What Pens Will I Need?

The first question I get asked is always what pens will I need to join the Korp Academy. I specifically designed classes to be accessible from a cost point of view but also indulge in the more expensive pens. This page will give you an idea of what is required for each club and how much you can expect to pay. 

Doodle Club

A great place to start in the Korp Academy because all you need is black pens and white paper. We draw fun characters every week using just a pencil, a fat pen and a thin pen. I would recommend either a Sharpie and Uni Pin 0.4 Fine Line pen if you are on a budget or a couple of black Posca pens at around £3 each (PC-3M and PC-1M) if you have cash to splash. You'll also need paper so either grab 500 sheets of cheap copier paper or indulge yourself in an Artgecko sketchbook.

Affordable Bundle

Pencil
Sharpie
Uni Pin 0.4
A4 Classy Sketchbook
Total startup cost: £12.19 plus delivery.

Luxury Bundle

Pencil
Posca PC-3M
Posca PC-1MR
A4 Freestyle Sketchbook
Total startup cost: £16.44 plus delivery.

What to expect from Doodle Club

Colour Club

This session is where costs take a little jump as you will need to invest in some alcohol markers to colour in whatever we draw. Personally I recommend Promarkers as they are cost effective and great quality but you could choose some Spectrum Noir or if you are really flush some Copic pens. There is also the question of how many pens should you buy, Promarkers come in 189 different colours but at £2.75 a pop you could easily burn over £500 but don't panic, there are deals to be had. As before you'll need a pencil, Uni Pin pens and a bunch of Promarkers.
Pencil
Uni Pin 0.4
Uni Pin Brush
Obviously I'm going to say buy as many Promarkers as you can afford. The reason for that is we do a lot of blending in Colour Club and you can only achieve that if you have enough colours that combine well. What usually happens is someone turns up for the first class with a brand new pack of 6 and although pleased with the quality of the pens they get frustrated about the lack of colour combos and turn up a week later with the 48 pack. My advice is go big or go home, start with at least 12 and rest assured if you don't like them there will always be someone in the Academy willing to take them off your hands.
12+1 Manga Set 1
24 Arts and Illustration Set
48 Essential Collection Set
Some of my students use Winsor & Newton bleedproof paper at £4.60 but I still prefer that cheap copier paper. It bleeds more but thats what enables the blending, plus its cheap so if you make a mistake you just move onto the next sheet with no worries.
Cheapo Summary
Pencil - £0.73
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
12+1 Promarkers - £27.99
​Paper - £3.00
Total startup cost £35.22
Korp Recommends
Pencil - £0.73
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
24 Promarkers - £49.99
​Paper - £3.00
Total startup cost £57.22
Flash Git Summary
Pencil - £0.73
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
Uni Pin 0.4 - £1.75
48 Promarkers - £89.99
​Paper - £3.00 + £4.60
Total startup cost £101.82

What to expect from your Colour Club pens.

Posca Club

Another session where you will need to invest a little more in pens. I also recommend some specialist sketchbooks to really get the most out of these pens. Unlike regular felts full of ink these pens are full of paint. What that means is you can draw light colours over the top of dark colours. I find this helps with taking risks in your artwork because it is very easy to cover up if you make a mistake. Posca come in 66 colours in 8 different tips with 5 different shapes. That makes it a minefield for a beginner to know where to start so I'm going to try and help you out with a recommended starter pack if you are on a budget and where to spend next if you have money to burn.

Let's start with my recommendation, 3 sizes of black, a bunch of fat colours and an Artgecko Freestyle Sketchbook.
Black PC-1M
Black PC-3M
Colour Set PC-5M
Paper
Summary
Black PC-1M - £2.75
Black PC-3M - £3.50
Colour Set PC-5M (Includes Black PC-5M) - £20.00
​Artgecko Freestyle Sketchbook - £8.99
Total start up cost - £35.24

As well as the Artgecko Freestyle Sketchbook you should also start collecting cardboard. Posca colour on brown looks amazing but you run the risk of pilling (where the pen pulls up the fibres of the cardboard) if you dont pick out hight quality cardboard. Look for cardboard that has a shiny surface or just test it out with a Posca pen.

If you are looking at expanding your Posca collection ask yourself why. If you want to draw bigger and quicker then its worth investing in some PC-7M (bullet tip) or PC-8K (chisel tip) pens.
PC-7M Bullet Tips
PC-8K Chisel Tips
If more colour is your thing then start with some of these excellent colour combos.
Aqua Green + Emerald Green.
Light Green + Green + English Green
Light Blue + Sky Blue + Blue
Lavender + Violet + Prussian Blue

You can pick up individual PC-5M pens for £3.50 each.
Light Green
Green
English Green
Maybe you want to explore the nibs. You can go for the PCF-350 which is a brush pen, the calibrated finish of the PC-1MR has a super smooth feel to it while the PC-1M gives more feedback. Then you move into the bullet tip PC-3M, PC-5M and PC-7M. Finally Posca completes the range with 2 chisel tips, the versatile PC-8K and the massive PC-17K. Check out the full range on the Posca website. 

What to expect from your Posca Club pens.

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