Here at The Doodlebug, we have a great variety of products to fill your crafting needs! Though all of the products we have in our store are truly wonderful, some of our staff have a few favorites of their own. Here are Leslie's!
Leslie's Top 5 Products
I know Doodlebug is a crafting store, but I wanna put a small reminder out there that we also have art products as well! It's a smaller selection of what we have, but these can always be used for crafting too! Some of these products I do own myself and have used before.
First up is the Strathmore Drawing Pad! I have went through many sketchbooks through out the years, but Strathmore is my favorite brand when is comes to sketchbooks! Since this is a drawing pad, this is best used with only dry mediums such as graphite, charcoal, and colored pencils (if you are okay with a little texture in your drawing!). Pens are okay too, but keep in mind that liquid mediums can tear up the paper if used to much, and will probably bleed through! The paper and the paper's texture is just perfect for dry mediums. I definitely recommend this drawing pad!
Next up is the Studio 71 Sketching Pencils! Graphite (pencils) is my favorite type of medium when I draw traditionally. The pack comes with 12 sketching pencils that start with 5H to 6B. So when a pencil ends with H is means the degree of "hardness" of the pencil. When it ends with a B it means the degree of "blackness" of the pencil. So a 5H swatches to a lighter shade, while a 6B swatches to a darker shade. If you ever wondered why there was a "2B" on every standardized pencil now you know why! Plus, this pack would be great with the Strathmore Drawing Pad!
Next is the Prismacolor Colored Pencils! In packs like this they always come in a set of 12 and they come in certain shades of color. This pack specifically is the soft core colored pencils by Morgan Davidson who is a great artist! The colors here are the same kind of colors you would get in a normal pack of 12 from Prismacolor, but what makes this pack different is that the colors come a little bit "softer". On the picture it shows all the colors being used as an example, which is great! Prismacolor is one of my favorite brands for colored pencils. I own plenty!
Next up is a tool I'm pretty sure every artist has in they're own collection, I know I do. Pencil Blending Stumps by Spectrum Noir! If you are using dry mediums and your wanting what your working on to look a little more airbrushed this is the perfect tool to use. I know there was a time I wanted everything I created to look blended with no texture, and these do the trick! These are best used with pencil (graphite) for a lot softer touch, and if your wanting to smudge with your colored pencils here and there these are great to use too.
Last but not least, this is one of my favorite products of all time! The Copic Ciao Markers! These markers are VERY popular in the art community. Not only are they great for Illustration, they're pretty much great for anything like, wood, leather, fabric, plastics, and more! The marker has two sides, a medium broad tip, and a brush like tip on the other end. These markers are alcohol-based markers, but don't worry they don't smell bad! They have a very low odor. These markers don't fade over time, and are water resistant! Plus, they come in a variety of colors!