So I have a confession to make, I just LOVE art materials and have a bit of an addiction! However I tend to stick to the same art materials for my illustration and surface pattern design work as they give me the ‘look’ I am after.

Watercolour pencils

Why I love it: This is my desert island art material, the one thing I would choose above all others! For me, watercolour pencils are the perfect mix of drawing and painting, you can get very precise lines and shading like graphite pencils, but then when you add water the illustration becomes very vibrant. 

It is also easy to get realistic colours by layering and blending the pencils on paper before applying water.

Top tips: do a test swatch of your colours to refer to when drawing. I also work from light to dark, so start with your lighter areas/colours first and slowly build up to darker colours.

Brands I use: Caran D’Ache are the ultimate splurge, I also recommend Derwent.

Watercolour Pan Paints

Why I love it: Watercolour paints are just plain fun, you can get a variety of effects from soft and dreamy to bold and bright depending on how much water vs paint you use. They are quite versatile and easy to blend colours to get the perfect shade. 

Top tips: experiment with different watercolour techniques and brushes and keep notes of what you have done to refer to for future paintings.

Brands I use: Winsor & Newton professional pan paints are my go-to – colours are amazing and very vibrant. 

Colour Pencils

Why I love it: I use coloured pencils to add details to my watercolour illustrations, you can either blend them in or let the pencil marks show for a more ‘arty’ vibe. They can also be used over acrylic and gouache for some fun drawings!

Top tips: a white pencil is great for adding subtle highlights to a watercolour illustration, and very fine pencil marks can help give shape to objects like shells and petals.

Brands I use: Polychromos are awesome, they blend really well and are very bright & pigmented.

Acrylic Paint

Why I love it: When I want to do something that looks more ‘arty’ I just love to use my acrylic paints, I find they force you to be less perfect and embrace the brush marks and painterly look.

Top tips: Let paint dry between layers if you don’t want the colours to blend too much. Have a few different brushes handy and try them out to understand what each can do.

Brand I use: anything I like the colour of! I basically buy acrylic paints if I see a colour I like, particularly fluro colours. 

I hope you found this blog post interesting! If you want to see more of what I actually use in my art business, I’ve put together a complete list of my creative resources.

I’d love to know what your top art materials are?