15 of my favorite art materials that I highly recommend as an artist!

I have been drawing since before I could walk, so I have had a lot of time to get to know some good art materials! I'm going to list 10 of my personal favorites for traditional art and why I like them. Along with 5 digital art products/programs that I use the most for both traditional and digital art. I hope this list helps you in your artistic journey!

10 Traditional Art Materials

• Strathmore Paper

• Prismacolor Colored Sketch Pencils

• Faber-Castell Pens

• Pigma Micron Pens

• Copic Markers

• Prismacolor Markers

• Arteza Real Brush Pens

• Prismacolor Colored Pencils

• Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencil

• Glitter Pens

Useful Technology to Invest In

• Epson Perfection V600 Scanner

• iPad 7th generation or above

3 Digital Art Programs I Use

• Procreate

• MediBang Paint

• Paint Tool SAI

Strathmore Sketchbooks

I have tried many different brands of sketchbooks and papers over the years as an artist. And the best paper I have ever used is Strathmore. Strathmore has a whole variety of different types of papers meant for different types or materials. I have used a lot of them, and my favorites are:

• Tan Toned Paper

• Watercolor Paper

• Mixed Media Paper

• Marker Paper

The tan toned paper is really great for making your colors pop or just practicing sketching your shading and highlights with white pencils, pens, etc.

The watercolor paper is obviously really great for watercolors. In my experience, it is hard to find a decent paper that works well for your watercolors. And watercolor can be a tricky material to work with and sometimes you end up using a lot of layers that ruin the wrong kind of paper. If you use the right type of paper, it should be less gruesome to the layers.

The mixed media paper is great for almost anything as it is clearly meant for a mix of materials. It is thick and smooth and holds up to a lot. I have used it for most of my sketches and drawings.

The marker paper is my absolute favorite of them all! This paper is super smooth and soft, making it easier to blend things together. It's my personal favorite paper to use for colored pencil drawings.

Above all, Strathmore has a lot more different paper types to offer including sketch paper, grey toned paper, and more! I highly recommend this more than any other brand that I have tried so far.

Prismacolor Colored Sketch Pencils

These colored, erasable sketch pencils work so wonderfully. For a basic sketch they add color and pop to your drawing. They erase decently well on most papers that I have used them on, and they don't smear everywhere when trying to draw, color, or lightly erase them.

They work perfectly for colored pencil drawings, alcohol-based markers, and watercolor paintings.

Faber-Castell Pens

These so far are the best pens I have ever used, to draw linework with. They come in many different pen tip options for all the different types of lines you need to draw. They dry really fast and when it comes time to erase the pencil behind the linework, it never smears from my experience. It does not lighten when I erase either. They are super great!

Pigma Micron Pens

These pens are a decent secondary option to the Faber-Castell pens. They take a bit longer to dry but they can get the job done. They shouldn't smear as long as the ink is fully dried. In my experience with these pens, they do lighten a little bit after erasing the sketch layer underneath. Sometimes I add another layer of ink on top of it afterword. I have also noticed that sometimes this ink will smear if used with alcohol-based markers, so it is best to color before applying the linework in that case. Otherwise, they are still a decent pick in comparison to other cheap pens. And they also have different varieties of thickness in their pen tips.

Copic Markers

These professional alcohol-based markers are widely known and used for artists around the world, especially for comic artists. They are refillable and double ended. My favorite tip is the brush nib. These markers are so fun to use and after some practice they're pretty easy to get used to as well! However, they are super expensive. So, I have been slowly collecting them 1-3 markers at a time over the years with coupon codes in craft stores lol.

Prismacolor Markers

Similar to the copic markers, these are decent alcohol-based markers. They are also double ended and are fun to use! They are a cheaper alternate to the copic markers, and they can get the job done. My favorite way to use these markers, are as a base color layer before adding color pencil shading on top.

Another cheaper alcohol-based marker option that I have yet to try, but really want to try, are Ohuhu Markers. It is an extra material that is not in my list, since I have yet to try them. But whenever I do, I will update this blog post!

