My Favourite Art Supplies & Tools
Buying art supplies in New Zealand can be a tedious and expensive experience… When I moved here, I left behind all my Art supplies because “I can buy them in NZ…” Well, that was a silly assumption, and after looking all over the internet and comparing the options I found that Jackson Art (a company based in the UK) is the cheapest and has the widest selection (cheaper than Amazon!), even after shipping and taxes.
These are all items that I use when I create artwork and my personal opinion about them.
These ones are student grade, but what does that mean? The quality of the pigment is not as good as the professional ones; therefore your paintings will probably lose colour slightly faster over the years. But hey! If you are going to scan your work, re-touch in Photoshop, print ‘X’ amount of copies and leave the original in a drawer, then there is nothing to worry about. I personally own the 45 half pan set, but W&N has a wide range of different colour selections, sizes and costs. I love mine! It is a great set, with high quality paint and at an affordable price.
When I was starting out with watercolours, I took an in-person class and the material list specified “only Artist grade paint”, so I went and looked for the paints and the prices shocked me, because I didn’t know anything about pigment quality or much in general about working with watercolours. Later I got to see and understand them better and some of those first tubes I bought became my favourite paints because a tiny drop goes a long way, and you can also make a large amount of paint much easier than from your pan paints. These are just great, reliable, and they’ll make your life easier. You also get to pick the colours that you will actually use. Yes, they are pricey but if you are serious about watercolour, then they are a must have.
Whenever I hear ‘Daniel Smith’ the word ‘Fancy’ comes to mind. I first chose a couple of tubes just to see what all the fuss was about and let me tell you that they became my precious (insert Gollum voice). I was completely amazed with the tiny amount of paint that was required to get a nice strong colour on the paper; furthermore the textures you get are priceless. They have colours for all types of styles and if you are not sure of what to get, you can either purchase a dot chart or get one of the master artist set, as I recently did.
Holbein is a Japanese brand, and we all know that when it comes to Art, Japanese people are always two steps ahead. These paints are not like regular gouache (it’s a combination of acrylic and gouache); I’ve tried quite a lot of different brands and none of them feel and paint like Holbein Acryla. They have a couple of cons: once it has dried up on your palette, you cannot re-activate it with water again (unlike gouache) and it dries very fast (thus they might be better for some, but I’m a slooooow painter). They have a huge colour selection and all Holbein products are Artist quality. The price is very reasonable and the tubes last longer than what I thought they might.
This is a Swiss brand that prides themselves on using only the highest quality pigments, without adding solvents and they are poison-free. This brand is definitely one of my faves! Their gouache is like soft butter; creamy and it even smells delicious. The hues remain vivid even when you add heaps of water, which means that they are highly concentrated and the prices are very reasonable (NZD19 for an 85 mL bottle). If I need to think of any con it will be the limited colour selection… But is it really a con? Or, am I just being lazy for not mixing my own colours? Either way, Lascaux won’t let you down.
I own the primary colour set and I usually mix it with my Lascaux paints, the reason I do this is because the Winsor & Newton Gouache is very thick, so you will need lots of water to get a nice fluid consistency. On the other hand this thickness will give you a strong opaque finish without having to layer too much. I really like their white, they are definitely high quality paints and I feel like I will be trying more colours in the future.
Get ready to fall in love with these amazing markers! It’s like having your Holbein Acryla in a pen, without the fuss of mixing; they are portable, and produce incredible textures and an opaque finish. I use them on their own, on top of my watercolours, to add details on my gouache paintings and even to doodle on any surface or person around, that’s how much I love them. The only con is maybe the price versus how long they last (not long), but the journey is lots of fun.
Simple, portable, versatile, cheap and long-lasting, are some of the adjectives to describe these amazing pens. They are a classic, the typical pen that doodlers will get for school and if you are like me, you’ll always keep one with you wherever you go. They have different kinds of inks, I use the white pigment ink a lot on top of my watercolour paintings to add highlights, and I use the black ink to draw sketches that I know I will need to scan.
The idea behind these markers is that you will be able to get different tones and even blend it with other colours from one marker. Have you ever seen those amazing illustrations made with markers and then, so you go to Kmart and get your box of markers, start painting and ask yourself how did I create this monster? Well, first of all your markers are probably not alcohol-based, which helps a lot with blending colours and secondly it is hard anyway… So, I got a box with 22 Chameleon markers from Kickstarter, and they work like magic! It is so easy to get a nice result and it kinda looks like watercolours. I really like them, but they are expensive so maybe if you are not into painting with markers you can skip buying them. However, if you like owning and trying a little bit of everything I would definitely recommend trying these beauties.
When it comes to brushes you have two options: buy a cheap one that will wear out quickly and then buy another cheap one and so on; or invest in a higher quality one that will last much longer and will probably give you better results while painting. Cosmotop-Spin is a synthetic watercolour brush that it is not crazily expensive. They are made specifically for watercolour, which guarantees that they will hold a good amount of water. One of my favourite things about these brushes is the fine tip, so I am not constantly swapping them while I work. I own a 2, 6, 8 and 12 of this range; they are quite stiff so they’re probably better for details or if you don’t work with lots of washes.
Casa Serra is a Mexican Art Supply Shop; it is where Frida Kahlo (and many other great artists) used to buy everything for her paintings. They have their own self-branded brushes, handmade in Germany with great quality and different types of hair. I need to confess that I didn’t mean to buy a non-synthetic brush when I went there, and I did not realise that my brush wasn’t vegan until my teacher told me “the Serie 320 is made out of squirrel hair”. However, this explains why it holds so much water! I use it for washes or whenever I need large amount of water and it’s very soft and nice. Although I don’t recommend buying a non-synthetic brush, I invite you to go to Casa Serra (If you happen to be in Mexico City) and look at the wide range of Art Supplies they have, you’ll be sooo happy to see the low prices for high quality materials.
I recently bought one of this just to try it out, especially because I really like the Cotman Watercolour Paints, and it’s pretty decent… It is a very inexpensive student-grade brush, with a nice point, and it is stiff enough to use for small details. The thing with this brush is that it doesn’t hold much water or paint, so you need to be constantly grabbing more pigment. I feel like this is the kind of brush I would take on trips or use with my Moleskine sketchbook. I really recommended these brushes if you are just starting or if you are on a tight budget.
Not much to say about it. This is a cheap, reliable paper for Gouache, Acrylic, Ink, Posca pens or any medium that isn’t too wet. Simple and easy. Also a great option if you live in NZ because you can find it at Warehouse Stationary & Gordon Harris.
When it comes to watercolour paper there are so many options to choose from, and it depends a lot on what you want to do and the result you’d like to get. Watercolour pads are traditionally made with cotton to help hold and dry large quantities of water, and the more cotton the paper has, the better the water will be absorbed. As I mentioned before, I don’t typically work with much water and I have found that 50% cotton will give me a good nice finish for my work without feeling pressure about ruining a more expensive sheet (though this isn’t a problem for confident people!). This block is around NZD30 with 20 sheets, which come glued together so the paper won’t take funny shapes while you are working.
These are great for outdoor sketching, travel or doodling. They are portable and thick enough to hold watercolour, gouache and markers but definitely not for professional work or if using large amounts of water, especially if you are in a hurry because they will take loooong to dry.
