Inside my studio: my favourite art supplies and how I use them

I moved away from drawing digitally a few years ago and through trial and error have found the art supplies that I love using. I still get excited about trying out new supplies (and I have even tried making my own paint), but there are some trusted tools that I use over and over again and that I know are perfect to bring my ideas to life!

I enjoy the physicality of painting and the feeling of creating something with my own hands, and with paint there are always accidents and triumphs. It’s all part of the joy of making art.

Below you’ll find a list of the ten most used and loved art supplies, with some of my most-used colours.

✦ Holbein Acryla gouache

Without a doubt, my favourite paint! I bought my first tubes in Japan just to try them out and I still remember how lovely it felt to paint my fist swatches. The paint is creamy and easy to paint with, a drop of paint mixed with a little bit of water will go a long way. The colours available are very saturated and when the paint dries the texture is velvety and smooth. On top of that, acrylic gouache can be layered without fear of smudging.

Favourite colours: Rose violet and Pale lilac.

✦ Kuretake Gansai Tambi

I tried many watercolour sets before settling on this one. What makes this particular watercolour standout is that the colours are opaque so you can create vibrant, saturated paintings. The downside is that if you use too much pigment some of the colours will have a shine to them. Still, I sometimes use these watercolours together with gouache because I love the textures I get on my paintings.

Favourite colours:

✦ Chinese bamboo brushes

I came across these kind of brushes years ago when I took a traditional Chinese ink painting class. The brushes are versatile and can hold a lot of water/paint which is ideal to cover large surfaces. The shape of the bristles is long and pointy, perfect for small details. I have 3 sizes but use the small one more often.

✦ Caran D’ache Neopastels oil pastels

Last year I started experimenting with oil pastels and I have to say this is my favourite brand. I feel my hand gliding on the paper when I’m drawing with these and I love the saturated colours I get on paper.

Favourite colours: Lila and Mauve

✦ Caran D’ache supracolor II coloured pencils

I usually make a sketch to paint over but I’m not a fan of the dark lines of ordinary pencils. An artist on social media recommended watercolour pencils for sketching and upon trying it out I discovered that it was exactly what I was looking for. The lines of the sketch melt with the paint and I get sharp edges and no dark lines.

Favourite colour: Granite rose

✦ Daler Rowney hot pressed paper

I really love the smooth texture of this paper that unlike cold pressed paper, is uniform but still good for painting with watercolours and gouache.

✦ Windsor & Newton calligraphy ink

After trying out many gel and acrylic pens, I’ve come to love using this white ink for adding details to my paintings. It is very opaque so it will give you strong contrast when applied on a medium to dark colour.

Favourite colour: white

✦ Art Philosophy watercolours

This is another set of watercolours that I like using but is not opaque as the japanese one. What I like about this set is the colour selection which is a combination of cool and warm pastels. It’s an unusual but lovely palette of colours that I haven’t seen in any other brand yet.

Favourite set: Vintage Pastels

✦ Canson Mi-Teintes coloured paper

A few years back in Japan I bought some coloured paper to experiment with and only afterwards noticed it was Canson paper. The paper I bought is only 165 g/m2 but It doesn’t warp as much. In general I prefer to buy paper that is at least 200 g/m2, but this one works well for painting with gouache.

Favourite colour: dawn pink

✦ Choosing Keeping sketchbook

On a visit to Italy, I bought a hand made sketchbook from a small shop. It had creamy, blank pages and the cover was made with a special patterned paper. The spine and corners of the sketchbook where lined with matching fabric. I loved my sketchbook and it inspired me to sketch, but when I finished it I struggled to find something similar until I came upon a stationery shop selling the same kind of sketchbooks and papers with a vintage aesthetic. The paper is 90 g/m2 and it is good for sketching with pencils and pens. The pages warp with paint but I use it to swatch colours.

Favourite colour: pink spine and corners with a floral paper.

✦ and some honourable mentions…..

Staedler 4B pencil
Tombow 2-Hole Pencil Sharpener
Muji NONSLIP CUTTING RULER
Staedler soft dust free rubber

Whether you're a pro artist or just starting out, finding the right art supplies to express yourself is key. I hope this list has given you some ideas for new supplies to try out.

What are your favourite art supplies? Let me know in the comments, and if you have other art related questions you can reach out on instagram or in the comments here :)