I'm no artist. Never have been. I do like to play around occasionally though. However, I haven't really tried to do anything other than dismal illustrations to try and get conversational points across, or just thinking on the page to process ideas, for many, many years. Some of the artwork that gets uploaded here, has got me interested in having a bit of a play around and seeing if I might enjoy it.

My issue is that when I'm sketching something, I spend at least as much time erasing as drawing. I look at what I'm trying to sketch, look at the page, put in a few lines, and look back at the object. I'll then see the angles, lines, lengths and spacings are way off, sketch in the new, erase the old, and view again. All my sketches progress on this basis. They always have. I simply can't see the image one the page until I put one there, and then adjust, tweak, shift and generally faff around until there is a vague resemblance of the subject. By the time I've got some passable outlining and general shape laid in, the page only has about 20%-25% left of all the lines I've thrown at it trying to get some semblance of form.

If I tried sketching with ink only, it would be horrendous. No, I'm not just saying that. It would be very bad, and every sheet would be torn off and screwed up before the number of lines/shapes reached double figures. Pencil first, followed by ink would be my only hope of what I would consider a fair sketch to my own very poor standards. Maybe it's just lack of practice and being rusty in both eye and hand, but attempting ink first right now would be a complete waste of ink, paper, time and sanity.

My questions, are about how to do this when starting with pencil. Will the graphite inhibit the ink, or will the ink inhibit erasing the pencil lines? Should I partially erase it first? Do different leads make a difference? Does different paper need a different approach? Has anyone got any pointers to nudge me in the right direction to minimise wasted time and materials?

I'd be using a sketch pad to start with, possibly a watercolour pad later. Inks will predominantly be Diamine.