What's next for this blog?

Hello everyone!

I have been thinking about where I would like to take this blog next, however, that will not be possible without you, my dear readers.

I will continue to review the art supplies I have. Please forgive me for being slow at that as I am working on art commissions and other things at the moment.

However, I would like to know if you have anything you wish for me to review or anything else, please leave a comment below.

Also, in the future, as soon as I have the means to do it, I would like to start a YouTube for this blog, so that I may deliver you more content. I want to do some how-to videos, art supply challenges, reviews, and more if I think of any ideas.

However, none of this will be possible without you. I, too, will need financial support as well as reader support in order to do that.

I am considering various options in order to do this, which I will update you all in the future. I do not want to have to resort to having ads on this blog for that purpose.

The first way I have in which you may support me is, I have a gift list on Amazon. If you choose to support me in that way, thank you so much in advance! I care about you all and want to encourage you on your art endeavors as well.

I have listed a number of things. They are both big and small so that hopefully a lot of people can help if they wish. You should be able to purchase directly from the list and Amazon should take care of all the rest as far as items getting to me. I will review any and all of the items, I receive this way and update an ongoing post of thanks as well.

Here is a link to the list.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3FYMYRHERBHI9

If you cannot at this time do this, please do not feel bad. What you can do if you cannot support me in these ways is you can share this post as well as this blog with friends and anyone you know. A few clicks on social media can go a long way.

Another way, which you can help me is by sharing my posts and blog with others who might be interested in reading.

The third way you can help is by subscribing to my blog; either through email, RSS feed, or the social media links on each page. 

Once again, I thank you for your support either way.

Gift ideas for Artists

Hello everyone!

I watched a few YouTube videos of some of my favorite artists and a few others the last few days about gift ideas for artists.

Thank you to Zoe Hong, for allowing me to share this video with you all. 

They were very helpful and informative, so I thought I would share a couple of those as well as share a few gift ideas myself.

I have linked a public gift guide on Amazon, should you be interested in possibly getting me something I would like to try and I will review it on the blog as well. If you have other ideas, I am open to those as well.

Below are some of my personal suggestions for artists.

For Beginner Artists

Often, people suggest you get these art sets for these people. While some of them can be really good, a lot of these, unfortunately, have poor quality art supplies. While beginners do not need professional grade things, nor am I suggesting that, they should at least have something decent to play around with.

A few brands I suggest looking for in  sets might be Crayola, General's, Daler Rowney Simply series, and Royal & Langnickel. Some of the art sets at Micheal's and Hobby Lobby might be okay, but I've read very mixed reviews. Therefore, these are a hit or miss. I personally haven't tried them, however.

For Intermediate Artists

These are people who are still discovering different mediums they like, they are likely in middle School to high school, perhaps college age, but they consider art a hobby. I suggest you find out what they like to use, whether they like drawing, painting, or whatever and go from there.

For these people, if it's a high quality set, it might be worth getting. Otherwise, I would pick up something specific.

A few sets I could recommend are General's, Prismacolor, Marco Raffine, and possibly Derwent.

Unless you know exactly what they like, especially if they're picky, I would stay away from sketchbooks and paints as these vary greatly in quality and price. If you really want to do that, get them a set of paints from well known brands like Holbien, Ulbrecht, etc... Sketchbooks I would recommend Canson Mixed media paper. Strathmore is also a good company.

For Advanced and Professional Artists

These artists are going to be very particular. Unless you're an artist yourself, it will be very difficult to get them something.

A gift card or certificate to their favorite art store, might be a good idea. Make sure it's for a decent amount. Art supplies can get very expensive, especially for the advanced and professional artist.

Professional grade brands include; Faber Castell, Derwent, Caran D'arche, Tombow, and the like.

If you wish to get them something specific, I would get to know them and what they like and use. You cannot go wrong with something you know they use a lot of. With all this being said, many artists including myself, love to be surprised with something unique, which we can try out. It's the thought that counts, ultimately. I just hope this helps you in not wasting money and resources on something that the artist in your life will maybe use once, if at all.

Link to my personal gift guide (if you would like to support the blog and other things I would like to do in the future). 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3FYMYRHERBHI9

I hope that this adds to all the helpful guides out there and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and safe holiday season!

Introducing Art Techniques

Hello everyone!

In order to make this blog fun, interesting, and beneficial to you, my awesome readers, I want to not only do reviews of various art supply products, but show you how to use them as well.

As I post product reviews, I will also write posts on how to use the supplies which I review and different techniques you can do with them.

