When it comes to art supplies, I don't skimp and I find that it does makes a big difference.
A few of my drawings, so you have context as to whether or not you should give af about my advice
I have tried cheap art supplies, of course. But as I became a serious artist I started developing tastes for the finer art supplies. And it makes a huge difference in the quality of my artwork. I wanted to share with you guys some of my absolute favorite brands.
This is my favorite drawing pad at the moment. I actually have three of them. All half full. XD
It's nice quality thick paper which is good for pen, pencil, marker, and even acrylic and watercolor.
These are my favorite pencils. I usually get he set of 12 because I don't need drafting pencils. If you do, the 24 set has harder lead ranging from 9H to 9B.
I bought this prismacolor charcoal set awhile ago and it has served me well. I learned with this set.
A finished piece using this charcoal set:
If you get into charcoal you definitely need to get ahold of some fixatif to spray down your piece and keep it from smudging. Do this outside. You can use this on graphite too.
I really like this prismacolor ebony pencil. I tend to use it for really intense dark areas. It is shiny though, spraying with fixatif helps with the shine.
I have been non-stop raving about this copic marker. I bought one for $8 at my local art store because I was having issues trying to color my coloring book I had published with colored pencil. Mainly, just the skin tone. So I bought just one pale skin-tone marker as that was my budget at the time on a marker I had never used. I was made into a HUGE fan and now plan to buy more online at blick art supplies. You can find many art supplies there for much cheaper than in your local art store.
Here is one of the pages I used this marker on:
I am a fan of prismacolor pencils. I only recently started using colored pencils to add some color to my pieces.
My friend told me about this prismacolor colorless blender.
It is made for use with their markers but my friend advised me to use it with my colored pencils and the result was pretty awesome. I used the prismacolor pencils and blender for the wings on this piece:
There is also a colorless blender made for pencils which I use as well:
A kneaded eraser is very important. I use it more than any other eraser. It is a valuable tool in shading. As crucial as the pencil itself. I have been forced to buy a cheap one before when a good one was out of stock and it was sticky and not very moldable.
I also now am very impressed with this faber castell eraser pencil. Being able to sharpen it to a point is very useful for finer details.
And, I also like to have some magc rubs around.
I somehow survived with just my fingers for most of my drawing years before trying out tortillions and blending stumps. This you can skimp on. It is pretty hard to mess these up. They make a huge difference when blending graphite and charcoal.
This Faber-castell white artist pen is great for adding highlights to my drawings. I am, however, going to try white gel pens next because I want something even more vibrant.
I recently bought some black drawing paper for use with white charcoal and it's incredibly fun.
I got these general's white charcoal pencils for use with the back drawing paper. hey were not very expensive. When trying out a new medium/practicing I usually get a cheaper brand until I have more skill in that area.
One of my friends gave me these shades of artist pens. I am a pretty big fan and am going to be exploring these more.
I buy sculpey in 8lb boxes off of blicks art supplies.
I also use this magnetic-head clay sculpting tool. I have replaced this twice because of moving and losing it. I don't like sculpting without it.
Here is my only completed sculpture. I hope to have more time for sculpting very soon.
As for paint. i currently have a huge amount of basic paint tubes. I kept misplacing sets and buying more and ended up finding all the sets. So, I am good on paint for awhile. I have not yet bought expensive paints as I am still working on my painting skills. I hope to try oils soon.
I buy cheap paint brushes mainly because every expensive one seems to use animal hair. The issue with cheap ones is that the synthetic fibers sometimes come off and stick to my painting. I am looking into better brushes. I also just buy canvases that are on sale. Don't have yet a favorite brand.
So, that is most of my most-used/most-loved supplies. Being an artist can be expensive. Especially as you expand your mediums but well worth it in my opinion.
Check out more of my art :
https://www.facebook.com/LauraLemonsArt/
Check out my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/lauralemonsart?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Check out my adult coloring book:
https://www.amazon.com/Sad-Girl-adult-coloring-book/dp/153361878X?ie=UTF8&keywords=Sad%20Girl%20adult%20coloring%20book&qid=1465488254&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1