WHAT TOOLS DO YOU USE?!

Kael Ngu
May 1
4 min read

Updated: May 1

One of the questions that I get the most from time to time, so I'll be sharing some of my tools today, in this case it's pen and ink....and maybe a mix of copic markers and inkwash. I started drawing with ink when I was very young...probably since 13 years old? I have a deep passion and love for inking traditionally, and I honestly dont think anything can replace it. Throughout the years, I've played with various inking techniques and the game never stops. There's always new ways to do it! Let me start by sharing some of the tools I use daily...basically this answers the legendary question of..."wHaT tOoLs dO yOu uSe?!"

FOR SKETCHING

FABLE CASTELL KNEADABLE ERASER or I just call it the Putty Rubber. It erases your 𝚋̶𝚛̶𝚘̶𝚠̶𝚜̶𝚎̶𝚛̶ ̶𝚑̶𝚒̶𝚜̶𝚝̶𝚘̶𝚛̶𝚢̶ I mean pencil sketches without leaving behind those annoying and dirty crumbs.
NOTEISM PENCILESS. A fake pencil, it's not lead or graphite. It's rod is made of metal but mimics the feeling of a real pencil. This one is bad....I never used it again, but I put it here cuz it looks cool XD NOTHING BEATS REAL PENCILS, FELLAS.
CARAN D'ACHE 0.7-MM GRAPHITE MECHANICAL PENCIL. I love this one cuz it's matte black and comes in 0.7mm. I use this to tighten up my sketches.
John Wick Pencil aka Real Pencil. Just any form of pencil really....for rough sketching and blocking out stuff.

FOR INKING

ZEBRA FD-501 BRUSH PEN. I use it for many years until I started to change my inking technique for a more precise and clean look. It's my favourite brush pen at one point. No longer uses it these days cuz yknow...people change, I change, my feelings change.
PENTEL FP10 BRUSH PEN. My first brush pen, literally started using it cuz I saw the late Kim Jung Gi used it. These days I use it to fill in blacks only, after taking in the fact that I can never become KJG.
UNIPIN FINELINER 0.05-0.8MM. My tools of the trade for over 10 years, been using them ever since I started playing with inking, and use it until today for all of my covers. It has a great ink flow, not too much and not too little, just nice. And also, the body comes in matte black heheh so cool.
COPIC MULTILINER 0.03MM. Mainly using this one for the super thin lines, great for line variations.

FOR TONING

WINSOR & NEWTON 14 BRUSH. This one is for laying down washes in big areas only.
PENTEL AQUASH WATER BRUSH. I use this for all of my ink washes, the fine tip has a great control and I'm loving it so far! I filled another one with clear water for blending.
COPIC SKETCH N0-N10. Neutral gray copic markers when I used to marker all my pieces. Then I got bored of the slow process and abandoned it....now I'm coming back for it again after realizing it works great in adding final details on my ink washes, since they have precise tones that I need. Still experimenting!

WINSOR & NEWTON BLACK INK 30ML. The black ink for them sexy washes.

FOR FINAL TOUCH UP

COPIC OPAQUE WHITE PAINT. Literally what it is, SO OPAQUE. SO WHITE.
MUJI ACRYLIC STACKING CASE. Storing clear water, to mix with Copic Opaque White when things get too dry.
NIKKO NIB HOLDER N20 WITH G NIB. I've tried SO MANY white pens and none can do what I want it to do...and worse, 99% of those white paint pens dried up after once or twice usage. I settled for nib pen + Copic Opaque White in the end, this combination is PERFECT for me, great control and I can still revive it even if it dried up and cracks and all. Just throw in some water and good as new.

RULERS

FRENCH CURVES. For big curve lines when you dont have confidence in your free hand inking skills.
GRID RULERS. Works the same as a normal ruler...I use it mainly because having grid looks more professional :3

FANCY SHIT

OLLIVANDERS' ELM AND PHOENIX FEATHER WAND. Got it from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios Japan, what I use it for? Think Mahl Stick for oil painters, I'm using it as a rest or support to for the hand without touching the surface of the artwork when laying down ink washes or touch ups for areas that are still wet. Obviously cuz it comes in black and feels like I can do some magic pffttt :D
OLLIVANDERS' FEATHER BALLPOINT PEN. Literally using it just to dust off the surface of the drawing table from....dusts. And it comes in black. I'm starting to sound like Batman.

PAPER TYPE

I use IVORY PAPER for all my drawings, usually 300gsm or above. The thicker, the better. It holds ink well and feels great to work with. Also works with Copic markers and ink washes. And I print all those bleed and crop marks myself, as i love to cuztomise everything to suit my need. I made them in Photoshop, then change the publisher logo according to the projects I work on. Here's a picture of my covers with different clients. You can see that I'm trying to work with all publishers, cuz I gotta catch 'em all!!

SUBTLE BUT DIFFERENT APPROACH

Above are some different inking experiments: lines only (2023), negative shapes with markers (early 2024), full ink wash (late 2024), as well as the latest combination of lines and ink wash (2025). Commission pieces are great opportunities to explore different techniques! I'm still trying out stuff, so I might end up disliking my current favourite method especially when I found some fancy new ways to ink. I would love to try screentones again someday...when I'm feeling adventurous!

That's it for all my manual tools! Digital coloring techniques next time maybe? Cheers and thanks for reading as always! Kael.