Sound cool?

If you have anything in particular, which, you would like me to review or a particular art technique you would like to know more about, please feel free to comment below. This will be very helpful to me in knowing what you all are interested in as well.

Thank you for reading!


I would also like to note that I am a member of various affiliate programs. From time to time I will be posting links to these websites as well as others where you can purchase products. I earn a small commission from purchases linked to these links at no extra cost to you. As for the other stores, like Hobby Lobby which, I am not affiliated with, I enjoy them as well and wish to promote them. I am not affiliated with them, however.

Art Supplies Every Beginning Artist Should Have

Good Afternoon, everyone!

Today I am going to go over a few things that every artist needs to be able to start drawing.

I know how it can be daunting and complicated to find good quality art supplies without getting too expensive. This is an especially difficult thing for beginner artists.

Many beginners buy art supply sets or boxes and many of the art supplies inside are poor quality. However, this isn't always the case, but the higher end sets still tend to be very expensive.

When I decided I wanted to try out some better quality art supplies, I purchased them individually for a few reasons.

• Better Quality
• Price (Sometimes you'll find sales)
• Choice on art supplies to purchase.

Most beginning artists start off either drawing, painting, or both. I will first go over drawing supplies and then painting supplies. I will be updating this post with links to reviews of products I personally have tried and suggest.

Paper

Paper should be of good quality and made for the Media you wish to work with. For beginner's I suggest, Canson XL Mixed Media paper. You can find it easily and you will get good quality paper for the price. For something a little more basic, I suggest Bienfeng Take-Me-Along Sketchbook. They also make good quality paper.

Pencils

As for pencils, for beginner's General Pencil Company is a good way to go. They are made in the USA and they come in a variety of degrees. Their charcoal products are also very nice. I began with General's Semi-Hex drawing pencils. I later got the Tombow Mono pencils, which are very useful for colored pencil drawings as the graphite is very dense and does not smear. Tombow is a Japanese company with some unique products. However, I still use General's for when I do want to smear it!

Erasers

There are many forms of erasers on the market right now. I have quite a few myself. I will have an article comparing the erasers I have personally used up soon. However, I will give you some basics to have.

One important thing to remember is, to try to get erasers which don't have any dye in them as this with age can come out and mark up your paper.

Rubber Eraser

Rubber erasers are the most basic form of eraser and are used for general work. They are usually the cheapest and easiest to get. Be careful as some may tear your paper. General's All Art, Papermate black Pearl, and Derwent white eraser are good choices.

Kneaded Erasers

These erasers are fun as you knead them into shapes with your hands. This allows you to lighten and lift whatever it is you are trying to erase out of the paper. They clean themselves as well when you knead them again.

Plastic Erasers

There are a lot of these out there. The ones I have personally used and found useful are, Factis Eraser,and Tombow Mono eraser.

Crayons

Good old crayons! I grew up using crayons and still love them for certain projects. I recommend Crayola and Prang crayons as these are my personal favorites and have very consistent quality. Crayola has perhaps the most colors of all crayon companies. All the colors! 

Colored Pencils

My other favorite medium to use! I will be doing a colored pencil comparison with all of the colored pencils I currently have soon as well. There are wax and oil based colored pencils. There isn't a whole lot of difference between them except that Oil based do not get a waxy film on the paper called wax bloom and you can get some different blending effects with them.

Colored Pencils are a really neat medium as you can blend them in different ways, provided you have good quality artist pencils to do so. This can be done with colorless blender pencils as well as other things like odorless paint thinner, mineral spirits and the like,

A few brands I would recommend include:

Koh-I-Noor,
Marco Raffine
Derwent
Prismacolor

I will update this review with these posts as well.

Pencil Sharpener

It is always good to have a good quality pencil sharpener.

I recommend a hand one as it is less likely to break the pencils. Pencil sharpeners for the most part are inexpensive as well.

General's All Art red sharpener is good to begin with and then later on, the Bostitch Twist N' Sharp. 

Other Accessories which are optional

Chamois - a small piece of leather or some are synthetic for shading and softening pencil, charcoal and even colored pencil

Eraser Shield - a small metal stencil-like thing, which allows you to erase smaller areas and avoid places you don't!

Tortillions and Blending Stumps - Pieces of paper wrapped very tightly to shade, blend and even move color or charcoal around. Also useful for Oil and chalk pastels!



I think that is everything! I hope you all look forward to product reviews and I have posted links to where you might purchase these products on this page.

Thank you for reading!