My favourite materials

From top to bottom: Koh-I-Noor .25 technical pen, Rotring Isograph .35, Pilot 0.005 fineliner, Faber-Castell .25 TG1-S pen

The holy grail for me is pen with a very fine, very dark line....which is surprisingly difficult  to find believe it or not.So far the only pen that I have found to combine these two qualities is the .25 Rotring Isograph/Rapidograph technical pen with Rotrings own ink.I try to always have at least one at all times....with a couple of fatter ones for inking larger areas.At the moment though I have the faber-castell equivalent filled with Rotring ink,which seems to be just as good.I'm always on the lookout for new pens and I'm open to suggestions.The only art material I will flat out never use is charcoal,it makes me feel sick to hear it squeal across a page *shudder*.

As for paper I tend to prefer a smooth surface that won't snag the pens,or worse will make the ink bleed out obscuring the line.Something like Bristol board is perfect in that respect. Moleskine sketchbook paper is slightly less ideal and can be prone to random bleeding but is fine for quick sketching and capturing ideas or the occasional portait of  Celine Dion....the chin especially requires some quite intense concentration,sometimes even the holding of breath.