Keeping art supply list short
We have to keep art supply list short! When somebody wants to start drawing or painting, they sometimes buy too many painting and art supplies, tools and materials, and quite a few of them won’t ever be used. While we need paper, canvas or other surface to draw and paint on, it is important to have that surface which fits your art intentions.
It is also important to find out what the painting style or technique you want to use involves.
Buying watercolor paper
Watercolor paper is a very sensitive part of watercolor painting and by choosing the right paper you will enable yourself learning faster and paint better.
There are so many paper manufacturers! Most of thin watercolor paper will not do anything. In order to create beautiful washes, you need paper which takes in water and pigment: thick, heavy, cotton paper. My favorite watercolor papers are Arches brand and Saunders-Waterford. I use the heavier papers of these brands, always cold pressed because I love the grain on paper.
You can do test painting on lighter and thinner paper, it is just so, that you probably won’t get the best results and painting on thin watercolor paper will require more skill and more effort.
Art supply sets
We can see quite frequently sets at the art store: sets of brushes, sets of pencils, sets of paints and sets of canvas and even combined sets of paper blocks, canvas with drawing, brushes and other things. Sets are meant for testing brands and also for as if your comfort: just get a set and no worries.
Universal things never work for specific purposes. You are not going to do a universal painting, but most likely pick your favorite painting subject and technique; therefore, you need specific and tailored things, not anything that says paint or brush on the label.
Art supply sets which won’t work
Some sets don’t make sense, for example, acrylic paint sets. You will use white color at least twice as much as any other color. Yellow color can be very problematic, and it goes fast, too. Depending on a personal preference, you might never like or find attractive some set colors. We generally do not need any premixed green colors because we can always mix up numerous tones. You will need a few primary colors, black and white. The problem is that all primary colors come in very many shades and tones. It is the best you choose from separate tubes and test many similar colors until you find yours.
Quality matters
Craft acrylic paints will not have the same features what paints for fine art. They are generally very liquid. Liquid paints are useful if you want to pour them, but they won’t do well for painting.
Students grade acrylic paints are cheaper and contain less pigment, but more binding and filling substances. Some brands have fairly good paints, but most cheap paints feel like colored pasta, not paint. That depends on color, too. Red and some dark blue colors will be quite fine, but the lightest and darkest colors will fail when mixing.
Medium quality acrylic paints
Medium quality acrylic paints are fine for basic layers, but they usually have very weak white and yellow colors. That affects the painting to a great degree. We have to remember: as acrylic painting dries, it will become much darker and flatter without that initial contrast which is present on the wet painting. Therefore, we normally use third, fourth and more layers depending on subject. It is a good thing to leave acrylic painting alone between painting sessions to dry completely. Every next layer is easier to apply. Most artists use only good quality acrylic paints for top layers.
Brush sets
Sets of all-purpose brushes are simply useless. We use watercolor brushes (very soft, capable of absorbing and holding pigment and water) for watercolor painting, specific acrylic brushes, they can be as soft as watercolor brushes, but with shorter bristles. You certainly could use synthetic watercolor brush for acrylic painting. Acrylic is versatile medium and you could use fan brush, sponge, rough bristle brush for effects and sponge.
You will need a few brushes depending on painting size, painting subject and detail, but not 10 brushes for a small painting. The brush we use depends on our medium of choice and technique. If you are a beginner, get 3 (small, medium and large) brushes for your medium, that will do and you can buy everything else as you go.
It’s not the brush, it’s the painter
I use only 2 brushes for watercolor painting: number 12-14 round with fine tip and number 6 round for small parts. I usually paint large size art. For acrylic, I can paint the entire painting with 1 flat brush, or 1 Filbert and then use adjusted fan brush. The main thing is usually to know how to use the brush to its full potential. It is frequently not the brush, but person who paints with it.
The specific supplies you need will always depend on size, technique and painting subject. It feels good getting supplies on sale, but one has to be careful when deciding whether you will ever use these particular materials, tools and supplies. Keep the art supply list short!
Organize art supplies and painting tools
Students love leaving everything in a big suitcase type of bag and then they cannot find anything when they need it. We need not only to organize the folder, bag or case of art supplies, but also our work space before we start painting. All tools, brushes, pencils, all paint tubes, palette, palette knife, sheets of paper towel, mixing pad, paper or plate, water containers, eraser, sharpener – everything must be within reach. You should keep on your direct work space only tools, brushes and paints which you are going to use. Overcrowded work space will disturb you and slow down.
