drawing: graphite and charcoal
We offer select brands of graphite pencils including Lyra, Tombow, Koh-I-Noor, and Staedtler, all known for their smoothness, break resistance, and consistent quality.
In addition to standard drawing pencils, we offer a number of specialty pencils including white chalk, earth tones, water-soluble graphite, woodless graphite, and non-photo blue.
We also stock charcoal pencils, vine charcoal, willow charcoal, compressed charcoal, and graphite sticks in various, shapes, sizes and degrees of softness.
drawing: colored pencils and pastels
We carry several brands of colored pencils individually and in sets. Some of our favorites are:
Prismacolor – soft, thick leads for smooth application and blending
Lyra Rembrandt – oil-based leads offer superior break resistance. Splender colorless blender blends and polishes
Lyra Giants – Jumbo-sized pencils that are great for large thick, expressive lines covering large areas, and using in combination with other mixed media, especially acrylics. The thick leads maintain their point and are very break resistant.
Lyra Aquarelle – the same color range as the Lyra Rembrandts, but in a water-soluble variety for watercolor effects.
Koh-I-Noor Gioconda Soft Pastel Pencils – blendable color of soft pastels, but with less dust, breakage and mess and more control to create lines and textures.
We also offer a range of dry pastels and oil pastels in single colors and sets including:
Cretacolor Carre – A wide range of deep colors, bright colors, delicate colors, and earth tones. Hard enough for line drawing, but soft enough for blending. Water-soluble for light washes and watercolor effects that are especially effective along with pen-and-ink drawings
Cray-pas Expressionist –soft, brightly colored oil pastels. Very versatile, for drawing and mixed media. Blend dry or with mineral spirits for paint-like effects.
Lyra Aquacolor wax pastels –Water-soluble artist-quality crayons for painting, drawing and rendering. Useful for watercolor techniques, monoprints, encaustic, and mixed media.
drawing: pens and markers
We stock a great selection of pens, nibs, and markers, many of which are hard to find elsewhere. Selections include:
Letraset Promarkers – double-ended with a chisel tip and a fine tip. 148 colors that blend and layer beautifully for bold or subtle effects. The best priced professional-quality marker on the market.
Stabilo Point 88 – famous long-lasting, brightly colored fine-line markers from Germany.
Tombow dual-tip brush pens – versatile brightly colored markers for drawing, watercolor effects, blending, and stamping.
Pentel Stylo Tradio and Pulaman –a unique triangular fiber tip that is strong but flexible for expressive control of lines while drawing or writing.
Preppy Platinum Fountain Pen – one of our favorites! An inexpensive Japanese fountain with replaceable cartridges. Very reliable, consistent flow of ink. In black, blue, red, green, pink, and yellow. Made from recycled plastic!
Pilot G-tech and Pentel Slicci – ultra-fine roller ball tips with gel-based ink in a range of colors.
Pentel Pocket Pen and Colorbrush – two of the best brush-tip pens you’ll find. Soft bristles like a real paintbrush allow control of line width and expressive strokes. Dark black ink.
Micron, Faber Castell Pitt, Zig Millenium – the essential pens for drawing and sketching. Several brands of popular fine-line pens in a variety of nib widths and a range of colors.
Copic Multiliner SP – fine-line and brush tip pens with an aluminum barrel, replaceable nibs, and replaceable ink cartridges. A step up in durability and line quality from disposable pens and an excellent trouble-free alternative to fussy metal-tip technical pens.
Permapaque, Painter’s and DecoColor – opaque paint pens in oil-based and water-based varieties in a range of colors and metallic colors. Permanent on many surfaces
drawing: inks
Black Inks:
We carry a wide assortment of black inks and India inks for drawing, writing calligraphy, ink washes, and mixed media applications. Brands include: Chroma, Higgins Eternal, Higgins Fountain Pen, Higgins Black Magic, Speedball Super Black, Bombay Black Star Matte, Daler Rowney Calli, and Sumi ink in liquid and stick form.
Colored Inks:
We offer a variety of colored inks suitable for drawing, calligraphy, writing, painting, and mixed media:
Sennelier Artist’s ink – extremely vivid transparent shellac-based ink with a velvety, slightly raised, water-resistant surface. These inks have a luxurious, luminous look that can’t be achieved with standard inks.
Bombay India Ink (P.H. Marten) – intensely colored inks that work well on many surfaces. Permanent, water-resistant colors.
FW Acrylic Inks (Daler Rowney) – 38 colors and 22 pearlescent colors. Very versatile pigment-based colors offer the best fade resistance of any inks. Excellent for pen, brush, or airbrush.
Higgins – Well-known colored inks in Waterproof (transparent) and Fadeproof (opaque pigmented) varieties.
drawing: drafting supplies
Although it’s one of our smaller sections, our drafting department contains all the standards including mechanical pencils, lead holders, scale rules, t-squares, templates, triangles, drafting vellum, and tracing papers. For more specialized items and larger items like drafting tables, chairs, and lamps, we can order from a broad selection and can often have special orders in the store for you quickly, often within a few days.