Useful tools for drawing and painting. The “red pen” I use.

The “Red pen” I use…That big mystery!

There are a lot of useful tools for drawing and painting, a lot of different and interesting drawing materials on the market and this post is about one of them. This is a post about the “Red pen” I use in my youtube Pastel portrait videos and in my daily work.
I have noticed a very common question frequently repeated over time and in most of my videos…What is that red pen you are using!?”. Here are a few examples from youtube;

Linda Kriegel, 1 week ago
“Love watching all your videos. You are amazing. May I ask the tool you are using in this video to do the shading around the eyes and then it changes around the nose. I don’t think it’s pastel pencils. Just wondering. Thanks so much.”

gelpogi1231, 2week ago
“What do you call that red pen you always used in details?”

Paul Whiting, 2 weeks ago
“Hi Graciela, another great pic. What is the large red cased pencil you used for the dark shadow areas ?”

Caroline Dunne, 8 months ago
“What is the red pen, is it pastel?”

Whovisions, 1 year ago
“What is the red pen item at 2:03 you are using? is it a pastel pencil or a special holder for another medium? Fantastic work btw.

I never thought this drawing tool would be so unknown and mysterious. And since there are so many people asking about it and about painting materials we are going to unveil the big mystery, today!
The Red Pen I use in my Portrait paintings is an old red Lead Holder that I have from a very long time. A very useful tool!
A Lead holder is a drafting pencil, (Here is a link to a very interesting web I found about LeadHolders! https://www.leadholder.com/index.html. A mechanical pencil designed to hold and be refillable with consumable pieces. It can be used to drawing or writing. There are many different brands like Staedler, Pilot, Rotring, Kaweco, Koh-I-Noor, etc. They are made in different materials that can vary across different brands, from plastic (more affordable) to wooden or metal and with a several barrel diameters to choose among. Standard diameters would accommodate 2 mm size lead and they can go up to 5.8 mm. Mine is and old metal Koh-I-Noor from early 90´s. Indestructible! But the key here is not the instrument itself but what you fill it with…

It is specially relevant (or at least I found it very surprising) that almost no one of the watchers of my Pastel portrait videos ask for the interior but just for the tool…
In my case I find very useful the Sepias and Umber leads from Koh-I-Noor. I use them, most of all, for sharp lines in the eyes area and also for shadows. It is really good for blending and connects well with Pastels.

A wonderful materials to work with.