My advice is: have less art supplies, thus, keeping the art supply list short. Try also buying better quality art supplies and keep them neatly organized when stored and when in use!
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Great advice! It’s easy to get overwhelmed at the art supply store and buy everything you see. So this is wonderful streamlined info to help make choices better. Always great info you share Inese
Thanks for your comment! I have seen this numerous times: students have so much stuff, but use very few things. especially, sales can make one buy art supplies which they do not really need. Shopping smart and only for things we see use for is great because it still costs a lot and we also create more waste.
Yes, absolutely right..
That’s why for acrylic or Watercolor Paintings, I use printer paper or chart paper. Atleast for practice, it works well. 😊
Thanks for your comment!
However, I don’t know how about printer paper. Isn’t it too thin for acrylic and water when you use watercolor? I do mostly large size everything, so I am always trying to use very durable paper. I paint acrylic only on canvas because such painting can be sold without a frame and look good on wall, too. I paint around edges to extend painting. Well, we all have our own goals, but I think finding the middle between inexpensive and good quality is important. Thanks again!
Printer paper is of 100 GSM. And I only use for practice. It can be good for beginners.
But for selling, canvas is required.
Well, I would only use drawing paper for drawing, transfer paper for transfer drawing, watercolor paper, the thicker, the better because it allows for many layers and absorbs pigment and washes for watercolor and only canvas for acrylic. I’ve done wood panels and thick cardboards, too, for effects, but I used many layers of priming. I want it all archival quality.
When I was young some 50 years ago, I was drawing on anything, school notebooks with lines, wrapping paper, anything really. That was, however, because I was drawing anywhere, also during classes portraits of classmates. Weak papers simply become yellow and cannot be preserved.
Yes, you are right.
Weak papers can’t be preserved for long.
Everything, what I had drawn on bad papers 50 years ago when I was a teen, has fallen apart. Or the paper has has gone completely yellow, the pencil lines are hardly visible.
If you want painting or drawing last, you simply have to use archival materials.
Nobody even noticed I was drawing and painting every day, so, nobody told me that, but even if they would have, such papers were not available for me those times.
Thanks for this suggestion..
I will search for good paper. 😊
I’m glad I can help. Good luck!
Thanks 😊
Yes, absolutely right…
That’s why for Acrylic & Watercolor Paintings, I use printer paper or chart paper.
Atleast for practice it works well. 😊
Chart paper must be something on the firmer side. I am not familiar with it.
It’s not that much firm. It’s upper layer is little bit soft.
I have done most of the Paintings on that paper.
It’s expensive to have great quality papers, but I think it is really worth it. water and pigment work completely differently on different types of paper, and when there are no layers in paper for color and water to run, it just all floats around on the surface resulting in patches of paint and they can be where you do not want them to be. But all this refers to real painting, not designs or illustrations or graphic outline drawings which I suppose you are doing for working out later on different materials.
Yeah, it’s true.
I really wanted to do pure Watercolor Paintings, but now I can’t afford to buy Canvas. That’s why, adjusting with simple one.
By the way, how do you keep all the canvas painting well??
I mean, doesn’t it get faded?
There is a special watercolor canvas, but paint rather slides off it than stays on.
You should do watercolor on a very heavy cotton paper whenever possible. It feels almost like wood when you hold it in hand.
You can use thinner paper but the results you get might be somewhat off.
Canvas is mostly for acrylic, oils, mixed media.
Canvas sometimes does not accept paint. There is a special acrylic primer called Gesso, but I use simply paint either in grey or cardboard brown color to prime any canvas. Sometimes I do not have time and then painting takes longer.
You can also prime any strong cardboard, even plastic or wood panel. You can do it even without art store primer, just using a few layers of paint from Dollar store and letting layers dry between coats. Gold + white is good.
You don’t stop painting if you do not have top materials. I suggest you literally use what you do have.
At the end you coat canvas with varnish, there are many with different qualities. Yes, inexpensive paint fades away already after some 5 years. To prevent any fading, you can always apply varnish on a dry painting.
Thanks a lot..
I will take care of all these things.
😊
You are welcome!
You are so right. Jainism is one of the religious sect in India. They practice self restraint. This is deep. In the end it comes to what you say.🙂
Thanks Deepak! I was referring to posts in this blog at that time https://inesepogalifeschool.com/ I have two blogs, and it can be so that the response goes to another.
I really liked what you were saying and writing about. It makes so much sense. I am going more for universal matters, and how they affect our life and vice versa, but at the end life and universe become the same.