Supplies

While you may not be familiar with them, the brands I've listed below are long-established art brands that don't skimp on quality. Check out some tips on how to recognize a low-quality art supply.

The #1 top supply recommendation

A sketchbook that you'll use. I see the most improvements in drawing in students who actually take the time to practice throughout the week.

This one is my favorite style! Why? It has a hard back so I can sketch anywhere, anytime; a spiral binding so I can flip the pages behind the one I'm currently working on; and quality paper that isn't super see-through if I decide to use ink pens. (It will bleed Sharpies, though!)

Sketchbooks are not meant to be "final" art pieces (although they can be!). They can be filled with both doodles, written ideas, and things attached from old sketchbooks, magazines, etc.

Check out my blog post here for more info on picking out your own sketchbook. But you can also staple or sew folded, blank printer paper together for your own DIY sketchbook! Use a heavier paper for the cover if you have it.

The following sections are a few of my favorite supplies if you want to have some quality materials to use at home for either drawing, painting, or mixed media experimentation. We can talk about supplies in class if you have questions; feel free to bring in what you currently have and ask questions/get tips. (One of my old college jobs was working at an art shop where I spent too much of my paycheck trying different art materials and brands.)

Young Artists

Beginner Art Supplies:
Recommended for students of all ages who are still early on in their art exploration. See the links below for brand suggestions.

• Blank typing paper
• Graphite pencils (Ticonderoga sharpens the best!)
• Pencil sharpener with a shavings holder
• White rubber eraser
• Regular and extra-fine point black Sharpies (at your discretion)
• Colored pencils (Crayola 12 or 24 pack)
• Watercolors (Prang or Crayola are established "safe" brands)
• Watercolor brush set (the ones that come with the paint sets are pretty bad!)
• Watercolor paper, at least 140lb to hold up longer

Advanced Art Supplies:

Recommended upgrades for adults and teens who already practice art on a regular basis and show a consistent interest in making art. See the links below for brand suggestions for upgrades to your stash.

• Sketchbook 
• Graphite drawing pencil set
• Pencil sharpener with a shavings holder
• Eraser set: White rubber eraser, eraser stick, kneaded eraser
• Black ink pen 
• Colored pencils 
• Watercolors
• Watercolor brushes: start with a #6, Round, #8 Round, and anything in the size of #0, #1, #2 for fine details. Add a soft, fat brush later for large areas like skies and backgrounds (Princeton brand is great)
• Watercolor paper ("cold press" Fabriano Studio 25% cotton watercolor paper, Bee Paper, or Arches - my personal favorite)
• Optional supplies for exploration: charcoal pencils, oil pastels, chalk pastels, watercolor pencils....

Drawing Supplies

Many of these can be found at Hawaiian Graphics, Ben Franklin, and even Fisher Hawai'i (the office/school supply store!)

Pencils:

These brands are well-made and won't easily break in the pencil sharpener. Some cheap pencils skimp on the glue that holds the graphite to the wood, so that's why they constantly break!

• Tombow Mono pencil sets or singles (available on a rack in singles at Fisher Hawai'i)
• Staedtler Mars Lumographic pencils (seen at Office Depot!) 
• Open stock pencils of these or similar brands: 2B and 6B are really all you may need to get a good range of lights and darks. (Seen at Fisher Hawai'i and Hawaiian Graphics)

Paper:

Any drawing paper or sketchbook will do! (See the Sketchbook section below) Typing paper is absolutely fine (look up book binding to turn it into a sketchbook) but a paper labelled "sketch" or "drawing" with a little bit of texture to it is even better.

9x12 or 11x14 are good sizes because you can draw big OR tear/cut them down into smaller sizes. 5x7 to 6x8 are good if you like to travel or be mobile with your art.

Eraser: 

• White rubber eraser
• Gray kneaded eraser
• Stick erasers are fun and can be useful depending on what/how you draw/shade

Pencil sharpener: 

A good pencil sharpener that holds the shavings is key. I stopped getting electric pencil sharpeners long ago because they break too easily.

• Staedtler personal sharpener
• Carl Angel 5 for super sharp points...and cute color options!
• X-Acto wall-mounted pencil sharpener

Colored Pencils:

Quality colored pencils should come in a good range of colors, don't break when sharpening, and have a gorgeous, smooth tone. 

• A 24-pack of Faber-Castell Goldfaber is what I use in class
• Prismacolor is good too but I'm phasing them out because they break repeatedly when sharpening

Either way, a pack of 18-24 colors typically gives you a good selection of warm/cool primary/secondary/tertiary colors, as well as a few good neutrals. Bigger packs can be kind of overwhelming when making color choices, and students aren't able to practice blending colors as much because the colors are provided for them. Less is more with these packs! You can spend the same amount on a good quality brand that has 24 pencils or get a lesser quality brand with 50 million pencils.....but your results and your experience will be very different!