Arteza Real Brush Pens

These pens are so amazing and colorful and vibrant! If you are a watercolor person, these markers are for you. The tips of the pens are like real paint brushes. Hence the name 'Real Brush Pens'. I use these pens with just a little bit of water, and they always come out so beautifully! And they blend so nicely as well. I highly, highly recommend these!

Prismacolor Colored Pencils

These are by far the best colored pencils I have ever used. I use the Premier Soft Core Colored Pencil Sets. They have soft, thick cores and they pop out so well on the paper. Here I have a drawing I did in 2020 using the Prismacolor Colored Sketch Pencil for the sketch, on the Tan Toned Strathmore Paper, and colored it with the Prismacolor Soft Core Colored Pencils! Also topped with a little bit of the Just Glitter pen that I will be getting to soon!

Prismacolor Colorless Blender Pencil

This pigment free wax pencil usually comes separately from the colored pencil packs. It is a very useful tool that helps you blend the colors or smooth out your light shading with the colored pencils, or take out those hard edges! I also used this pencil on the orca drawing above.

Of course, if you don't have or want to get this pencil, you can always use a white prismacolor pencil to blend and smooth out your drawing as well. That is a used technique by the famous instagram artist known as Kristina Webb or Colour Me Creative. (Yes, we have such similar names! Lol)

Glitter Pens

These pens are something that I personally enjoy using to add a bit of sparkly detail to my pieces. There are 2 different kinds that I love and use.

• Deco Just Glitter Pens

• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens

This photo in particular, I used the Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen. It REALLY sparkles in the light and it's so beautiful! It is a clear liquid with I believe to be clear glitter as well. But when it hits the right light it shines so brightly!

The Deco Just Glitter pens come in many different colors! I mostly just use the silver glitter and the gold glitter pens in this case. I myself haven't use the other colored ones yet. But from what I have seen, I believe the colored ones have colored ink in them along with the glitter.

Epson Perfection V600 Scanner

As an artist who does a lot of traditional art and sometimes prefers traditional sketches and digital colorings, a scanner is highly recommended. I did a lot, and I mean A LOT of research on different kinds of scanners before making my choice. Ultimately, I ended up going with the Epson Perfection V600. It's really great quality and the colors come out as they should be in the scan. I did try another Epson Perfection scanner before this one, that was an older model. And the colors did not translate well. So I do highly recommend the V600 or above if there is a newer model.

iPad 7th Generation (or above)

Most artists already know that an iPad or an iPad Pro would be a great investment as an artist, along with the apple pencil. And this is true! I have the iPad 7th Gen and I love it so much! I have improved in digital art so much since I got this.

I used to use an old Bamboo Wacom Tablet from 2007 that I used with my computer. It was a very trusted screenless tablet for years. Until it broke in early 2021 and I was a digital artist left with no way to work on digital art commissions! However, I think you can still get the same tablet for around 10 dollars now.

When I upgraded to the iPad, I was blown away with all that it can do for my art. And I still have yet to figure out everything. There is so much to it and so much more to learn!

Procreate

Much like the iPad, I am sure most artists have also heard of this app for apple devices called Procreate. There is so much that you can do for your work on this app! There is still so much I am learning to do on this program. However, the layer amount is very limited depending on your file size. This app even has special tools to help make animating super easy! It only cost me 10 dollars as a one-time payment. Totally worth the investment!

MediBang Paint

If you have an android tablet instead of an apple tablet, MediBang Paint is a really great app to use as well. I don't have nearly as much experience with this app as I do with Procreate, but this app I used for a few drawings, and I really enjoyed the progress and the outcome of each of them! Just like on the procreate app, you can make your own brushes and textures.

Paint Tool SAI

This program is what I used for the computer before I had a screen tablet to draw on. It cost me around 60 dollars also for a one-time purchase. It is a great program to invest in and I do wish that I could use this program with my iPad sometimes. Just like the other apps, you can make your own brushes and textures with this program as well. Highly recommend!

That concludes my list of some of my most recommended and favorite art tools and materials that I have used over the years. I hope that you enjoyed this and that it helps you with your journey as an artist! Thank you for reading :)