Every beginner artist starts with a pencil, crayon, dirt, or none of the above. Usually, as you progress in your art journey, through led breaks and crayola crayon wrapers, you start to wonder what other things could be used for your amazing drawings, what different materials could help you advance? While artists use many utensils and tools for different purposes, I will cover the mainstream ones, including what brands I recommend, what items to use for what activity, and some tips.
As a beginner, you may look towards your favorite artist on social media. Art companies constantly sponsor artists online, filming themselves using the product almost effortlessly. Many of these artists are often older than the ones watching their videos, since usually an artist starts as a young artist. They’ve had a chance of years at practice with the flow of their hand tracing against paper, making their product look even better, or ‘higher’ quality.
The most promoted product I’ve seen is Alcohol markers. Alcohol markers are ink- and dye-based markers, different from the stereotypical water-based markers such as Crayola washable markers. The coloring has a semi-transparent opacity; for example, a pink line could be seen even when a yellow horizontal line crosses over it. They are often used for coloring, coming with different tones of the same color for shading and layering colors. Copic’s are a very popular alcohol marker brand, but are very expensive. Copic’s have an easier flow when used; their brush markers are soft, though very, very delicate. Copic’s are often recommended, but I honestly would stick with Ohuhu markers, a cheaper option and honestly a longer-lasting one. Ohuhu, I feel are perfect for a beginner. When you begin, it’s easy to destroy the tip of any marker nib since you’re still learning, and Copics just aren’t able to be replaced immediately because of the price once damaged.
Another big company I’m also seeing being promoted is Posca’s. I’ve had Posca’s three times in the past, and honestly, for their price, they aren’t the best for beginners. Posca’s are expensive packs of acrylic paint markers. They are at first liquid till you shake them, and some need you to jab them against the paper/canvas to get the paint going, though some other brands only need you to shake them. Poscas are expensive for just a pack of primary colors, their packs ranging from 30$ to over 100$. Though they lasted a bit with me, I didn’t realize how much money they needed. Posca markers have removable and replaceable tips, and paint refills are available. I used mine for about three months before I had to change it. I feel like that’s a lot of work for someone who isn’t even drawing professionally yet, so I went with a newer brand- Grabbie.
Grabbie is a multi-art material brand, and it’s quite affordable compared to Copic and Posca(Both also only sell their markers). I have used Grabbie’s dual-tone-brush-tip-acrylic-paint marker set for half a year now, and they’ve lasted pretty long! Grabbie sells sets of Paint markers, Watercolor markers, Colored Pencils, oil pastels, and even capped gel pens, ranging from $6.99-59.99$. They usually have sales on the higher-priced items, and they sell a lot more materials than the other brands, like notebooks, brushes, etcetera. While it’s recommended to soak the tips of the markers in water after a while, they are a lot cheaper.
Watercolor markers are water-based markers that act as regular watercolor paint. These markers usually come already water-based, but some expensive ones need you to add water, so pay attention to what you buy! These markers don’t work well with tracing-pen ink, but are perfect for coloring in outlines made by Sharpies and printed paper. Watercolor markers are brush-tip, meaning they are delicate and can easily break at the tip.
At the end of the day, this all comes from personal experience and other artists’ shared thoughts. Art materials can be used in any way, even in a way their not intended for. It’s your concepts that matter; don’t let something keep you inside a box when it comes to creativity.
