The TPK Top Ten List of Art Supplies

A person’s art supplies collection is a personal thing that reflects the projects they most enjoy making. Personally, my loves include calligraphy, watercolor painting, general drawing, and making beautiful cards and envelopes. If your creative interests align with those activities, then you’ll appreciate this article! Here are the items that enable me to create and help me to feel inspired:

1. Pencils and a Reliable Eraser

You can use an "old school" pencil to create lovely calligraphy!I almost always use a mechanical pencil to create illustration and lettering drafts. I also use it to make calligraphy guidelines. A white mechanical pencil is a must-have if you plan to write on dark cardstock!

I keep three types of pencils at hand, which you can see in action by clicking through the slideshow above. They include:

• An “old school pencil” for pencil calligraphy and drawing
• A mechanical pencil for creating crisp, light-handed calligraphy guidelines
• A white mechanical pencil for making drafts and guidelines on dark-colored cardstock

For erasers, I’d love to use what’s on the back of the pencil, but it always ends up getting gunky and smudges my work. My reliable go-to is a Staedtler Mars plastic eraser. I also keep a black eraser around to cleanly erase guidelines on dark cardstock.

2. Parallel Glider (“Rolling Ruler”)

Whether you are creating illustrations or drawing calligraphy guidelines, a parallel glider will help you immensely. I use my rolling ruler constantly because I love having the ability to draw perfectly parallel calligraphy guidelines!

3. A Nice Sketchbook

A sketchbook represents creative freedom. It’s a very personal thing that you can use to explore feelings, create memories, and try out new art supplies and techniques. The Shinola sketchbook is my go-to (it’s the perfect size and paper weight), but it can be tough to get a hold of. Search around online, and you’ll find your own “Goldilocks” sketchbook!

4. Everyday Pens

I used a Muji pen to create the illustrations on this sketchbook page.This lily might look like it was created with watercolor, but all of the black and gray values come from applying water to the Pilot G2 pen lines!Combine colored pencils with the Sakura Gellyroll pen and black cardstock, and you can make some incredibly gorgeous projects!While a glass dip pen isn't a must-have, I love using it to write letters!

While I prefer a dip pen for most projects, there are some instances where “normal pens” come in handy. These four pens are important tools in my art supplies toolbox:

• Muji pens – I like that these pens are waterproof, so you can use them to make cool illustrations with a consistent line width (Let the ink dry overnight before applying watercolor, though!)
• Pilot G2 05 pens – These pens are not waterproof, and you can use that to your advantage, like in this tutorial.
• Sakura Gellyroll white pens – These are fabulous pens for adding highlights to lettering (like this) or drawing on dark paper (like this).
• Glass dip pen – This is definitely a “just for fun” pen, but I use it all the time for writing letters. I love that you can change ink colors on a whim!

5. Watercolors

I used Winsor & Newton watercolors to create this tasteful sympathy card.This watercolor map was created using artist-grade Greenleaf & Blueberry watercolors.Finetec (Arabic) Gold watercolor adds additional elegance to this calligraphy family tree. The Finetec Pearl Colors palette works beautifully on both dark- and light-colored papers.

Watercolor paint is one of my favorite art supplies because it is capable of covering large areas, blends easily, and dries quickly. Dry watercolor palettes transport very well, and you can transform any watercolor pan into a unique calligraphy ink. I keep four main palettes at hand:

• Winsor & Newton Cotman set – This is a student-grade set that’s great for casual projects
• Greenleaf & Blueberry paints – Greenleaf & Blueberry makes artist grade paints, so I always use them for my most special projects. To read more about artist grade paints, check out this article.
• Finetec Golds palette and Finetec Pearl colors palette – I use these two palettes constantly, both for calligraphy and for general art. It’s difficult to resist adding a bit of sparkle to projects!

You can browse all of the watercolor tutorials on the TPK site here. 

