The materials you use can have a big effect on how your drawings look, feel and behave on the page. Graphite is great for controlled shading and fine detail, charcoal can produce deep blacks and loose textures, while carbon pencils, ink, coloured pencils and other materials each bring something different to your artwork.
You don’t need to own everything on this page to create good horror art. A small collection of reliable basics is enough to get started, and you can add more specialised materials as you discover the techniques and effects you enjoy using.
This guide brings together the main drawing tools, materials and accessories used throughout Dreaded Designs, from everyday essentials such as pencils, erasers and paper to optional supplies for adding colour, texture, highlights and atmospheric effects. Each section also links to a more detailed guide, so you can explore a particular material when you’re ready to learn more about it.
1. Essential Drawing Tools
You don’t need a complicated collection of supplies to start drawing. A few dependable basics will cover most of what you need, whether you’re practising fundamental skills, sketching ideas or working on a finished horror drawing.
The essentials below give you something to draw with, draw on, correct mistakes and keep your pencils ready to use. They’re a practical starting point, and you can always add other materials once you know what you enjoy working with.
Graphite Pencils
Graphite is one of the most versatile drawing materials and a great place to start. Different pencil grades let you move from light construction lines and subtle shading to darker values and fine details, making graphite useful for everything from initial sketches to finished horror artwork.
Harder pencils such as H grades generally create lighter, more controlled marks, while softer B grades produce darker marks and blend more easily. You don’t need every grade available – a small selection can give you plenty of range while you learn how different pencils behave.
Want to explore graphite in more detail? Visit Graphite Pencils for Horror Art: A Complete Guide to learn more about pencil grades, techniques and how to choose the right graphite pencils for your drawings.
Erasers
Erasers are useful for much more than correcting mistakes. They can lift graphite or charcoal to create highlights, soften areas that have become too dark and help shape light within your drawing.
Different types behave differently. A standard eraser is useful for cleaner removal, while a kneaded eraser can be shaped and pressed into the surface to lift smaller amounts of graphite or charcoal gradually. This makes erasers particularly useful when building highlights, texture and subtle changes in value.
Want to get more from your erasers? Visit How to Use Erasers in Horror Art (Types, Techniques and Effects) for a closer look at different eraser types and the ways you can use them while drawing.
Sketchbooks & Paper Types
The surface you draw on can affect your artwork just as much as the pencil in your hand. Paper varies in texture, thickness and durability, and those differences influence how easily you can shade, blend, erase and build up darker values.
Smoother paper is useful for fine details and controlled graphite work, while paper with more texture can hold charcoal and softer materials differently and leave more visible grain in your marks. Your sketchbook doesn’t need to be expensive, but choosing paper that suits the material you’re using can make drawing much easier.
Not sure which paper or sketchbook to choose? Visit Best Sketchbooks & Paper Types for Horror Art (Complete Guide) for a closer look at paper surfaces, weights and choosing the right option for different drawing materials.
Pencil Sharpeners
A reliable sharpener helps you control the type of mark your pencil makes. A fine point is useful for small details, crisp edges and precise lines, while a slightly blunter point can be better for broader shading and softer marks.
A good sharpener should remove the wood cleanly without repeatedly snapping the core, particularly when you’re working with softer graphite pencils. Keeping different pencils at suitable points also gives you more control without needing extra drawing tools.
Need help choosing the right sharpener? Visit Pencil Sharpeners for Horror Artists for a closer look at different sharpener types and what to consider when choosing one.
2. Additional Drawing Materials
Once you have the basics covered, different drawing materials can open up completely different ways of working. You might want the deep, expressive blacks of charcoal, the dense values of carbon pencils, the control of coloured pencils or the bold marks you can create with ink.
None of these materials are a required next step. Think of them as different options rather than upgrades – each has its own strengths, limitations and techniques, and you may find that some suit the way you draw much better than others.
The guides below will help you understand what each material can do so you can experiment without feeling as though you need to buy everything at once.
