This here? Pen and paper. Sure, an extremely fine-tipped pen with extremely and reliably even ink flow, and good illustration paper that will absorb the ink evenly without blotting, yeah. But that’s not where the magic is.

The magic is being talented and having spent many years developing one’s skill.

Someone may have been born with all of the talent in the world, but it still takes years and years of practice to develop the skills in order to harness such a talent. Whether it’s sculpture or graphic design or illustration, as it is here, even if you had a ton of talent at birth, it would still take many years of practice to get this good. Although, it is worth mentioning, that people of even middling talent can, with enough practice, develop a skill level that elevates their art quite remarkably.

As an example, well, I have decades of experience with art and design, etc., my hands shake. I would never be able to maintain such fine control in order to create something like this on paper, but I’ve been able to create stuff like this digitally, because it allows me to edit mistakes.

One works with the tools that work for them.

Edit: I am more than happy to give out my own personal recommendations, all you must do is ask

[–] BazaarMonk@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I use mechanical pencils. A Pentel Orenz 3mm for the fine details and a Staedtler 925 .5mm for the dark shadows with 4B lead. And thanks a lot!