


Once you have your ream of Springhill Digital Vellum (or whatever paper you choose to use), you can take your coloring book to someplace like FedEx/Kinkos or whatever copying store of your choice. Hand them the coloring book and tell them you'd like them to cut off the spine of the book. (Note: their company policy prevents them from copying copyrighted materials, even if you are doing it for purposes which fall under "fair use" protections... which I would argue that this is). I believe they'll charge you like $1.50 or something per cut, but it makes the whole process a lot easier.

Then you can take your pages over the self-service printers, load your Springhill paper into the side tray, throw the pages in the document feeder, and then hit the "Copy" button. You'll probably be in and out of there in 15 minutes and you'll have the entire book reprinted on nice paper for maybe less than $10 (not counting the cost of the ream of Springhill).


 

I did this, myself, a couple of times after getting books with great art but shit paper. It's absolutely worth doing it. Later, I ended up getting a better printer at home that has an automatic feed document scanner and just reprint the art at home.

Yeah, I'm kind of sold on the Derwent Inktense. What do you think would be better? The blocks or the pencils? I think the pencils are more comfortable and easy to use, though the blocks seem nice too.

Edit: Sooo I found this tin box of 72 on sale in my country and it's like 65 Euro ($70). It's a really good deal right? I think I'm gonna buy these. http://www.amazon.com/Derwent-Inktense-Pencils-Metal-2301843/dp/B001XCWP34

Edit 2: Hmmm, so I read this review and I'm changing my mind a bit. http://hubpages.com/art/Watercolor-Pencils-Reviews#

I see that Faber Castell and Koh-I-Noor are something I'd probably like more. I won't be using the watercolour only with water and I want a nice pigment even when I use the dry pencil. I think I'll be getting a smaller box of Derwent Inktense stricly for waterbrushing and other types for both waterbrush and dry use.

Coloring for Creativity

It's still just as cheap, and I have NO idea how. I HIGHLY recommend grabbing this book. A lot of pictures are two pages wide, so if you can handle the spine crossover, it's spectacular. I am madly in love with this book, and it has so many different beautiful patterns and animals and everything. It can be a bit intense, some of the patterns are pretty complex. But a good book overall.

Thank you!

It turned out better than usual, I think it has a lot to do with great source material. I love this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Dragonology-Coloring-Ologies-Ernest-Drake/dp/0763695300/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?crid=10D06JD3YE0P1&keywords=dragonology+book&qid=1550690348&s=gateway&sprefix=Dragono&sr=8-7

I haven't tried gamsol, I might give that a go.

I've only recently started using paper blenders, usually I use pastel shapers, as they make colours really pop

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Shaper-Ivory-Pastel-Blending/dp/B002APFMFG/ref=asc_df_B002APFMFG/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=226557293237&hvpos=1o9&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14968675482418358293&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045622&hvtargid=pla-318854918059&psc=1

The only downside is they can smudge waxier pencils, but work well on other types, especially when you layer the colours.

I also like a minimal palette - I may have just ordered some Arteza after seeing your colouring! 😊

This is the one I have.

I don't have a desk, I just do all of my colouring at the kitchen table, but the lighting situation in our house is GRIM. I love that I can swivel this one any number of ways so that the light best hits the paper, and it's a bonus that I can use it to charge my phone since I usually listen to audiobooks while I'm colouring.

I don't know what is too expensive for you but the other day I saw the 72 set on amazon for $65 down from $84 which is quite a good deal. You could always try getting some open stock and build up your collection from there. And I do agree they are a bit pricey, but I think they are so worth it. The ink is much more vivid than regular watercolor in my opinion.
You could watch them on camel camel camel and see if the price drops again.

I have this one and I'm really pleased. Puts a super fine point on my Prismas without breakage.

Yeah you did really great on those parts for sure!

I've found the Crayola ones aren't too bad for the price. I suggest getting a Derwent Blender and Burnisher set, it should work well with the crayolas. I mostly use Prismacolor but yeah they are way more expensive.

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It's very much society continuing but controlled by zombies. Lots and lots of zombie culture Easter eggs and dark gory humor. Lots of repeat hidden images too. It's on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1695128958/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

It's hilarious. Um, some of the Easter Eggs,

The year of the first publication of the word ZOMBI.

Famous names

Video game reference

There is a construction worker, meter maid, doctor, barista, and even a couple of dogs. Cats are hidden throughout because for some reason they never zombified in this reality. Lots of kicks.

I recently purchased these, and they are excellent.

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner

I bought the smaller pack at Michaels Arts and Crafts, but I wish I had waited and looked for them on Amazon, they are a lot more affordable there than they were at the craft store.

Staedtler's fineliners come in a pack of 36
for 47$ on amazon, thats the biggest pack I've seen. On my wishlist :)

I like this Derwent eraser:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027IW9GG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My Prismacolors seem to sharpen fine. This is the sharpener I use for them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZDL0K2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks. It's the Dragonology Coloring Book. It's a companion to Dragonology, which is an illustrated encyclopedia of dragons. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0763695300/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485174745&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=dragonology+coloring+book&dpPl=1&dpID=61F4QbOoHkL&ref=plSrch

Imagimorphia by Kerby Rosanes. Highly recommend.

I have the 150 set and some of the leads are off center. I recommend [this little pencil sharpener] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0030I26LK/ref=sxts_bia_sr_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3182441022&pd_rd_wg=jkvoP&pf_rd_r=3QQ6MH0PE50T8FVKGC66&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B0030I26LK&pd_rd_w=Y95ul&pf_rd_i=kum+pencil+sharpener&pd_rd_r=VXR13KRWQCCMFVMY3A81&ie=UTF8&qid=1504448153&sr=1) and using the method /u/Nheea describes. It sharpens even the off center pencils to a smooth point.

Imagimorphia by Kerby Rosane!