Materials

A note from the artist

When I first started drawing, I didn’t understand the importance of using the right medium to express an idea. And even when I thought I knew what tools to use, I wasn’t sure which brands to buy and when it was worth purchasing professional quality materials. Although I’m still learning many different mediums, I finally understand that the quality of an art piece isn’t determined by how expensive the materials are or if the materials make sense together. Art materials are tools to convey or explore an idea. It’s not about having the “best” or “recommended” material so long as the material serves the function you need it too. I owe the versatility of my current artistic tool box to the artists who have informed me of their experiences with different art materials. Therefore, I made this page to document my experiences so that I might be able to help others with their artistic experimentation.

Graphite Pencils:

  • Pentel Grapher 500 0.3 mm-.7mm:

    • I draw most of my graphite work exclusively in mechanical pencil. They’re great for detail and creating texture.

  • Faber-Castell pencils (weights—F-8B):

    • I draw all of my realistic work with Faber-Castell pencils. I’ve tried other brands and achieved the same effect. Moral of the story: as long as you have the necessary shades, the brand doesn’t matter that much.

  • Charcoal:

    • Charcoal continues to perplex me. I gave up on pencils and swapped to vine. I will take ANY charcoal brand recommendations, so please contact me if you have a favorite charcoal brand.

Colored Pencils + Pastels:

  • Prismacolor colored pencils:

    • Great color and blending, worth the cost. You cannot achieve the same blending and vibrant hue with cheaper brands. However, buying a large set is not necessary. If you understand color layering, a very basic set of 12-24 will do. That being said, for a colorful realistic piece, the perfect set to buy is the set of 48. One downside: if you’re doing heavy laying, a wax film will develop over the top. Simply wipe off with a soft cloth, then add back any shadows using the minimal amount of color possible (since the wax layer will just reform). Final tip: use white and/or other light colors to blend lighter regions! Don’t be afraid of layering too dark and then blending it with white—eventually, the dark and light layers will blend into the color you want.

  • Faber-Castell Polychromos:

    • I’ve only done one still-life drawing with these pencils and what I’ve decided is they are great for pieces that don’t require a lot of subtle blending (lighter portraits). They blend well but not as well as prismas and aren’t quite as vibrant. However, they do not develop the same waxy film as prismas which is really nice when you like to layer a lot. Definitely worth the money, though personally, I wouldn’t buy a large set of these (I work with around 20 pencils).

  • Caran d'Ache Luminance Colored Pencils:

    • From my experience, these pencils live up to their name. They are fantastic at making portraits glow and allow you to create soft, subtle shadows. However, they aren’t as vibrant as the brands mentioned above and they don’t blend quite as well, so you can’t get away with mistakes as easily. That being said, they don’t form a waxy layer. Finally, they are great for detail work because they aren’t as soft as other pencils like prismas. However, given their high price, it’s not worth buying a large set of these unless you plan to be using them exclusively.

  • Carbothello pastel pencils:

    • Beautiful pencils. As far as pastel pencils go, you can’t get any better and they are worth the price, especially if you are doing portraits. They blend better than any pencil I’ve used and are incredibly soft while still retaining enough form for detailed work. The only downside is that they aren’t super vibrant so achieving vibrant work requires a strong understanding of color.

  • Prismacolor Nupastels:

    • I use these for large swaths of color coverage, typically for backgrounds or the first layer of a pastel drawing. Overall, I wouldn’t find them worth the cost for smaller works but for much larger colored-pencil or pastel works, they are a huge time and material saver and can achieve some lovely background effects.

  • Oil and chalk pastels:

    • I don’t have enough experience to list my materials here, but any advice is welcome!

Paper:

  • Strathmore Watercolor Paper:

    • I’ve tried a few brands of watercolor paper, but the one brand I consistently purchase is Strathmore’s watercolor paper. Although there is definitely better quality paper out there, I’ve always achieved my desired results with this paper. It’s good enough quality to use for fine art, but not such high quality that it becomes unnecessarily costly. And finally, it holds a lot of water! Or any medium! I’ve put oil paint on this paper, colored pencil, charcoal, etc.—it’s a lot more versatile than people give it credit for. And finally for my last tip (given to me by an incredible hyperrealist portrait artist): use large sheets of this for portraits and allow the texture of the paper to guide you for shading skin texture. You’ll find that this paper’s texture lends itself to rendering skin detail versus using smooth paper and having to generate it from scratch (which is also fine, I do it most of the time).

  • Strathmore Bristol paper:

    • BEST paper! I do most of my pencil and mixed-media drawings on this paper and never fail to love it! It’s thick enough to hold any practical medium (I’ve even used oil on it), smooth enough to do realistic work, and even has the faintest texture which I use to create skin texture (or other textures). And finally, this paper’s smoothness allows for super crisp lines so if you want crisp, detailed work, just pair it with a mechanical pencil for a professional effect.

