Being asked “what did you use to make that?” can be divisive.
Some people read it as someone asking for a shortcut, equating what’s been made with its materials rather than the skill behind it. Others read it as a genuine point of interest and learning, an opportunity to share their knowledge and craft.
I try to do the latter, mainly because I genuinely love seeing what people use to make their work. I’m a big stationery fan, even if I have used the same brand and style of pen since I was perhaps 15. It was luck that it was the one I picked up in WH Smiths on a random weekend, but it’s true love that I keep choosing it.
So, even though no one’s asking me what I use to make my work, I wanted to share a run down of all of the tried and tested materials I use and love every day.
I don’t think you need all of these tools to get started, and I definitely didn’t start with everything this list, but these are the things I reach for all the time.
On my desk
Pilot VBall 0.5 in Black (but I have a selection of colours if I feel fancy) – this has been my favourite pen since I was in school and I will never not love it.
Pilot VSign Pen – for labels, addresses and bigger notes
Rotring 300 0.5 mechanical pencil, 2B lead – for sketching and note taking
Cretacolour Monolith eraser - its taken me years to find, but this is just a really nice, soft eraser that doesn't smudge or smear
Rhodia stapled dot notebook – I use this for thumbnail sketches, planning and taking all my notes. I’ve used the hardback orange Rhodia Webbie as my bullet journal forever. This has slightly different paper but its paper cover makes me feel like I don’t need to be precious and it’s short enough that I actually finish a sketch/notebook.
15cm metal ruler – for all my every day needs, often referred to as my comfort ruler
30cm safety ruler – so I don’t catch my fingers when cutting
Xacto knife – for cutting pages and assembling zines, I bought this when I was doing my GCSEs so it’s now going on for being 15 years old and perhaps my longest running single piece of stationery
Cutting mat – I recently invested in this bigger size, so I’ve got more room to work
Scrap paper – I use an assortment of pages from old notebooks (ideally those old Rhodia Webbies), old bits of card and a set of square coloured paper from an old paperchase block for making mock zines to try layouts and for planning on big paper.
Long arm stapler – a must for stapling booklet style zines because it means you’re never struggling to reach or get pages into the stapler
Stamp and ink – for numbering and finishing zines, I designed and ordered this one from GetStamped ahead of making my first zine and I’m so glad I did
Washi tape and sticky dots – for labelling, assembling mock ups and holding my to do lists up
Packaging materials – custom stickers, envelopes, postcards which are all part of how I package up zines ready to be posted to their new homes
Near my desk
Project board – this is the surplus packaging that comes with my zines from the printer to keep them safe, I reuse it as a planning space. This leans up near my desk as reference while I work.
Cork board – this has my running to do list for newsletter and illustration projects as tasks can hang on longer than my daily to do list, and I like the satisfaction of moving the cards
Phone stand arm – I still feel self-conscious about owning one of these, but it’s so handy for documenting my work and process
Digital tools
Procreate on iPad – I do most of my drawing here, I find it’s the most intuitive place to sketch and colour, then share full page images and elements across to my laptop. I mainly use the standard brushes, but I also love the Heygiudi brush set.
Affinity Designer –I’ve used Affinity Designer as my graphics tool of choice since 2014, which is pretty much since I started making digital work. I use this to layout pages, add text and assemble pages for printing. I use the artboards feature to have all my pages in one document.
Phone camera – for all the reference photos, documenting my process, and final images of zines, I usually use phone Lightroom app for editing
EZGif – I often use this to make gifs, if I’m not making them directly in Procreate, as it gives more options for reducing size which is important if you want to add gifs to your substack posts.
Calligraphr – I have a font which is based on my handwriting which I use for most of my zines, but I sometimes make custom ones where required as I did in the Poyais newsletter, to do that I turn to Calligraphr
When putting this together I found one of my first blog posts from 2017 where I documented my tools, which highlights quite how long standing many of these favourites are, when I say these are the supplies I truly mean it. I’d love to know what your longest standing stationery favourites are!
Write/draw again soon,
Natalie
I like reading about peoples tools and processes too. I’d been thinking of creating a font from my handwriting so will look into Calligrapher - thanks!