Charcoal
Charcoal is particularly useful when you want strong contrast, deep shadows and expressive marks. It can cover larger areas quickly, blend into soft gradients and create rough textures that work especially well for dark, atmospheric drawings.
Charcoal comes in different forms, including sticks and pencils, and each gives you a different level of control. It can also be messier and less precise than graphite, but that unpredictability can be useful when you want softer edges, smoky shadows or less controlled textures.
Want to explore what charcoal can do? Visit Charcoal for Horror Art: Deep Shadows and Bold Contrast for a closer look at charcoal types, techniques and ways to use it in your drawings.
Carbon Pencils
Carbon pencils are useful when you want darker, more intense values while keeping the control of a pencil. They can produce rich blacks that are difficult to achieve with graphite alone, making them particularly useful for deep shadows, strong contrast and dark details.
Compared with graphite, carbon pencils usually have a more matte appearance with less shine, especially in heavily shaded areas. They can also feel different to blend and erase, so it’s worth experimenting with them separately before combining them with other materials.
Curious about adding carbon pencils to your drawings? Visit Carbon Pencils for Horror Art: A Complete Guide for Deep, Dark Shading to learn more about how they behave, how they compare with graphite and ways to use them effectively.
Coloured Pencils
Coloured pencils can introduce colour without sacrificing the control and detail of traditional drawing. They work particularly well for building subtle skin tones, bruising, sickly greens, deep reds and other colour shifts that can make horror subjects feel more unsettling or believable.
They can be used on their own or combined with other dry media, and layering different colours gradually allows you to build depth, texture and atmosphere without immediately committing to strong blocks of colour. Even a limited palette can completely change the mood of a drawing.
Want to explore colour in your horror artwork? Visit Coloured Pencils for Horror Art for a closer look at choosing pencils, layering colours and using them to create darker, more atmospheric effects.
Pastels
Pastels are useful for building soft colour, hazy backgrounds and expressive textures that can work particularly well in atmospheric horror art. Depending on the type you use, they can create anything from subtle, smoky transitions to much stronger areas of colour.
Soft pastels are especially good for blending, mist, light effects and loose atmospheric backgrounds, while harder pastels and pastel pencils give you more control when you need finer details. They can also be combined with other dry media to introduce colour without completely changing the character of a drawing.
Want to experiment with pastels in darker artwork? Visit Pastels for Horror Art to explore the different types of pastels, how they behave and ways to use them for texture, colour and atmosphere.
Ink & Dip Pens
Ink and dip pens are ideal for creating strong lines, deep blacks and highly controlled details. They work particularly well for horror artwork where you want dramatic contrast, intricate textures or areas of solid darkness that graphite alone can struggle to achieve.
Different nibs can produce everything from fine, precise lines to expressive strokes with changing line weight, while techniques such as hatching, cross-hatching and stippling can build shadow and texture without relying on blending.
Interested in working with traditional ink? Visit Ink & Dip Pens for Drawing for a closer look at dip pens, nibs, inks and the techniques you can use with them.
3. Highlight, Colour & Effect Tools
These materials aren’t essential for getting started, but they can add brighter highlights, stronger colour and effects that are difficult to achieve with traditional graphite or charcoal alone. They’re particularly useful when you want certain details to stand out against darker areas of a drawing.
From sharp white highlights and small flashes of colour to opaque marks and unusual finishes, these tools give you more options for experimenting with contrast, atmosphere and focal points without changing your entire drawing process.
White Gel Pens
White gel pens are useful for adding small, bright highlights over darker areas of a drawing. Because the ink is opaque, they can create marks that would be difficult to achieve by simply erasing back into graphite, charcoal or other dark media.
They work particularly well for catchlights in eyes, reflected light, wet or glossy textures and small glowing details. The effect is strongest when they’re used selectively, allowing a few bright marks to stand out against the surrounding shadows rather than covering large areas.
Want to make more of your brightest details? Visit White Gel Pens for Horror Art: Highlights and Glow Effects for techniques and ideas for using them effectively in darker artwork.
