Working from The Big Book of Cartooning by Bruce Blitz.

This is the first time I'm using non-photo (or non-reproducible) blue mechanical pencil lead. You can find information on "Dave's Mechanical Pencils" (see The Great Blue Challenge and Non-Reproducible Leads). I ordered a bunch from JetPens.

I love them! I would first rough my drawing with non-photo blue, then shape it up with a regular pencil. The idea is that when photocopied, the non-photo blue will not show on the copy. It works a little different in the modern world of scanners, but you can judge for yourself on the results. I scanned this on an Epson Perfection 1250 scanner, with the scanner set for a black and white document.

By the way, I use mechanical pencils to draw with. As an engineer, I have always used them and it seemed natural to use for drawing. Plus I hate sharpening. I use different sizes (0.5, 0.7, and 0.9) and hardnesses (B, HB, 2B).