6. Paintbrushes

I’ve never had a strong preference as far as paintbrush brands or types go. Mainly, I’m concerned with size, and I keep round paintbrushes ranging from size 000 to size 6 on my desk. About half of my brushes are synthetic brushes from Michael’s, while the other half are expensive kolinsky brushes (from Paper & Ink Arts). To be honest, I don’t notice a huge difference between the two. If you’re looking for a detailed brush explanation from a true expert, though, Greenleaf & Blueberry’s Watercolor Brush Basics article is an incredible resource!

7. Pen Holders + Nibs

I love using oblique pen holders to create calligraphy. Dip pens are also amazing for creating detailed pen and ink illustrations!I like to create hand-lettering with a dip pen because the letters tend to come out very crisp and vibrant.

I use pen holders and nibs as all-purpose workhorses. They’re fabulous for calligraphy, obviously, but they also take the spotlight in illustration and lettering. Here are tutorial links for the three photos shown in the slideshow above (so you can really put your pens to work!):

• Free “Macbeth” Calligraphy Flourishing Worksheet
• The Beginner’s Guide to Crosshatching
• How to Hand Letter Like a Pro

8. Ink

Sumi ink is great for making pen and ink illustrations. I use it to create calligraphy quite a bit as well.I'm not sure what I'd do without white ink! It has the most amazing effect on richly colored papers.Ziller Soot Black ink is completely waterproof, so you can easily paint over any illustrations or calligraphy that you've used it to create.Iron gall ink gives you the ability to write barely-there hairline upstrokes. (Walnut ink has a similar viscosity and is just as fun to use!)

Looking around, I realize that I probably have fifty bottles of different inks in my office. I could easily get by with just four, though. Those are:

• Sumi ink – This ink is fabulous for creating vivid illustrations and clean calligraphy.
• Bleed Proof white ink – This is the best white ink I’ve come across; find tips for using it here.
• Ziller Soot Black (waterproof) ink – I always use this ink for calligraphy or illustrations that will come into contact with watercolor.
• Iron gall ink – Iron gall ink is amazing for making hairline upstrokes and thick downstrokes. My favorite is Walker’s Copperplate, which has to be ordered from Scribblers in the UK.

9. Light Box

A light box is a splurge of a supply — and not strictly necessary. That said, I use my Artograph 930 constantly for illustration and calligraphy. It just makes life easier when it comes to getting proportions right if you’re drawing from a photo! If you’re creating calligraphy, a light box offers you the opportunity to only draw guidelines once. After that, you can use them again and again (on light-colored paper or envelopes). You can read more about how to use a light box, and whether owning one would benefit you, in this article.

10. Nice Paper and Envelopes

32# laserjet paper (shown here) is wonderful for calligraphy practice! Use it to print out any worksheets you find here on the TPK website.I love using black cardstock for a variety of purposes! In this photo, I've cut sheets of black cardstock to a smaller size in order to make place cards.Handmade paper makes calligraphy and illustrations look even better!If you plan to send mail art, it's always a good idea to keep high-quality envelopes around.

I keep a variety of papers and envelopes around for different projects and purposes. Here are the papers I tend to use the most:

• 32# HP Premium laserjet paper – This paper is fantastic for calligraphy practice. Smooth, cheap, and plentiful!
• Black cardstock – I usually buy 8.5″ x 11″ sheets and cut them down to greeting card or place card size.
• Handmade paper – Indian Cotton Paper Co. is the best that I’ve found! It’s great for pointed pen calligraphy, which is rare for handmade cotton papers.
• Calligraphy-friendly envelopes – There are several brands of high-quality envelopes that are suitable for creating calligraphy.

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While there are other art supplies that I use here and there, this list describes my core toolbox. I hope that it inspires you to build up your own collection of useful supplies! If you have the time, I’m curious to hear about your go-to tools. I’m always looking to add to my collection! After all, you really can’t have too many art supplies.

Warmly,

This post was originally published in January of 2015. My art supplies preferences have changed considerably since then, so it underwent a rewrite in March 2021!