ART BRANDS AND SUPPLY PREFERENCES

I promised my students that I'd make an accessible list of the supplies and brands we use in class and what my favorite mediums are. So here goes:

pencils: I like the Blick pencils from Dick Blick. You want a set of pencils that have several B's and several H pencils (hardnesses).

Erasers: For graphite pencils, I like the gum erasers and the Mono black erasers. It's surprising to me that a black eraser can clean a paper to pristine white.....

I use an aluminum eraser shield that is a drafting tool all the time. It's one of those handy dandy tools you start to depend on. Also, you need one of the packs of stumps (tortillons...sort of) in different sizes.

Pens: I use so many types of pens! Tombows are my favorite water based pens. For permanent ink, I always end up back at my Sharpies, Prismacolors and Copics.

For colored pencils, my go-to's are Prismacolor (easiest to blend and layer) and Polychromos ( these have the most intense color but don't blend as well as the Prisma).

For watercolors I prefer M Graham paint. They mix easily, come in a good size for the price and for me, I like to support US companies.I use Canson watercolor paper for my student grade paints and if I'm painting for me, Arches is my preferred.

For chalk pastels, NuPastels, and Sennelier.

For oil pastels, my likings are Sennelier. They ARE expensive and very soft but they blend beautifully and are very saturated.

That's most of it.....Oh yes, I don't like drawing pads. I use white cardstock for most of my drawings, and the grays pastel papers. So I order Neenah White cardstock from amazon or get the Georgia pacific white cardstock at Walmart and then I buy bulk paper stacks for larger paper.

I don't usually shop at michaels, Hobby Lobby or Joannes fabrics. THey often have what I want, but their prices are higher and I can't walk out of the store without finding 15 things that I must have on top of the things I went to the store for. Ordering the supplies keeps me controlled some. not 100% but better than walking down those aisles with everything cool and crafty tempting me.

I order from: Amazon, dickblick.com, CheapJoes.com (watercolor stuff) Jerrysartarama.com and Merriartist.com. Wait and order when you get free shipping.

Oh yes: acrylics: For my student grade, I like the Chroma A2 and the Blickcrylic. WHn i paint professionally, , I tend to you Golden's the most. And for Oil Paints I actually like one of the cheapest paints, Permalba. Brushes are a disposable item for me and Im very abusive of my brushes. I buy what's cheap and has the best ratings and I toss them when they won't hold a decent point any longer. . I prefer the taklon bristles .