Tools Tips:
Keep your pencils choices simple. Start with 4H, HB and 4B graphite pencils as your essential drawing pencils. NiL-Tech hex- shaped pencils are for your convenience, now roll away. Pencils come in variety of hardnesses, 8H being hardest and decreasing such as going down in number ( 7H, 6H, 5H, 4H, 3H, 2H, H). Fstands for middle between hard and soft. B standing for softer and increasing such as the numbers go up (2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B,8B ). Also included is a pencil extender, helps get more miles out of your pencil.
The fist eraser you get should be kneaded eraser. These soft, putty-like erasers are very gentle to the paper’s surface and leave few, if any, crumbs. To erase, first try pressing the eraser to the paper’s surface: this is less damaging to the paper then rubbing the eraser back and forth. Use white vinyl to remove hard – to – erase pencil lines. White vinyl eraser are more abrasive then kneaded erasers but will not stain the paper.
If you want to draw a thin line, you will need a sharp point.You can sharpen your pencil in two ways: with a pencil sharpener or by hand. A pencil sharpener, such as NiL-Tech electric pencil sharpener, is the quickest and easiest way to keep the tips of your pencils sharp. To sharpen by hand: grip the pencil in one hand, with the point away from you, and the craft knife in the other. Push the thumb holding the pencil against the thumb holding the knife to create leverage so the blade cuts into the pencil. Cut, then turn the pencil and repeat the process until you’ve worked the area to a point. Then sharpen the core with sandpaper pad. Sand the core back and forth on the landing pad for a sharp point.
A blending stump or paper stump is a stick of tightly rolled up felt paper with 2 pointed ends. They are used to blend, smear or smudge graphite, charcoal or similar mediums. They work really well for tight areas which require detail and allow you to have more control than other blending tools like q-tips.When the tip of your blending stump becomes too dull or dirty, you can sharpen it using a sandpaper block, which usually comes with the stump if you buy it in a pack. After sharpening the paper stump, you will notice that it becomes a little fuzzy.
Frequently asked questions
What is that metal thing?
The set includes two metal items, one is a manual pencil sharpener and the other is an extender.
Manual pencil sharpener for a lighter sharpener than brass but with that lightness you lose some of the reassuringly solid feel. However, this is a good reliable sharpener that gives a good though quite short point.
This double-hole pencil sharpener is made from metal for extra durability, and has an anti-tamper safety screw for added safety. Featuring a contoured grip for easy sharpening, this metal double-hole sharpener is ideal for everyday school, home and office use.
And the pencil extender: into which you can insert the pencil, which normally would be too short for a comfortable grip, in order to get the most out of each pencil.
What are the dimensions (height, width, depth) of the case when it's open? How about when it's closed?
Closed it’s about – 9.5x8x1″. The thickness may vary depending on what you’re carrying. Open is about 19×8″. Can’t really do a thickness when it’s opened since that too will vary with the supplies you carry. There are extra slots to add other materials.
It’s well made and good for travel. You would spend minimal time looking for what you need.
What is the Sketch Stick used for?
The sketch stick is a sketching pencils that has no wood; therefore, does not need any sharpening. It is a solid piece of graphite.
What is the kneaded eraser for?
The kneaded erasers are much better than the others because it’s slightly sticky so it lifts the graphite off instead of damaging the paper by rubbing. The color you are removing sticks to the eraser but then disappears as you knead it afterwards. You can mold it into different shapes (like a point) to just lift small areas or amounts of the graphite. You can tap the kneaded eraser onto the paper so it takes off a small amount if you want, making it lighter if you don’t want to remove all of it. I also use them with colored pencils and I love how it lightens the color, but with colored pencils it usually doesn’t remove all of it. It does get much lighter so I can color over the erased spot. The kneaded erasers last a long time.
What is the stick with paper on it for and how do you use the smudge clay and white sticks for?
The stick with the paper on it is a sandpaper sharpening board, used for creating a fine pencil point, and the “smudge clay” is a kneading eraser, it is a soft, moldable eraser and it absorbs the ink/color/graphite, and you stretch it to clean, you can also dab/press it onto graphite and it will lighten it. And last, the white sticks are blending tools, used to gradient between colors, blending harsh lines, creating shadows, and have many more uses in drawing. They can help a lot for realistic drawings.
Do you sell some of the items separately like the pencils?
At this time we only set the items as a set. We are looking into selling the pencils separately at a later time.