Cartooning pencils?

[SiuiS]

So hey. I'm having a small conundrum.

I want to start laying down base sketches with blue pencil so it's easier to go over later. I have been led to believe that there is a specific pencil for this use.
I cannot find said pencil.

So where do I get one of these things? I remember years ago, someone gave me blue, drafting lead or somesuch for a mechanical pencil. But drafting pencil doesn't give me any clues, and all the avenues I've tried have actually been blue coated pencils, which themselves hold regular lead.

Am I off base, and should I just go get a colored pencil? Any help would be swell.

[Trazoi]

You're looking for blue mechanical pencil leads? I get mine from the local newsagent. They usually have a decent range so I can have my 2B pencils, 4H pencils and the blue lead pencil. You'll need to have a system to remember which is which (blue mechanical pencil is blue, easy).

If your newsagent doesn't have a good range, pretty much any art supply store should. They usually keep pencil leads in a holder with lots of small square holes of each and every type. If they've got one of those, they've almost certainly got ones in blue.

[Winter_Wolf]

You're thinking of a non-photo blue pencil, which is what comic artists used back in the days of yore so it wouldn't show up after inking. I know this because I had two boxes of the things, of which I have exactly one left that I can find. With the digital age full upon us, I think it's entirely possible that most people have shifted over to software for their comic making needs. I'm partial to Manga Studio EX myself, but it ain't cheap. Note, Debut is significantly cheaper than EX, but I believe this is a case of getting what you pay for, or not getting what you don't pay for rather.

Mechanical pencil lead would be superior to the regular non-photo blue pencil in pretty much every conceivable way, I wish I knew where to get some myself.

EDIT: D. Blick art supply. I've never used these before so I can't vouch for the actual tint of blue that will come out of it.

EDIT 2: Google is friend. Comic Art Supplies carries the pencils.

[SiuiS]

Thanks, mates. Having had no idea what I was looking for, all my own google searches brought up tutorials (saying use blue lead) or blue mechanical pencils (which used standard graphite).

A quick(?) six-hour casing and phonebook perusal shows I'm not going to find any within biking distance, so I'll have to hit the 'net regardless. Thanks again, friends, and here's hoping my luck holds.

[Saeyan]

You don't necessarily need non-photo blue if you are planning on scanning and processing the pages on your computer. That's only needed if you will be photocopying or faxing the pages really.

I use whatever light-colored pencil I have at hand. An orange watercolor (less wax that way) pencil from my first coloring set and a blue one from a standard 12-color pack. Really any kind of colored mark will do, though it would be better if you use a less waxy kind of colored pencil so your inks go over smoother. Cheap kids' colored pencils come to mind.

Prismacolor makes a type called Col-Erase, which comes in light blue and non-photo blue.