#waterbased markers work fine too

[sunshine-biter]

I can keep him in my wallet now

[pansyfemme]

i unfortunately don’t have any questions i just want to hear you talk about art supplies 😔

oh well. thats not particuarly hard to do.

im real hyped because in the ‘my child is autistic and i have zero idea how to shop for him’ manner my mother let me pick my own gifts this year for xmas so i will be in possession of some sennelier oil pastels shortly. ive used them several times before, but theres really no competition. i say this about almost no media because i believe theres something for everyone- but there is one oil pastel brand and its sennelier. working with them will make you feel like you are working with a completly unfamillar medium even if you’ve only ever drawn in oil pastel before. They’re just incredible. incredibly pricy too.. oh well. I’m also planning on picking up a box of Carandache neocolor I. they’re wax pastels, basically crayons but actually good. my mother lives by the Neocolor II, their watersoluable cousin, but i enjoy water resistance as much as i do soluablity. and as someone who works in so much wet media, its nice to work with a sketching media that provides resist as i do not lose or smudge the sketch as heavily. Plus, i love sketching with crayons and other chunky media. Also on my mind is a new lightboard -_- only had my old one for a year and a half before it died.. sigh. I want a bigger, heavy duty one sometime but i do not have the studio space for that.. one day.

In terms of pens, my special interest within a special interest, my kaweco sport is still my baby in terms of writing pens. Used to think i was more of a lamy guy.. but whew! im a convert. Kaweco pens are so well designed it makes my jaw drop sometimes. I just adore them. Love their lead holders too! And no, my brush pen rotation has not changed. I use my kuretake no.40 and kuretake no.13 interchangably.. i do not know better brush pens on the market, they’re just perfect in every way possible. made the switch fully to platimum carbon cartridges about a year ago and i do not regret it one bit, they’re the only ones i’ll use from this point forward. The ink darkness, permenance and waterproofing is just perfect, and it’s given me much less feathering than i had with kuretake, Akashiya (as much as i love akashiya in every other regard) and pentel cartridges. I tell people this all the time, but the ink you put in your pen is as crucial as the pen itself. Akashiya Sai Thinline, of course, is my preferred colored disposable brush pen. just wish the color range was wider! They’re truly special tho, the muted pallete, the fact they’re waterproof, the long thin shape of the bristles.. gorgeous. because of the recent trend of ‘watercolor brush markers’ (big fan, dont get me wrong) its pretty difficult to find colored brush pens that aren’t waterbased. I’ve had a scheme to make my own brush pens someday using my personal ink collection, but that depends on my ability to find a bristle tip body that is leakproof, cheap enough to get several of, and actually retains a point. People rave about just filling aquash style brushes with ink, but those leak.. a LOT. and keeping their tips consistantly wet has a habit of making their sharpness go away, which is fine if you’re painting, not so much for lineart. So. while i do get real autistic trying to find the best brush pens for lineart.. at the end of the day, i always end up just hand lining with a paintbrush and ink lol. it’s still the best way. (if you’re curious i normally do my colored lineart in liqutex acrylic ink, specifically the muted colors series because they’re perfect in every way shape and form.)

like i said. not hard to do. it’s like asking me to talk about music. i will, just can’t promise it will be understandable to anyone but me.

[meme-loving-stuck]

tips from a broke artist

I know there's dozens posts like this but I'm just thinkin about stuff i wish i knew when i started so

Paper:

Depends on what media you're using! Sketch paper is fine for dry media like charcoal/chalk/pencil/pen.

If you do washes or heavy ink or watercolor, get mixed-media or watercolor paper

Alcohol-based markers will usually bleed if you use them on sketch paper or watercolor paper, try looking for smooth/untextured marker paper if you wanna avoid that

If you need watercolor board, buy a sketchbook full of it! This always always a good deal, and you can usually find paper thick enough to even use gouache and acrylics on

If you're using thick/mixed media paper, usually one side is more textured and one isn't. Took me a while to figure that out lol.

Theres a difference between hot press paper and cold press. I think cold press tends to have a smoother texture, it could make a world of a difference depending on your feelings about texture!

The weight of the paper tells you how thick it is, which tells you how well it will hold its shape when wet/painted on! I try to get at LEAST 120 lb. for my own watercolor paintings, its thick enough for guoache and thinner acrylics too!

If you have REALLY heavy paper that still buckles/doesnt hold its shape when painted on, try taping it down! It's tedious but it makes it a lot easier in the long run

Some people even do a plain water-wash on the back of the paper, and then blow dry it flat, that also helps with buckling. Just make sure you do this BEFORE you paint the other side and let it fully dry fully flat

Ink:

Copics! Do yourself a favor and don't worry about buying name brand! There are plenty of smaller online brands selling them in bulk instead of 2-3 USD per marker

If you are buying name brand, like prismacolor or windsor newton, make sure you at least get the refill cartridges. **But seriously if youre not doing like, huge poster sized stuff youre probably not gonna need to buy name brand or worry about refills!

Cheap waterbased markers like crayola are great for thinning down with water for ink washes! A lot of times you get brighter colors than actual watercolor paint

India ink, like acrylic paint, can be diluted with water for washes AND are both waterproof when dry! This is why india ink is great for inking watercolor pieces with

Canvas:

you absolutely dont need big expensive glossy canvases if youre using acrylics. there are a TON of dollar stores that sell like, four canvases for a dollar, in varying sizes. look around and see what kind of deals you can get, dont get suckered out of like $5 for one 8*10 canvas

If youre using watercolors on canvas you might want to gesso it first, you might not. gesso just helps it hold the paint more like paper would and dry faster! canvas is definitely more expensive than watercolor board though

everyone says you NEED to start out with the biggest canvases possible so you get used to it: don't! if you have problems with starting projects a huge empty space is hard to approach. Its better to have a bunch of smaller pieces DONE than just never starting a big one bc youre intimidated!

that being said, dont limit yourself to just one size either! do mini pieces, square pieces, round pieces, hexagons whatever!! feel free to experiment with the shape of the space you fill go crazy aaa go stupid

Brushes:

If youre not using your brushes for inking, probably any type of brushes will work, like canvas you can find packs of varied size brushes for a good price

If you ARE using them for inking, you might want to spring for any type of natural-fiber brushes. Natural fibers just tend to hold ink better, which makes for longer lines so you dont have to break them/dip as often

If you use brush pens, like any other type of markers, they dont work as well on textured paper and might bleed

If you use water brush pens, those are great for watercolors but if you use them to water down acrylic paint youll have to clean them more often as acrylic paint dries waterproof and is more difficult to wash out

If you do full wet-on-wet washes, id recommend getting a small house paintbrush, its clunky but much easier to wet the entire paper with

uhh i dunno should i add more to this with brands/links and stuff? lmk