supplies..

[artmakessense]

going art supply shopping for christmas, but i have no idea what the necessities are..
i need good paper for sketching, and the right pencils. and also some utensils that are good for coloring without ruining the original concept.
and any good instructional/reference/how-to art books.
whats a good store to go to also?

help??

[FlameDragon]

going art supply shopping for christmas, but i have no idea what the necessities are..
i need good paper for sketching, and the right pencils. and also some utensils that are good for coloring without ruining the original concept.
and any good instructional/reference/how-to art books.
whats a good store to go to also?

help??


For pencils, I recommend getting a lead holder and get different types of lead for it such as 3H, 2H, H, HB, and 2B. Get a lead sharpener too, though they can be costly (the top of the lead holder is a sharpener if you want to use that, but the rotary sharpener is better). Look for vine charcoal and a blending stomp as well.

Some books that I've found useful were:

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life
Complete Guide to Figure Drawing by Anthony Ryder
Vilpuu Drawing Manual
Also, I look through newspapers, magazines to find photos to draw.

I like this art store daVinci art supply, they just opened up for business recently. I'm not sure if there is one near you, but they have the lowest prices (almost as if they are trying to undercut the other stores...). Pearl Arts is another good one.

Great to see someone eager about art ;)

[FlameDragon]

Oh yeah and another good book is Anatomy: A Complete Guide for Artists by Joseph Sheppard. It shows you the skeleton and the muscles for the body parts, and has turnarounds as well so you can see them from different angles.

[HunterKiller_]

I second lead holders. The Staedtler Mars Technico is nice one.
Mechanical pencils, 5mm is the common size for detail work.
A good eraser - Staedtler Mars is pretty much the staple.
Photo-blue pencils for rough work.

[TASmith]

Here's a similar question people - I've recently bought some General's charcoal pencils, and I'm having trouble drawing details with them. Can anyone suggest a good paper to use with these pencils?

[Alzorath]

I personally buy from DickBlick ( http://www.dickblick.com ) for supplies (you're in the US...so the shipping deals they have may work for you if you're making a large purchase - they usually also have other deals though that will make up for shipping as well). I'm not sure if they have a brick & mortar in your area (I know they don't have any in Texas though lol - which is where I am now). They tout on their website about current events they have at their stores though.

I have to head to work...but I'll try and drop by and give a quick rundown of a few good books as well after I get back.

[artmakessense]

^^thanks.. ill be waiting for the books then

[Dead Pedal]

I don’t know where you are in AZ, but if you see a Hobby Lobby stop in. The first time I was in one there was all the cheese stuff I dislike, but the place was huge. In the back they had a good size art section with the same supplies I have bought out of my college bookstore and other art stores. It’s not the same atmosphere, but they always have sales.

They also have a clearance section that I’ve picked up good art supplies at. The more materials you work with you will learn what is good and what is garbage.

If you hit their website they usually have a printable coupon for 40% off. They are a decent source for general supplies.

What I do now is keep a general base of supplies, then when I come across a deal I pick something up to use some time in the future.

I also do buy some supplies from our local art stores when the prices are decent. They help support the arts so in turn I help to support them. If you are ever in a bind a local supplier may be able to help you same day, so it’s good in my opinion to keep a good relationship with a mix of suppliers.

[artmakessense]

thanks thats the first familiar/local place ive been reccomended so far, considering i dont know any art stores

[sweetoblivion314]

Here's a similar question people - I've recently bought some General's charcoal pencils, and I'm having trouble drawing details with them. Can anyone suggest a good paper to use with these pencils?

how are you sharpening them? You shouldn't sharpen them in a standard pencil sharpener you wont really get a good point. Take an x-acto blade and shave off the wood till there is about 1 inch (2.5cm) of the charcoal showing then take a sandpaper block and holding the pencil at an angle rub it until you have a long tapered point. To avoid braking the tip off you should sharpen it along the length of the pencil rotating as you go instead of perpendicular to the pencil like you would use it to lay a tone down. And always keep it sharp.

As far as paper. Personally, I and most people i know stay away from "charcoal paper". Its extremely rough and you wont be able to get details on it. I like strathmore medium drawing paper. You can try rough i haven't used it, but don't get smooth the charcoal wont stick to it. I also think regular bond paper would be too smooth to really hold it well but again i havent tried it. I wrote a whole dissertation on paper somewhere in the critique center i think. I'll try to find it and link it here.

[Alzorath]

Beyond the Loomis books (which someone will have to give you the link for...since I don't have it readily available *though I do have the PDFs*)

There are a variety of books that can prove useful when starting out, as well as when further developing various skills. Since my preferred subject is character design (ie figure work) - most of my library consists of Anatomy related books with only a smattering of other subjects (so my list is weighted).

