Lovely Art Supply Suggestions

Some friends and I were discussing art and craft supplies.

 I thought I might take some photos of art supplies I have enjoyed over the last couple of years.

I am not a "trained artist" I haven't been to art school, I don't sell art equipment - I'm just a mum who likes doing art!

If you like my style please be sure to check my Facebook page - Doodles By Debbie Ball - where you can see more of my work, and can purchase my colouring Postcard books!

I also have all my books - including the Handbook and Journal, for sale on  Trade Me

But without further ado: Lovely Art Supply Suggestions!!!


First up are Sharpie markers (first pic shown above).  They have a nice tip on them, are permanent, but do bleed through, so make sure you protect your table!

Next - Promarker.

The Promarker is an alcohol based marker pen also - nice solid colour, satisfying to colour with.  Also bleeds through.  This brand is dual tip.

Alcohol markers can be used for shading - two coats of the same colour make darker areas.

My favourite non-permanent felt-tipped pens are Staedtler Tripuls color (above and below).  They are a bit pricey, so the children don't use these ones in our house!

Felt pens can tear up the paper if they are scrubbed over the paper, and they can often leave lines when colouring (as shown on the light blue and light green parts below).

Staedtler also do the Triplus Fine Liner.  I don't recommend colouring with these, unless you are doing really, really fiddling little small pieces of colouring.  But they are fabulous for journaling and colourful writing. 

The cheap metallic markers above are great for lettering, but not very good for colouring as you can see by the liney squares I have coloured on the left of the picture above.




We bought some Crayola glitter pens which are a bit scratchy, but fun to play with.

This next photo shows Reno marker pens (bought open stock - you choose what colours you like) alongside coloured pencil - Faber Castell Classic Colour.

Faber Castell Classic Colour are very affordable, not too scratchy, easy to sharpen, and come in really big packs of beautiful colours.

Faber Castell also have the more expensive Polychromos pencils which are beautifully creamy and easy to blend.  These are more "artist" quality.   Because they are softer they wear down more quickly.

 Faber Castell Gelatos are fun to use - they have a texture a little like a lipstick, and glide over the page easily.  They can be blended with a wee sponge - wet or dry, or a wet paintbrush.  They are great for journaling and making colourful backgrounds.

I also love using watercolours - the ones I have here are Sakura and I use them with either an aqua brush, or the brushes shown.  The flat brushes give me a little more control as I tend to be quite messy with paints, but have got a bit neater with practice.

Cartridge paper or thick art paper is fine for watercolours unless a lot of water is involved.  Watercolour paper is more expensive, but a real treat to use and gives beautiful results when using watercolour paints.

My favourite watercolour pencils are the Stabilo shown above, but I'm not sure where they can be purchased now in New Zealand - however, the Faber Castell Watercolour pencils are readily available.

In the picture above I have gone over the dry watercolour paint with some sparkly gel pens.

This is a Sakura aqua brush or water brush.  They are lovely to use, and I highly recommend everyone trying one of them!!

Gel pens are fun and popular. These are cheap ones that don't work overly well.  I don't use them for art, but they are nice to use for quick notes to people.

I believe the top-of-the-line gel pens are Sakura Gelly Roll pens.  I have a few to show you:

This is the Sakura Star Dust pen - I like to use this pen to add sparkle over the top of felt pen or dry paint.

I also have Sakura Moonlight, Metallic and Glaze pens all of which are "icecream smooth"!!!

My newest purchase is the Wink Of Stella metallic brush pen.  A bit of fun, and helps me to get a bit neater at working with a brush!

I have saved my favourite coloured pencils till last:

Staedtler ErgoSoft pencils - lovely to hold, lovely to use.  A bit expensive for everyone to use, so they are just for me.

One sensible rule in purchasing art supplies is that you need to have a place for them to live so they are accessible and don't get damaged.

These plastic drawers are very, er .. plasticky, but do the job.

 

I would love to go on and on and on about art supplies, but time has run out!  I hope this blog post inspires someone to have a go with some nice equipment!