I use the highest quality materials to ensure that originals last for years and years.  The lightfast rating of a material is important to me.  This is the rating that tells us if the pigment will fade over time, and I try and use the most lightfast materials possible.  These include:

• Derwent Lightfast coloured pencils
• Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901
• Unison Colour pastels

Paper and other surfaces make a difference.  High quality surfaces will not yellow or fade over time.  My preferred surfaces are:

• Clairefontaine Pastelmat
• Canson L’Aquarelle Heritage watercolour paper
• Grafix drafting film
• Hahnemuhle velour paper

Less stable pigments such as alcohol inks are still a joy to use, but their lightfast rating is less impressive.  For pieces of art made with ink, prints will be available (see my Inky Tiger) as they will be reproduced with more stable pigment inks.  It wouldn’t feel right to let people go home with prints that won’t last for decades at least.