For Anatomy - I'm a big fan of "Atlas of Anatomy for the Artist" by Stephen Rogers Peck. It's basically a highly detailed, yet artist focused, anatomy book (most anatomy books seem to be 'too vague' and focus on purely surface anatomy, or 'too technical' and are made more for doctors and surgeons - This book is a very nice balance of the two - giving you all the detail you'll need, without becoming overwhelmingly medical)

As for additional Figure-focused books - there are several good reliable authors out there - George Bridgman and Andrew Loomis are the two you will see mentioned most around here, there are also Glenn Vilppu, Vanderpoel, Burne Hogarth (don't buy his "Dynamic Lighting" book), and to a lesser extent Jack Hamm (Hamm is more of a 'trick book' - which gives you quick tricks you can use - while the rest focus more on giving you tools to find your own tricks).

As far as non-anatomy books go, there are a number of choices to go with, and I'm not exactly as immersed in them, so there may be better books on a given subject out there.

"Perspective Made Easy" by Earnest R. Norling is a fairly nice introduction to Perspective (and will cover most of your bases)

"Color: A guide to understanding the art of mixing colors" by Betty Edwards is a very popular color theory book, which would prove helpful when working with colors.

Robert Beverly Hale books are enjoyed here as well.

As far as instruction books - a lot of people swear by Betty Edwards "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" and Nicolaides "The Natural Way to Draw" - these are very intensive exercise driven books, and people either love or hate them. Basically though anything that will get you drawing will be helpful.

Barron's "All About techniques in" and "Barron's Handbooks" are both ok series geared towards younger/beginning artists that will give you a step in the right direction (however they are nowhere near as helpful in the long run as the other books, these do provide a nice introduction and help setup some basics). The authors of both of these series are some Spanish group from South America if memory serves (but the translation is done fairly nicely and is easily able to be understood)


Hope that helps...

Another thing that may prove useful is to start up a sketchbook and place the link in your signature (so more people will be able to spot it) - in the end books are helpful, but they can't critique you - it requires people with a critical eye able to give a fresh view and unbiased opinion on your work - and on an art forum, many of us can give you tips on how to fix problems and move forward with your work.

PS - Michael's is another store like Hobby Lobby, in that for the most part they have a bunch of "junk" - but if you know where to find it in their store, their art department has an ok stuff (at least at the Michael's stores near me).

I checked and Dickblick doesn't have stores in Arizona (Though they do have them in California and Nevada...)

[Vhan Juju]

Here is just something that you might find a little interesting!

I don't know what they are called, but they sit in front of you at something of a 45 degree angle surface to draw on...I hope you get at what I'm talking about. it gives you a angles surface to draw on.

Well, I wanted one, so I went into Office depot, and i saw a display next to the projector, IT WAS PERFECT! so I asked him to look in the back to see if he had any of these things laying around, broken, whatever.

What I got was a FREE thing (you know when you go into restraunts, and there is the plastic thing holding up the piece of paper with the specials on it, well I got one of those, only big enoughf to draw on, and just a little chipped at the corner!)

Look around for nice things you could use, and ask if there are any broken ones that you can have, YOU CAN GET A LOT OF KEWL STUFF~!

Tip: go towards the end of the day, but not too late were they have allready taken out the trash.

Metal factories will have LOADS of shelfs that you can use to hold your art supplies.

ANY place that produces stuff in masses, throws it out in masses, and is perfect for our needs.

Good paper is great to draw on when you wanna get serious, but its nice to have some junk on hand to warm up on, or doodle arond with, studies, etc. If you got a friend who works in a office, get them to keep a eye out for ya.

Keep ur eyes open! yo'll find a lot out there!

[Meli Hitchcock]

Definitely concur with Hobby Lobby. Their sales change every week (I used to work there while I was in college) so make sure you check out their site! They put sketchbooks and paper on sale for 50% off every now and then. Pens, pencils, pastels usually for 30% or 25% among many other supplies including their books. But most of their books is all that Walter Foster crap. Haven't checked out lately if they've expanded that, but their selection for supplies there are a lot larger than Michaels. I think Michaels has cut a lot of their art section down. :/

[TASmith]

thank you sweetoblivion for the excellent advice!

[artmakessense]

THANKS GUYS
ill definitely take all your suggestions

[Quofalcon]

Try Col-erase pencils; I have yet to test them myself but I hear they're good for sketching, construction and putting down your roughs before moving on. They come in different colors including (light)blue which supposedly is simular to non-photo blue.

[Favila]

Barron's "All About techniques in" and "Barron's Handbooks" are both ok series geared towards younger/beginning artists that will give you a step in the right direction (however they are nowhere near as helpful in the long run as the other books, these do provide a nice introduction and help setup some basics). The authors of both of these series are some Spanish group from South America if memory serves (but the translation is done fairly nicely and is easily able to be understood)

Actually it is a spanish group from Spain —that's Europe, not South America by the way— called Parramon. Parramon (a publishing company) was created by Jose Maria Parramon, a painter and art teacher, as a correspondence courses company back in the 1960s and up to 8,000 followed those, but eventually they evolved to art book publishers. The good books are the ones written by Jose María Parramón himself, the others by this editor are nice introductions but as you said they wont prove as useful as others.

I got one about self portraiture from my dad, and it's quite good. I'll make good use of it in the near future.