So you want to make art...

My favorite art supplies

Hi friends,

I wanted to send over a list of my favorite art supplies. This is designed to make it easy for you to put paint on paper and create some art! I’ll show you my extremely well-loved watercolor kits and new mediums I’ve been playing with.

Paints

• Prima Pastel Dreams- My very first watercolor kit that I used for 2 years straight. It lasts forever, is so vibrant, and is only $20

• Kuretake 48 color set- When you’re ready to upgrade and get some more bougie watercolors, I can’t rave about these enough. This is 1.5 years of use and I still have lots to go. $50

• Beginner watercolor combo kit- This is a kit I use for my workshops. If you want to get paint on paper tomorrow, this $10 kit has everything you need: 26 colors, brushes, and paper. Great for kids too!

• Art of Soil- I was gifted one of these gorgeous kits made from soil-based pigments. Especially great for those who want to support a small, woman-owned business and aren’t Amazon shoppers. $50

• Higgins ink- This is for my new cartoon exploring era. I really only need ink and a pen. I love how simple it is to get started. $7

• Watercolor combo kit- I haven’t tested this so I can’t vouch personally but looks like a good paint + brush mix with 100 colors. $40

Paper

• Cold Pressed watercolor paper- I paint all my art on 9x12 paper $20

• UCreate- This is the paper I use for my workshops because it’s much more affordable and great for practicing. $25 for 250 sheets

• Mini sketchbooks- perfect for travel sketching. 2 for $5

Brushes

• UPins Water bushes- I love water brushes. $10

• Princeton Artist- This is my go-to brush. It’s ridiculously small (grain of rice for scale). But that is what I need for all the detail work I do. $6

• Transon- Variety pack for some larger brushes. $12 for an 8 piece set

• Brush travel kit- I store all my brushes in this when I travel. $10 

• Uniball vision or Micron pens- waterproof pens $11

Pencils

• Muji pencil- I love Muji’s .5 mechanical pencils $8

• Faber-Castell Pencils- Standard pack of HB, 2B, etc pencils to try a variety of soft/hard pencils.

Erasers 

• Rubber eraser- I use a rubber eraser to blot out the darker sketch lines before I start painting. Not required depending on your style $6

• Tombow holder eraser- Perfect for making very tiny eraser marks $4

People often say that watercolors are one of the hardest mediums. I try to question that. I use it in a very light-hearted, playful way and don’t feel a pressure to make it perfect. When I view it through this lens, any medium can be fun and a tool to explore my creativity!

My coloring book is a great place to test them out too 😊

If you end up getting any of these and trying them out, please send me pics! I’d love to see.

Other updates

• Pre-orders are now live for my Climate Art 101 with a big discount before the official launch! Sign up here for 50% off before May 1. 

• I’m doing a free workshop for Mothers Out Front on April 19. We'll be creating art that envisions a beautiful green future for our homes, communities, and schools. RSVP here

• My next free climate art workshop will be about public transportation on May 3. RSVP here.

Ways to support me:

• I host climate art workshops for teams. These have been magical to see groups explore their creativity.

• Buy yourself something from my shop- a mug, a onesie, a print

• I’m open for commissions. I help climate organizations transform their complicated work into simple, beautiful visuals.

That’s all for now!

Nicole 

P.S. some of these are Amazon affiliate links but you can get almost all these supplies at a local art shop or a Blick store!