No gatekeeping here! This is a comprehensive list of art and business supplies I use. Hope these help you and if you happen to purchase through the Amazon affiliate links, it'll help me in return 🥰
Table of Contents
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Gold Leaf
I get asked about where to buy gold leaf and how to use gold leaf in just about every single video so without further ado, scroll down for the "secret" ingredients to creating blinged up masterpieces.
Leafing Size (Glue)
Imitation Gold Leaf
Reno Art Gold Leaf 25 sheets 14x14cm
24K Gold Leaf
Barnabas Blattgold Professional Quality 24K Gold Leaf Sheets
Painting Equipment
This list could literally go on and on but to keep things relevant, I've picked my most used materials. There is also a big price difference between student and professional grade materials so I've also added my picks for both.
If you're still in the learning process, I'd recommend spending your money on the cheaper materials so you can practise more and gain skills. It's those skills that will differentiate a random drawing from a masterpiece, not how fancy your materials are.
On the other hand, when you start selling your artworks, it's time to invest in high quality materials. Customer satisfaction and integrity is paramount so I only use professional grade materials to make sure my collectors receive pieces of art that will last the test of time.
Painting in Progress: "Dea" Fine Art Print
Watercolour Paint
Professional watercolour paint: Daniel Smith 12 Colour Watercolour Half Pan Set
Cheaper paint: Marie's Watercolor Paint Set of 18 While I don't use these anymore, they were great for the learning process and my artworks from 10 years ago have aged quite well.
Watercolour Paper
Professional watercolour paper: Arches 300gsm Cold Press Watercolour Block 12"x16"
Cheaper paper: Reeves Water Colour Paper Pads 300gsm I tried out three brands of student grade paper (Reeves, Canson and Fabriano) and this one was my favourite.
Brushes
Watercolour brush: Polina Bright Professional Watercolour Round Brushes
Fine-line brush: Polina Bright Professional Watercolour Rigger Brush
Cheaper brushes: I bought a set of cheap Mont Marte brushes from the dollar store and I still regularly use them! While professional brushes are worth it, they are rather pricey and definitely not essential for your artistic practice. I couldn't find the exact brush set but I did find Mont Marte rigger brushes.
Miscellaneous
White pen for highlights: Sakura Gelly Basic White Pen
Eraser: Faber-Castell Dust-Free Eraser
Kneadable Eraser: Faber-Castell Kneadable Eraser Grey
Drawing board: A2 Drawing Board This is not the exact one I have (Mont Marte) but it looks very similar
Printing Equipment
After slogging through all the information out there on printers and their functions and all the various models, I chose one that would produce high quality prints but wouldn't break the bank because - let's be honest here - as beginner artists, we can barely afford to feed ourselves 😂. I'll save you all the trouble and take you straight to the answer. Behold below. (I do splurge on museum grade fine art printing paper though, be warned.)
Assorted Fine Art Prints from The Kookie Studio
Printer
Epson Expression Photo XP-970 Wireless Color Photo Printer with Scanner and Copier
Printer ink: Epson 277XL Six Colour Ink Cartridge Value Pack
Printing Paper
Hahnemühle German Etching Paper 310 gsm
Canon Pro Platinum Photo Paper 300gsm
Filming Equipment
The two things listed below are my trusted sidekicks, literally couldn't go a day without them.
Filming "The Flower of War" Painting Process
Phone Holder
UGREEN Tablet Mount Lazy Holder Adjustable Long Arm Clamp
Before this one, I had one with the bendy arm and claw clamp. Terrible. So hard to twist the arm to the desired position and it'd keep flopping/wobbling plus the clamp ended up breaking. This UGREEN phone holder though is an absolute dream.
Ring Light
Rimposky Ring Light with Mini Tripod Stand
I DIY'ed an overhead setup with the ring light so I can work through the night and it's extra handy because I can tweak the colour and brightness settings!