Watercolor Supplies

Many of these can be found locally at Hawaiian Graphics or Ben Franklin. I would wait for a sale at Ben Franklin for sure. Buying tubes of paint off Amazon when you live in Hawai'i can be dicey. Multiple times, I've had poorly packaged paints that exploded in the packaging or got so squished they exploded when I opened them. Yikes! I would suggest that you don't order anything important with them in the same order!

Paint:

Tube paints are by far the best paint to work with, compared to "cake" style paints. They are made differently, and this shows in vibrancy and when you get ready to paint. Tube paints stay more moist and wet down very nicely to "activate" the pigments for your next painting session.

You can get a LOT of colors from just three primaries. You'll also learn a TON about mixing colors if you get just a few colors. I would recommend a smaller selection of colors made from tubes of paint vs a whole tray of cake paints. Cake paints may also have a bit of a filler in them, which dilutes the vibrancy and makes them feel/look chalky. (But I haven't tried all of the nice brands below, so those brands may be better!)

Recommended Brands:

• Rebecca's Watercolor Palette set (local pickup only): 8 dabs of Daniel Smith paints (and a few other brands listed below) in a lidded palette. Additional colors can be purchased. (Mint-tin sized prototype in progress!) Limited quantities available for purchase online with local pickup only.
  
• Daniel Smith 6-color introductory tubes (Made in USA) Highly, highly recommend this brand for long-lasting quality and value. They also have an opaque gouache line. This set has one warm and one cool of each primary color. Mix warm with warm and cool with cool for best results. (This is the exact set of paint I got when I upgraded my paints in 2017 and realized I'd been missing out on the full watercolor experience my whole life!)
  
• M. Graham (Made in USA) Another great brand, although it tends to stay a little too sticky in Hawaii. They also have an opaque gouache line.
  
• For younger kids: Prang 16-color pan (Made in Mexico) This is a very established brand with school art teachers for many years. You can get refills to pop in, too. Older kids around 9-10+ who understand how to use & take care of a brush without smashing it will be happy to share your nicer paints if you’re painting together. They’ll notice the quality difference and they love the vibrancy compared to the “little kid” paints!
• Other good brands: Holbein (Made in Japan - much cheaper there if you’re taking a trip or know someone), Sennelier (Made in France), Schmincke (Made in Germany). Winsor & Newton is a bit chalky but is readily available locally. Tubes are always nicer than pans, but you’ll need a palette (see below) or an old ceramic plate to put them on….or an old, clean Crayola/Prang pan!

Paper, Level Beginner/Intermediate:

The paper you use may very well make the biggest difference in your watercolor practice. “You get what you pay for” definitely comes into play here. However, I worked out the price per square inch on a spreadsheet for these brands (based on the Amazon price of a 9x12 pad; prices as of 09/25). If you rip them down to 4x6” for practice, they range from 12 cents to 34 cents per paper. You can use both front/back of most of these brands with minimal difference in performance and results, so the cost per sheet below is actually half that! 

General Tips:

• 100% cotton is going to give you the best results, but definitely use up whatever you already have on hand. If available, get a sampler pack or a 5x7 size and see if you like it before committing to a bigger pack of paper. With the cotton papers, you can also tear/cut a sheet into smaller pieces and use both front/back for an economical way to practice with good supplies.
• Go for “cold press” instead of “hot press.” Cold press is easier to work with when you’re learning to control water. It has more texture than hot press, can take more fluctuations in water, and can handle more surface friction from brush strokes before it might pill.
• Try "140lb cold press" paper to start off. Sometimes there is 90lb and this is a little too thin - it will warp very easily. Watercolor paper can be made of cellulose, cotton, or a mix. (I actually ran across one made from sugar cane pulp recently!) 
• A good paper should hold up to a lot of water and brushstrokes without creating too many "burrs" across the surface. It also won't warp as easily as cheaper papers. Watercolor paper has something called "sizing" on it, which is made of gelatin and helps paint spread across the paper more easily. Depending on the brand, sometimes this sizing is only applied to one side and can thus cause warping issues and weird things when you apply the paint.

