Yo, can we talk about supplies for a second?
 

Okay so here's the dealio. I recently switched majors so now instead of boring marketing, I'm actually going to be doing arty things now. That being said, I'm required to take a bunch of classes with mediums I've never ever used before. I've only ever worked with colored pencils and digital media.

SO. I'm wondering what would be a good 'starter' kit for me. Brand names, items, anything. *u*

I have some old Prismacolor colored pencils. And I mean old. They're broken, like 15 are missing, it's cray cray. Other than that I have like maybe 2 nice drawing pencils and mechanical pencils. 8D

Tell me to buy things! :D -flies around-

buy everything? do you need this for class specifically or is this just extras? i am quite certain if it is class you will be given a list with the class mission at the begining of the course

No just in general so I have things to practice with at home. And 'everything' doesn't help someone who doesn't have a very thorough knowledge of what is good and isn't. I've checked online and I have a hard time trusting customer reviews, because a lot of companies pay people to give reviews.

o3o
I just don't want to buy something and then find out later that I could have gotten a much better brand or something.

well i don't count, i use anything and everything, hell, i paint with nailpolish and use sidewalk chalk for pastels and mix gell foodcoloring into stuff

i feel if you are inhibited by brands and types you cannot truely make all the art you have potential to make

I'm just talking to start out. xD I don't plan on limiting myself, but I would like to get a basic understanding of materials I would be working with in the class setting, that's all. That being said, unfortunately in terms of good quality products, brands are kind of important. >>

if it is beginning then go with crayola and work your way up i guess

Well I'm not that much of a beginner. As I stated in my opening post I've used prisma pencils but that's about it. But I guess I'll just look around somewhere else online and see what I can find.

sorry dude

I like charcoal, but just a warning it is really messy. I use a mixture of non permanent setting spray and hair spray for the final coat, I prefer charcoal made from willow, it doesn't crumble like some of the cheaper ones and can have a good range of shading.

What sorts of mediums are you interested in? And what is your price range and space? Because throwing clay pots requires a lot of money, and space, while sculpting 1 foot figures or painting dolls doesn't need much more than storage and drying space along with a desk space.

I tried charcoal once in like middle school lmao it was awful. Id like to learn how to properly use it though. C:

Im not looking for suppliea for anyhing of that undertaking yet lol. To start with id like to find out about getting some good watercolors and acrylic paint as well as brushes, and maybe some pastels and charcoal. And some modeling clay for small practice stuff. If you've worked with any of those and have any helpful tips, you can feel free to toss that info my way too lol

If you're into pencils and stuff, Derwents are nice. Not so much for colors, though; they're a bit more muted and softer. For colors, I'd go with Prismacolors.

You might also need a nice blender. I forgot what those are called -- little pointed rolls of paper.

As for wet media, acrylics are usually the way to go; they're versatile. Depending on how serious you are about the painting, you might also want to go for gloss or a kind of thickener ( I keep forgetting names). Don't forget about gesso for priming.

I've never heard of Derwents, I'll check them out! And I like Prismas, I used them in hs and stuff, but I need to save up to get a new set. xD

Ohh I've seen those but I never knew fully what they were for 8D

I'll look into the gloss/primers but I've never heard of gesso, honestly. o3o I'll look into it.

Thanks, Espy!

Charcoals are fun once you know how to use them, hence why i use a lot of working spray so as to not make it so messy. The same with Pastels, I use Prismacolor pastels and there setting spray which is called a fixative. They are both good quality and pastels when mixed with charcoal make beautiful drawings.

Charcoals typically use an outline, done with a charcoal pencil, and then layers of charcoal bricks or sticks with spray in between layers. When mixing with pastels make sure to use the fixative in between the layers of charcoal and pastel.

I don't play with clay, that is Batty's area so you may want to ask her.

Thanks for the tip, Tiva~ c:

I'll have to send Batty a message then. o:

I like how we seem to specialize in different things, haha...

I would take some time to walk around your local art store, they have or should have the supplies according to grade. If you are just buying stuff to practice with go with the student stuff until you find a medium that is something you want to play with.

XD BUTTT... if we are talking Brands:

As far as what I use, I have Higgins inks and they are okay for the cheapness, the black works really well for outlining and if you get the water proof you can easily water color over the lines. The color inks can be a little strong and mixing them is hard as well as diluting them to do washes. I love love love my Winsor Newton water colors, I have a cake because that is what I prefer to travel with, however I carry the van goah water color tubes for when I am at home. At my supply store they are about 3 dollars a tube which is cheap for water colors and student grade.

As for as Acrylics go I have just gotten into those and I can not tell the difference between the craft paints like Folkart and Americana, so if you are on a budget again those are good for play, if you want to up grade I suggest Liquatex since theirs are nice heavy body paints with good pigments. I have not tried the Grambucaher(sp?) brand that is also student grade and hell Dewery that they sell at walmart is also a really good brand with viberant colors. People tend to like Rembrant and Winsor newton paints as well but the cost of the pigments make the paints well out of my budget.

I do not use oil paints, though I have to say I prefer Golden mediums (Matte Mediums, Gesso ) over Liqutex, just based on price and consistancy.

As for paper:
So paper is made by the amount of compression weight that is applied to a stack, the higher this number the thicker the paper. On a paper pack or sheet it usually says something like 75lb 90 100 etc

The thing about paper is it is a personal thing. As long as you pick a paper that is over 100lb you can use it depending on the amount of water you use if that makes sense. If your just doing some black and white line art even 90lb paper will not buckle but the best is perhaps 140lb paper. I say these numbers because brands so not matter to me. When it comes to paper and your work surface its all about texture and weight and what effect you want to work with in the long run. I like smooth print making paper, but a lot of people I know use Archies water color paper.

Again Brands: TO me Canson makes the best sketching paper but their mix media journals are shit to me. Strathmore makes a pretty good student grade water color paper but when you are ready to upgrade Tizano and Arches and Canson make the best 300lb paper. That shit is expensive but man the Tizano makes beautiful textures. Fabrino and Tizano also make Charcoal paper so watch out for the pounds.

And I guess water color paper is what you are suppose to use. But I grew up with a teacher that loved mix media stuff so I would go and do collages with found carboard, melt oil pastels on to shapes I cut out and stuff like that, layering text and stuff. To me a sanded down piece of wood with gesso works just as good as a canvas etc.

Though once you find a way you like to make art stick with it for a while and then play around with other mediums. It can be overwhelming and conflicting to your personal style if you want to try every thing at once. I found painting a long time ago but had people talk me out of it and now I am slowly getting back into it but in the time it took for me to be better at say one aspect, when I could be great at this one. (If that made sense at all xD also sorry if these is overwhelming. )

*u*
That was soooo helpful, thank you! c:

oh I forgot to add something xD.
All paints are made by ground pigments versus the binding. High quality paints and colors like Cadmium Red, Cobalt blue have real cadmium and cobalt in them there for by default are expensive. The higher end paints use less diluted materials and there for drives the cost up. It is the same with color pencils. Crayola is affordable because it uses a lot of wax to pigment ratio versus prisma that uses more pure pigments and less binding. The same with the markers, regular markers are just water based inks where as Copics and Prismas uses Alcohal which allow them to be blendable.

I had no idea about any of that, actually. o3o
Thanks for the info, Pogs~ c: