My favorite Art Supplies
In this post you can mainly find the materials I use for drawing and acrylic painting. In the coming year I want to try working more with watercolor and especially gouache. I’ve ordered a couple of different brands to try out and review at some point.
DRAWING
For my drawing materials I mainly use products by Faber Castell [I'll shorten it as FC] but not for a specific reason, it's the brand I've always loved using since school plus it's a German brand so very easy to buy everywhere here.
As for the ink pens I used FC PITT Pens and now I use Microns. Next time i’ll try another brand (Molotow) and see how I like them. But to be honest, I find them all equally good.
For the darkest pencil I use the brand Staedtler, a suggestion by a german artist I got a couple of years ago. Also I use a black colored pencil and recently I found “matt pencils” by FC and Staedtler, these are supposed to have very little graphite sheen.
Pencils
FC Mechanical "Grip Matic" 0,5 HB (for light sketching)
FC "Pure Graphite" in different grades (for soft and loose or bigger areas)
Staedtler "Mars Lumograph" 8B
FC "Polychromo" black and White (for toned paper)
Eraser
FC Dust Free
TomBow "Mono Zero"
Ecobra Stick Eraser
Pens
FC "Pitt Artist Pen"
Pigma Microns
Sakura "Gelly Roll" 08
Uni Posca White 1M (fine nips)
Uni Posca Black Brush
Aqua Pens by Molotow or Ecoline
Additionals
Sakura Koi Watertank brushes
Dahle 133 Pencil Sharpener
Winsor&Newton Ink Black
BRUSHES
My absolute favorite brushes are the "System 3"(short handle) Series by Daler Rowney with the yellow ring.0
The ones I mainly use are:
Flat 3/4"
Flat 1/2"
Round 14 (nice for washes)
Round 6
Round 4 (my favorite size)
...and also by Daler Rowney but the Graduate Series
Liner 10/0 (great for details)
PAINTING SURFACES
For my painting and drawing surfaces I try new things all the time but these are the ones I mainly and repeatedly use. One, that's not pictured, is just a hardboard panel with gesso that I get from the German Art Store Boesner, they don't even have any packaging or information labels. Also I've always enjoyed working with cradled gesso boards. The gesso is super smooth and I simply love it.
Lately I'v been using canvas too, which I didn't like in the past but I like them more and more but it's hard for me to find good ones that are quite smooth, sometimes I add more layers of Gesso.
For drawing, I have tons of different papers and my preferences have changed over the years. Where I loved ultra smooth paper a couple years ago I now prefer light textured ones. Currently I use a lot the “Paint-On” series by Clairefontaine.
But I also like the Mixed Media pad by Canson and I use the back side of the paper to draw on.
It's very heavy with 300gsm which I really like because with thin paper I'm always scared that it bends too easily.
Painting
Jackson's Art & Boesner Gesso Wood Panel 19mm depth
Boesner Hardboard Gessobord 3mm
Gerstaecker Studio XL
Gerstaecker Portrait Canvas
Boesner Eco Linen Canvas
Paper
for acrylics, watercolor and gouache
Hahnemühle Watercolor Hot Pressed Satine 300/600gsm
Fabriano "Artistico" Hot Pressed Extra White 300gsm
Arches Hot Pressed Satine
Clairfontaine Paint On Gris (for drawing)
Canson "Mixed Media" 300gsm (mainly for drawing)
PAINTS
My favorite brands and mostly paints I own are by Royal Talens Amsterdam Acrylics because their colors just so amazing and eye catching, also I find them mainly everywhere in art stores. Recently I’ve ordered Liquitex Basic Acrylic and they seem just to be as good as the Amsterdam ones. I have one Liquitex Heavy Body where I always break my hands trying to open the tube and almost tearing the tube apart, So my experience is unfortunately not the greatest. Golden Paints are also great but only one German art store offers them (Gerstaecker) and they are fairly expensive. I do also have some by Schmincke.
Paints
Amsterdam Acrylics Expert
Amsterdam Acrylics Standard
Golden Paints Heavy Body & Fluid
Schmincke Akademie Acryl
Liquitex Basic Acrylics
OTHER LIQUIDS
I don’t often use mediums and for Arylic Varnish I also still try to find a good one. So far I’ve been using a spray varnish. But I ordered “liquid” varnish by golden recently.
Medium
Liquitex Matte Medium
Golden Satin Glazing Liquid
Varnish
Schmincke Acrylic Universal Varnish satin-matt
Ghiant Fix Spray for setting drawings
Gesso
Liquitex
LITTLE HELPER
Stay wet palette I made myself using wet kitchen roll and baking paper on top keeps the paint wet for days. Also I use
a normal water spray bottle to spray the paints every now and then
Thank you for reading~