Coloured Gel Pens
Coloured gel pens are useful for adding small areas of vivid, opaque colour and fine details that can stand out against darker parts of a drawing. Unlike coloured pencils, they produce a much sharper mark, making them better suited to accents and finishing touches than large areas of gradual colour.
They can work particularly well for glowing eyes, tiny highlights, unnatural colour accents and intricate details, especially when you want a particular feature to immediately catch the viewer’s attention. Metallic, glitter and fluorescent gel pens can also create more unusual effects, although they’re usually most effective when used sparingly.
Want to experiment with stronger colour accents? Visit Coloured Gel Pens in Horror Art for ideas on using different gel pens to add colour, detail and effects to darker drawings.
Acrylic Paint Markers
Acrylic paint markers create bold, opaque marks that can cover darker media and surfaces more effectively than most ordinary pens. This makes them useful when you want stronger highlights, blocks of colour or details that need to remain clearly visible over a dark drawing.
Different nib sizes allow you to move between small controlled details and broader areas of solid colour, while white and light shades can be particularly useful for highlights and high-contrast effects. They can also introduce rougher painted textures that feel quite different from the softer finish of pencils or pastels.
Want to experiment with more opaque marks and stronger effects? Visit Acrylic Paint Markers for Horror Art for ways to use them for highlights, colour, texture and finishing details.
Liquid Chalk Markers
Liquid chalk markers create bold, opaque marks that work best on non-porous surfaces such as glass, mirrors, acrylic sheets and chalkboards designed for liquid chalk. This makes them a little less conventional for drawing, but useful if you want to experiment beyond paper.
They can be particularly effective for temporary horror illustrations, window art, lettering, symbols and high-contrast decorative details. Many can also be wiped away from suitable non-porous surfaces, making them useful for experimenting with larger designs without creating something permanent.
Want to try horror art on a different surface? Visit Liquid Chalk Markers for Horror Art for more on suitable surfaces, techniques and ways to use them creatively.
Specialised Markers
Specialised markers can introduce effects that ordinary pens and pencils can’t easily produce, from metallic and fluorescent finishes to paint-based, permanent or surface-specific marks. They can be useful for adding unusual details, strong accents and experimental effects to horror artwork.
They’re certainly not essential for every drawing, but they can open up some interesting possibilities when you want to experiment with different surfaces, finishes or visual effects.
Want to see what other types of markers you can experiment with? Visit Specialised Markers for Drawing for a closer look at the different options and what they can be used for.
4. Blending & Drawing Aids
Not every useful art tool actually makes a mark on the page. Blending and drawing aids help you control, soften, protect or refine the marks made with your main drawing materials, making them particularly useful when working with graphite, charcoal and other dry media.
From creating smoother transitions to keeping unwanted smudges under control, these tools can make certain techniques easier and give you more control over the finished result. You won’t necessarily need every one of them, but knowing what they do makes it much easier to decide which are worth adding to your own setup.
Blending Tools
Blending tools help soften pencil and charcoal marks, create smoother transitions and control how values merge together. Blending stumps are one of the most common options, but there are several tools and techniques you can use depending on the medium and the effect you want to achieve.
Used carefully, they can be particularly useful for soft shadows, gradual changes in value and atmospheric effects, although blending too heavily can flatten texture and make a drawing look muddy.
Start with the Blending Tools for Graphite and Charcoal guide for an overview of the different options. For a closer look at blending stumps, you can also explore Using Blending Stumps with Graphite and Using Blending Stumps with Charcoal.
Rulers & French Curves
Rulers and French curves are useful when you need more control over straight lines, measured proportions and smooth curves. They can help with perspective, architecture, borders and geometric elements, while French curves are particularly handy for creating controlled curved shapes that can be difficult to draw cleanly freehand.
They aren’t tools you need for every horror drawing, but they can be useful whenever accuracy and structure matter, especially when combining organic subjects with buildings, objects or more precise backgrounds.
