A material list of my favourites, as well as my recommendations.
Drawing Paper
Intermediate level artist.
Medium Surface. This paper is cream-colored, eggshell-textured, and holds up well for both shading and block-in sketches. Use this paper for sketches.
All levels.
This is tracing paper. Vellum can also be painted on, but we won’t be doing that.
Advanced level artist.
Smooth surface is very important for final drawings.
Thick, bright white, very smooth paper: Use this paper only for highly finished drawings:
You won't need to buy bristol paper until several weeks or months into drawing, after you complete the Intro to Classical Drawing lessons. If you can’t find this brand, get a heavy cardstock quality drawing paper with a very smooth surface. This is a heavyweight cardstock paper and there are only 20 sheets in a pad, so it is not suitable for the earlier lessons.
Painting Paper
Arches 300gsm hot pressed smooth
Advanced level artist.
Arches is a high quality and rather expensive paper. Not best for beginners wanting to practice, mainly because you will waste a lot of expensive paper. If you have the money, go for it :) but for everyone else, we tend to use “cheaper” paper initially until we’re confident. It can be good to start learning with the best, but realistically that is not always feasible. See below for beginner paper options.
Fabriano Studio Hot Press
Beginner
This is a much more affordable paper, and therefore is a lower quality - naturally.
It is only 25% cotton and is not Acid Free. The effect this has is 1) lower cotton means that it is easier to overwork the paper 2) acid may interfere with the tone of color and your color may fade over time. Not ideal for ARTWORKS, but great for practicing and learning.
I have an entire blog post on Watercolour Paper here.
Paint
Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolor Tubes
All levels
Great high quality paint - a little goes a long way and definitely worth the investment.
Paper will be your highest expense, paint, once you have the colour, you probably wont have to buy it again in a few years.
Brushes
da Vinci Watercolor Series 5240 Deluxe Paint Brush Set
Intermediate to Advanced
Great all rounder brush set of high quality brushes - Made from natural Kolinsky red sable hair.
Great sizes - from fine details to medium blending to large washes.
Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky
Intermediate to Advanced
The number #0 to #4 brushes are my absolute favorite. They are luxuriously thick and plump for their size and hold a good amount of water, given their relative size. They're great for blending fine details. My go to brush for detailed botanical work.
To start off you will need 1 small brush (#0 or #1) and one larger brush #4 - the da Vinci box has everything you would need.
Pencils
Derwent Graphic Pencils All levels
Faber-Castell Polychromos Coloring Pencils Intermediate to Advanced
Tools
Masking Fluid All levels
Faber-Castell kneaded Erasers All levels
Other
MEEDEN 6-Drawer Artist Supply Storage Box
Adjustable Drawing Painting Board and Easel
What is next?
Get my FREE Antique Botanical Watercolour mini course here. I will go into details on each material and show you how to use them and set up your work area.