Recommended Brands:

• Arches 100% cotton paper - (41 cents per 4x6” paper) This is by far my favorite of all cotton papers and all papers in general. It gives the longest amount of working time and absorbs beautifully for the best watercolor experience. 
• Fluid 100% cotton paper - (34 cents per 4x6” paper) Very nice absorption with many standard US frame sizes like 5x7, 8x10, 11x14. Dries faster than Arches, however, so you have to work a bit faster.
• Fabriano Studio 25% cotton paper - (12 cents per 4x6” paper) Holds up well to rough painters, but the texture may be odd to some. Also works well for younger kids who tend to use excessive amounts of water and “scrub” the paper. 
• Bee Paper - (23 cents per 4x6” paper or 7 cents if you get the 50-sheet pack from WM!) Readily available locally. This is what we used in class. The texture is less obvious than the Fabriano above, but because of the lack of strong cotton fibers, it will pill faster. You’ll have to “stop messing with it” much sooner.
• For younger kids: The Fabriano above or Canson XL paper, which is more readily available locally. (18 cents per 4x6” paper) Gets a bit warped if you paint on the back side and paint application feels different, but it’s doable. Comes in spiral-bound watercolor sketchbook form. 

Watercolor Brushes:

Good brushes should not be losing bristles. If the brush hairs are already falling out onto your paper from the moment you got it, you need a better brush! 

General Tips:

• Touch & feel the open stock at an art store if you can. 
• Pick sizes that look like they’ll work for the size of paintings you like to work in. 
• Springy brushes (usually golden in color) hold less water/paint and dark brown brushes hold more. A lot of water can be difficult for beginners to manage. So a springy brush is a good start.
• Try soft bristles for loose, soft paint strokes; try more firm, springy bristles for a more controlled look or for details. It can be handy to have a mix of both types.
• Start with one or two and add more when you’re ready to move forward in your skills. Get a size 6 or 8 round and see if you like the results of the brushstrokes before committing to other sizes in that brand.
• Sets of brushes can be more economical, but you may not end up using all of them. Here are a few good ones to try, though:
  • Princeton Neptune - soft brushes, good for blended areas and initial layers.
  • Princeton VelvetTouch - springy brushes, good for details and areas where you don’t want paint to spread out too much.

Starter brushes:

• A springy, round brush is very versatile. Try something like a springy #6 Round or #8 Round brush and see if you like it first before getting other sizes in that brand or other brands. 

Future brushes:

With just one brush, you may feel limited to smaller sizes of paper and smaller areas of paint coverage. At that point, you may want to add to your brush collection and add some brushes like these:

• A few smaller detail brushes such as a springy #2 round and #3/0 round brush.
  
• A springy, flat brush for an easier time doing straight edges (like fence posts & buildings in landscapes)
  
• A wide, soft mop brush for wetting your paper and doing backgrounds. 
  
• A soft oval wash brush for initial layers of soft paint on smaller areas, florals, and backgrounds
  
• A bigger, soft round brush if you like a large, loose style of painting or loose backgrounds
  
• A short and stubby blender brush for softening hard edges after it’s dried

Travel Art Supplies

• A pouch or box to put everything in
• Sketchbook and mechanical pencil with an eraser
• Watercolor pencils
• Sakura or Pentel water brushes - for travel, beach painting, airplanes, etc.
  
• For watercolor, paper that is in a “block” like Fluid 100% cotton cold press
  
• Palette suggestions:
  • Mint tin sized palette with magnetic, removable paint wells
  • Extra-mini tin palette
  • This adorable plastic-free palette
  • Treat yourself with this lovely all-in-one setup
    

Paint in tubes will have to be added to the above palettes, but it will be much more vibrant and less chalky than even the best brands of pre-filled pan paints. (If you’re local to O’ahu, contact me about getting your palette filled with fresh tube paint from my stash.)

Watercolor Palette:

Literally anything flat and white will do! Sometimes you can find white ceramic or melamine plates at thrift stores. Some of my favorites:

• Mijello lidded palette - Keeps the dust out and has loads of room to mix!
  
• Flower palette - Great for learning about color mixing and diluting

Other Watercolor supplies:

• Opaque gouache in yellow and white for little highlights at the end like flower pollen, water sparkles, or touching up clouds and waves
  
• Sakura Micron pen for critter eyes, whiskers, outlines, ink-and-wash style, and other details
  
• White gel pen for highlights in eyes, waves, and other things
• Clipboard or melamine-coated Masonite panel from the hardware store to keep your paper damp
• painter's tape
• Viva Paper Towels or smooth cotton rags
• water cup
• sea sponges
• fingertip spray bottle
• dropper bottle
• masking fluid (some people like it, some don't, but it's worth a try at some point. Daniel Smith and Schmincke are good - try diluting them a bit no matter what brand you try))