Want to see when and how these tools can help? Visit Rulers & French Curves for a closer look at their uses in drawing.
Circle Templates (Stencils)
Circle templates make it easier to draw clean, consistent circles without having to rely entirely on freehand accuracy. They come in a range of sizes and can be useful for anything from eyes and pupils to moons, mechanical details, jewellery and other circular elements within a drawing.
They’re a fairly simple tool, but they can save time when you need precise repeated shapes or when a slightly wonky circle would be particularly noticeable in the finished artwork.
Want to see where they can be useful in darker drawings? Visit Circle Templates (Stencils) for Horror Art for examples, tips and different ways to use them.
Craft Knives
Craft knives can be surprisingly useful drawing tools, particularly when working with graphite, charcoal or coloured pencil. Rather than using them to draw directly, you can carefully scrape or lift material from the surface to create fine highlights, scratches, strands of hair and other sharp details.
They’re especially useful for distressed textures and tiny high-contrast marks that can be difficult to achieve with an eraser alone. Because the blade can permanently damage the paper, though, this is definitely a technique to practise on scrap paper first.
Want to experiment with this technique? Visit Using Craft Knives in Drawing for a closer look at how they can be used safely and effectively.
5. Optional & Specialised Materials
Once you have the basics covered, there are plenty of other materials you can experiment with. These aren’t essential supplies, but they can introduce different textures, effects and ways of working that you might not be able to achieve with your everyday drawing tools.
Some are designed for particular techniques, while others are simply useful when you want to experiment or combine different media. Think of this section as extras to explore rather than a shopping list of things you need.
Graphite Powder
Graphite powder is useful for covering larger areas with soft, even tones without building everything up pencil stroke by pencil stroke. It can be applied with brushes, blending tools or other soft applicators, making it particularly useful for backgrounds, shadows and gradual changes in value.
For horror art, it can work especially well for misty backgrounds, smoky effects, soft darkness and atmospheric shading. You can also lift areas back out with an eraser to create highlights and shapes within the graphite.
It can get messy and it certainly isn’t essential, but it gives you a different way to work with graphite when ordinary pencils feel too controlled or time-consuming.
Want to experiment with it? Visit Graphite Powder for Horror Art: Smooth Shading and Atmospheric Effects for techniques and ideas for putting it to use.
6. Finishing & Protecting Your Artwork
Finishing a drawing doesn’t necessarily mean the work is over. The materials you use can affect how easily an artwork smudges, fades or becomes damaged over time, particularly with loose media such as graphite, charcoal and pastel.
This section covers tools and materials that can help you protect finished drawings, reduce accidental smudging and store your artwork more safely. Not every drawing will need the same treatment, so it’s also worth knowing when a protective product is useful – and when you’re better off leaving the surface alone.
Fixatives & Sealants
Some drawing materials are more vulnerable to smudging than others, particularly charcoal and softer graphite work. Fixatives and sealants can provide an extra layer of protection once your artwork is finished, helping to keep loose material in place.
However, not every drawing needs to be sprayed or sealed, and the right approach depends on the medium you’ve used. Knowing what the different products are designed for can help you decide whether your artwork actually needs one.
Want to learn more about protecting finished graphite and charcoal drawings? Visit Fixatives & Sealants for Graphite and Charcoal for a closer look at the different types, when to use them and what to consider before applying anything to your artwork.
Final Thoughts
There’s a huge range of art materials available, but you don’t need everything on this page to create effective horror artwork. A small collection of reliable basics is more than enough to get started, and you can gradually experiment with other materials as your interests and techniques develop.
The most useful tools are ultimately the ones that help you create the effects you want and feel comfortable working with. Use the guides throughout this page whenever you want to explore a new material, understand how a particular tool works or decide whether something is worth adding to your own art supplies.
Most importantly, experiment and find what works for you. There’s no single perfect collection of tools for making horror art – and discovering which materials suit your own way of drawing is part of the process.
