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Like for every art, every painter also requires tools needed for painting. There are many artist painting tools lists. In this blog, we shall look at the must-have painting tools for every artist.
Of all the best painting tools, if you do not have these basic tools, you cannot start painting in the real sense.
To help painters grow, many art galleries engage painters through online painting competition where painters participate and win cash prizes.
Pencils and Brushes and Color Palette
Pencils come in two varieties: Graphite and Charcoal
Graphite pencils are regular pencils and have a various gradients based upon the usage. A “HB” grade is used for writing. Most graphite pencil sets have pencils with harder graphite “9H” to softer graphite “6B”. Hard graphite gives lighter marks and keeps sharper tips for a longer duration. Soft graphite gives darker marks and hence requires constant re-sharpening. Many times “2H”, “2B” and “4B” are enough.
Charcoal comes in two forms, sticks and pencils. Sticks of charcoal are either in “vine” or “compressed” form. Vine charcoal is soft and gives light marks; compressed charcoal is concentrated and gives dark marks. Charcoal pencils are similar to graphite pencils.
Brushes are essential for paintings. You shall require quite a few basic brushes to start with.
The other thing absolutely essential is a color palette to hold or mix colors. It should have a slot to hold a brush as well as should have a firm grip to hold. Anything can become a palette. A steel plate, the cover of the color box, a hard plastic sheet etc. can become a temporary palette. You can even make a palette on your own.
Sketchbooks
A sketchbook is the practice ground for every artist. The sketchbook is a place of skills development, new ideas and a lot of practice.
Drawing Surfaces and Canvas
Drawing surfaces or canvas is very important. If the quality of the drawing surface or canvas is not good, the painting suffers.
Tooth
The texture of the drawing surface or the canvas is called the “Tooth”. Heavy texture or tooth will make lines and images appear broken while smooth texture will make images and lines appear smooth and gradual.
Paper Weight
The weight of the paper depends on the thickness of the paper. For example, a 100lb sheet of paper will be thick and heavy than a 50lb sheet of paper. However, some types of paper are heavy in weight and thin in thickness.
Acid Free
Acid free paper is that which will not turn yellow or fade over time.
Paint
How will you start painting if there is no paint? You need different colors and paints to start with. There are various options and types of paints available in the market. The most important types of paints are oil paints, acrylic paints and water color paints. You can even make your own paints from linseed oil and color pigments.
Art Storage Portfolio Bags
An art storage portfolio bag is a big rectangular or square bag where you can keep or store and travel with all your artwork. This helps to protect your artwork from damage. While selecting a portfolio bag, always buy a rigid one that prevents your artwork from bending. Also buy a big portfolio bag which will give enough space for keeping and storing all ranges of art sizes.
So, these are the five must have tools for every artist before they start painting. All other tools are also important but these tools are the bare minimum and very essential tools. Do you have these tools with you? What other very essential tools can you suggest? Comment them in the box below.
