Dollar Tree Art Supplies!

Hello Everyone!
こんにちは、皆さん!

Today I have some things I have found at Dollar Tree, which I use as art supplies. 

Unless you are doing something professional, like an art commission where you need to ensure things have light-fastness or something like that, you do not need to always use expensive art supplies. 

Even then, there are ways to stay economical as much as possible. 

I went to Dollar Tree for some other items and found these things which help me in my artwork! 

The best thing is, everything is $1 at Dollar Tree! 

Small Containers

These containers are about an inch wide and about two inches long. You can get ten of these in a pack! They are in with the kitchen stuff at the store I went to, I use these for storing all of the small pieces of my action figures, my pen nibs, and other small items. You can stack them as well! 

http://shrsl.com/x90i

Receipt and Sales Order Books 

I have two different receipt books, which I use for any art commissions I get. These are each only $1 and they contain 50 sheets. They make one copy. These are very useful and a lot less expensive than the ones at office supply stores! 

Pencil Grips

Dollar Tree has various kinds of pencils grips! I like these foam ones because they fit many kinds of pencils and are comfortable for long hours of coloring and drawing. 

Gel Pens

These gel pens are really nice! I have not had any problems with them skipping or anything. You get four in a package. They are a very glittery water based ink. They do take a bit to dry, They contain a lot of ink in them and are very vibrant in color. 

http://shrsl.com/x8zu

10 Color Pen

This pen is really nice! You get ten colors in one pen! I have seen the four and six color versions, but a ten color one caught my eye. There is quite a variety of colors and they are fun to use. Some of the colors are really light, but overall this is a nice pen too! If you want to change colors, press down the button at the top. This is a little stiff at first, but once you get it to go through all of the pens, it will work fine. 

I will continue to look for useful things at Dollar Tree, so if you love Dollar Tree, keep watching this post from time to time as it will be updated! 

I am now an affiliate of Dollar Tree. By using these links and making a purchase, you can support the blog! Thank you for your support! 

Hobby Lobby Tracing Paper Review

Master's Touch Tracing Paper

Tracing paper is something almost every artist uses for a variety of things. I use it to learn how to draw. I can place it on top of a picture and trace the lines and details to get a feel for how it is done. Then, I sometimes use graphite transfer paper to transfer the image or I draw it freehand in my sketchbook and learn from there.

Another way I have used tracing paper is to trace and later transfer an outline of an image I wish to paint.

Paper shown through natural light

Transparency of paper for tracing

It is important to have good quality tracing paper. I don't like it so thin that it tears and wrinkles easily, yet too thick and you can't easily see through it.


Another thing is, that it is smooth and has very little paper grain. This helps to obtain crisp lines.

Master's Touch tracing Paper from Hobby Lobby is an economical tracing paper, which has these qualities. It also comes in a variety of sizes.

• Acid Free paper
• Sizes: 9" X 12", 11" x 14", and 14" x 17" 
• 50 sheets each pad
• 25 LB paper
• Cover made of study heavyweight paper and the back of hard board
• Fold-over cover for easy tearing out of pages.

Cover information

Paper smoothness shown still in the pad

One thing I really like about this paper is the quality for the price.I have used this with pencils, mostly, but I have found it to accept charcoal and it helps with not allowing ink to bleed through other pages when inking a drawing. I have yet to compare this with other brands like Canson, and Bee, but for the price this is definitely worth it. 

I have the 11" x 14" inch paper pad.

Thank you for reading! 

Master's Touch Tracing Paper

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!