Many years ago I had art school interns, one of them whom suggested that I’d probably love watercolor, because it was a forgiving medium. So one day I decided I would try it, I was at the drugstore and bought one of those multi-pans of watercolor that came with a brush and pulled out some copy paper from my printer. Do I need to even mention how my results were far from any expectation I had? Probably not, it was a disaster, a waste of time and money. Nowadays we have access to so many more resources on line but I thought I would do a quickie review of some supplies that might make your foray into trying a new art medium/skill a little more successful for the first time. It’s really not quantity, but quality and luckily quality art supplies are available in a range of affordable prices so you can try something new out without a huge investment.
Drawing/sketching
This is the most basic of mediums, all you really need is some pencils, paper and an eraser. The problem lies in a lot of people trying to sketch and draw with their trusty No. 02 pencil, using the eraser on the end of it and whatever paper is available. This seems to be no problem for someone that already has some aptitude for drawing but for the newbie it could be both the beginning and end to a successful drawing career. I would suggest buying an inexpensive pack of pencils with different lead hardness. An eraser that won’t tear your paper or leave behind a residue or dye (like the pink eraser does) and a good sketching pad. These simple tools are a meager investment and can make a world of difference! If you follow any good drawing how-to book (here’s a fave) it should go over shading, having a soft pencil at your disposable makes it effortless to do so.
Modern Calligraphy
I can’t even tell you how many bad supplies and wrong nib types for what I wanted to accomplish. When I started exploring no one was sharing their supplies. It makes such a world of difference results wise and may even be the difference between quitting and pursuing further (we hope always that you do the latter).
//RESOURCES//
Modern Calligraphy Set (beginner)
Modern Calligraphy Set (intermediate)
Watercolor tube set (great gift set!)
Watercolor postcards (such small real estate, you can have so much fun tackling such a small project!)
kit shown Belle Calligraphy Kit
Miss Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog. Her lofty goal here is to make this a creative resource repository and to inspire you to fall truly, madly, deeply in love with your life.
