Information for Parents
In my cartooning classes, I try to provide the most basic tools that a professional cartoonist would use, given the five dollars per child stipend allowed by the West Hartford Art League. This is a general overview of what will be available to each child attending a physical class.
Class Materials
Material Overview
I provide pencils, erasers, markers, pencil sharpeners and colored pencils as well as paper, which is generally printer paper.
Individual pouches
Individual Pouches
Since pandemic precautions are in effect, there is no sharing of materials. Each child gets everything in their own pouch.
Pencils
Pencils
Pouches are left at school and used during class time. At the end of the full session, every student goes home with their pouch full of stuff. Note that two pencils are in each pouch, a 2H and a 2B.
Types of Pencil Lead
Pencils
Professional graphite has different softness. B designation are soft, giving a heavy line. H are hard. By giving each child a 2H and 2B pencil, they can begin learning about graphite.
Sharpeners and Erasers
Each child gets a Prismacolor Magic Rub eraser which is generally very kind to paper. I would also suggest a kneaded eraser for erasing tiny things, but this I don’t provide.
I am not picky about sharpeners. I just don’t want anything that leaves a mess. I provide a sharpener with a little reservoir for shavings. These should be unscrewed on occasion and emptied.
Erasers and Sharpeners
Markers
I also provide a black marker for doing finishes over the pencils. These can be Tombows or Microns, my two favorites. This time around, each student will get an off brand brush marker. Markers also come in a variety of sizes.
Color Markers
I will not provide color markers, although in covid-free times, I have lots of markers for the entire class. Water based or alcohol markers are best for kids. Alcohol based markers are my favorites.
Colored Pencils
Colored Pencils
I plan on putting colored pencils into each pouch. To keep down costs, I originally planned on cannibalizing a set like this one in the picture, giving each child a different set of colors. I have since managed to find a very cheap set of ten markers I can put in each student’s class pouch. This is good since now every pouch contains the exact same material. That being said, I encourage student to come to class with materials from home like, say, a big fancy set of many colored pencils.
Light Board
I have a number of light boards available for class use in the Schoolhouse. Light boards and tracing paper are not only important for learning how to draw, they are fun to use.
I have at home a light weight USB light board which I bought for $20 from Amazon. I highly recommend these for children. They are rugged, portable and effective. You take the original drawing and tape it to the board. Over that, you tape a piece of bond paper in order to trace.
Light Board
Happy Cartooning!
The more you draw, the better you get!