Drawing tools, from me, a tool

Things I use to illustrate / procrastinate / use as a q-tip

Firstly, welcome to my Substack — Illustrating with an Idiot! Of all the things you could do in the world, you chose to read my stupid ramblings and look at my tiny little drawings, and I appreciate that from the bottom of my stupid little heart! There’s not much to explain about the idiot part, it usually comes out as I keep talking. But the illustration part, that’s where this Substack comes in and I can show you what kind of sick twisted mind is behind these illustrations.

What do I use to illustrate? A pen, obviously. Or sometimes it’s a pencil. Or sometimes it’s a weird magic pointy stick that’s made of plastic. They’re all equally great.

Most of the time I think of a stupid image I need to draw, get tired thinking of all the work that goes into making that, and tell myself that counts as drawing, grab a pint of ice cream, and keep watching Modern Family. But that’s neither here nor there.

I started illustrating when I was a kid like everyone else. I loved drawing with a pencil. A basic HB pencil. And the cheapest one you can buy is the Nataraj. I liked that you can erase your mistakes (which I made many). Unlike pens, which could ruin how a page looks with one wrong stroke and that page is worthless now. The only thing you can do is rip it out and burn it to ash, so no one else will ever know how terrible you are. Side note, I may have a tiny dash of what some call “fear of failure”.

When I got to middle school, we started using pens and I loved using this fountain pen called the “Hero”. It was one of the fancy ones that cost 30 rupees compared to the regular ass pens that cost like 5 rupees. I never actually owned one. I always borrowed it from friends and the little time I had with it felt special — the way it glided over the page and my handwriting would suddenly be impeccable. But like an Indian middle school version of Cinderella, I had to return back to my peasant pen called the “Reynolds” — made of cheap plastic and bite marks from passing it around. It wasn’t the best, but it had a nostalgic quality to it.

Nowadays, I use my trusty iPad Air with the super convenient Apple Pencil that sticks to the side of my iPad! I know what you’re thinking — “But Vig!? What about the tactile feeling of the pen scraping on paper, the sound of a pencil gliding back and forth as it shades, and that oddly satisfying tingly thing that happens when you draw a perfect curve and you see the ink make magic in front of your very eyes!” I will happily throw that feeling in the trash for the Undo button every single time.

Digital Art as a medium is a godsend for idiots like me. Don’t get me wrong, I still go into art supply stores and buy fancy pens and brushes to keep the fantasy alive that I’ll draw a masterpiece on traditional media. But you and I both know that’s not happening. But to keep it interesting, here’s a poll (I just found out I can make a poll; so why not?)

Well, if you’re still reading, Thanks and congratulations! You are the first person to get this far. I haven’t actually read this post either. Who needs editing, amirite? But seriously, thank you, and come back for more!