  • Strathmore Toned Tan paper:

    • I use this paper for almost all of my colored pencil works and it works beautifully. It can hold a LOT of layers but don’t take that for granted—it does have limits (which I learned the hard way). I’ve tried other “colored-pencil” paper and couldn’t achieve the same results as I do with the toned tan paper, so it’s definitely worth buying if you want to get into realistic colored-pencil art (or any type of colored pencil work requiring a lot of layering and blending).

  • Recycled paper:

    • I don’t remember where I bought my recycled paper sketchbook from, but it was a very basic purchase so really any recycled paper is great for achieving a grainy/illustrative effect. Personally, I enjoy using 0.3mm mechanical pencil on this paper and cross-hatching until it comes together (no blending!). If you want to spruce it up, once you’ve achieved this dated-grainy effect, you can digitally add color to create a unique print (I learned this from a few incredible artists who have mastered this technique).

  • Sennelier La Carte Pastel Card:

    • AMAZING paper! I’ve only used it with Carbothello pastel pencils but the effect is unparalleled. You can also try making your own coated paper at home. Although I’ve never tried this, I’ve heard it works well if done properly.

Paint:

  • Acrylic—Golden Paint & Artist’s Loft:

    • I recently started using professional-quality Golden acrylic and it is great! Definitely expensive but worth it if you’re a fine artist. Golden also makes an incredible array of gels, molding pastes, and other materials for textural painting which is a game changer if you are a textural painter or mixed-media artist. However, some mistakes I made early are buying too many colors (if you’re good at mixing colors, you don’t need many shades) and overestimating the dry time. This paint dries fast so don’t put too much on your palette! When I don’t use Golden, I use Artist’s Loft, which is a bit more cost-effective and still functions well.

  • Oil:

    • I usually use brands that people give me, but so far my favorite has been Winsor Newton. Personally, I haven’t noticed a huge difference between cheaper craft oil paints and professional quality ones besides the dry time and pigment saturation. However, this may be due to my lack of experience with oil paint.

  • Watercolor:

    • I’m sure any professional watercolor artist will hate what I’m about to say but I've achieved the same effects with the watercolor palettes I used in elementary school that I get with my Winsor Newton watercolor palette. Usually, I paint with both sets (I don’t know why, I just like painting with two palettes instead of one). The only difference I get is with the Winsor Newton tube paint, which allows you to vary opacity and brightness more than the palettes (and, of course, it doesn’t get dirty). Since watercolor is not my primary medium, I still use the most cost-effective paints unless someone gifts me a Winsor Newton set, which is my go-to higher-quality brand.

  • Liquitex gold acrylic paint:

    • I use gold in a lot of my work, and although there are better gold paints out there, I like Liquitex because it’s very dilute which gives you a range of opacities to work with. With enough layers, you can achieve solid gold but if you want, you can make a single transparent gold layer which I find useful.

Brushes:

  • For most of my mixed media work, I use any basic craft set. I have a few reserved professional-quality brushes from Blick which I use when I need to achieve realistic shading or fine detail. However, I do a lot of my detail work (especially watercolor detail), with any thin brush I can find. Moral of the story: nice brushes are worth it if the product requires them and if you can take care of your brushes. If you’re like me and have to toss at least one brush with every oil painting, avoid using too many high-quality brushes.

Other:

  • Uniball Signo white pen:

    • I use this for my highlight details on all mediums. It’s a great pen and can take a beating and retain its functionality (I layer mine on wet paint, colored pencil, and even adhesive and it still works).

  • Thin Gel Pen:

    • The pen above is too thick for tiny details, so I use a fine gel pen for thinner details. However, I didn’t put a brand here because I have tried many brands and they all run out of ink after one drawing. I’ve concluded that all thin-tip white gel pens just don’t last long.

  • Micron pens (005-08):

    • Although the thinner pens (such as 005) run out of ink fairly quickly, I haven’t found a pen better suited for detail work and watercolor outlines.

  • For blending:

    • Blending Stump

    • Dry brush (if possible, use a brush, not a stump! For soft shadows such as contouring the white of the eye, a brush will achieve a more realistic effect than a stump).

    • Q-Tip: If the stump is too strong of a blender but the brush is too soft to blend high contrasting regions, use a Q-tip! It can blend almost anything while maintaining a soft, organic edge.

  • Speedball Mona Lisa Metal Leaf

  • Masking fluid (for watercolor)

  • For background texture effects:

    • Rubbing alcohol on water (for watercolor painting) — creates a ring/bubble-like effect.

    • Salt (sprinkle some salt on the water. Once dry, brush it off and you’ll see the imprint of where the salt was. I’ve done this on watercolor and also pencil backgrounds for a unique effect).

    • Saran wrap — layer wrap over wet watercolor paint and remove when dry. Leaves behind imprints of creases that look like stained glass.

  • ArtResin Epoxy:

    • For resin work — works wonderfully but plan ahead, this is not a material you want to waste.

  • Sculpey polymer clay:

    • For mixed media sculpture work. I recommend buying only white clay and then painting it rather than buying colored clay.

  • Toothpick:

    • For adding tiny specks of paint (such as white highlights)

  • Sponge:

    • for paint texture.