Best art supplies for beginner/ budget artists

 

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Let me give you a scenario : You are a colour pencil artist and walk into an art store and see hundreds of art supplies neatly organised (you don't even know what some of them are used for!) . You search and spend hours and hours but you face 2 issues that you just don't know how to solve :

1. No supplies in your budget except for the cheapest wax crayons

2. You have no idea what to get.

If you can relate to this , then this blog is perfect for you and beginner /budget artists!

1. Colour Pencils

If you are a colour pencil artist, it is obvious that colour pencils will be your most important supply. 

I personally use Brutfuner, but you can try any of the following :

      

•   Brutfuner 
•   Brustro
•   Staedler 

Once you get to a somewhat advanced/intermediate level where you think you need higher quality pencils , you can use Prismacolour or Faber Castell Polychromos , but I personally feel that you may not need them.

2. Eraser

You will most likely need 2 types of erasers : the normal eraser you have lying around in your pouch and a kneadable eraser. 

You will need the kneadable eraser to soften lines and also make small highlights (Also to play with 😝. But do make sure not to stretch and break it because this will trap the oils from your hands and significantly reduce it's effectiveness)

3. Sharpener

It is very important to keep your pencils sharp at all times (unless you are intentionally going for a softened effect) , and for this you need a good quality sharpener. The ones that certain professional artists are very expensive and so to balance the two is difficult.

But , I have found the perfect sharpener and it is the deli W0620. 

Since there are a lot of results that come up when you search this , here is the reference photo (I own the white and grey version)

It sharpens to whatever tip you want and can sharpen it to the point of a needle. 

4. Fixative spray(Optional)

A lot of premium pencils have the label "lightfast" as you may have noticed. This means that the colours last a long time before fading and it is a quality that many beginner pencils lack. To counter this , you can spray artist fixative spray on your drawing to make the colours permanent. 

5. White Gellyrolls and Acrylic markers

Get a white gellyroll and acrylic marker to add highlights to your drawing. It really takes your art to the next level

6. Pencils

I personally feel that any normal pencil or mechanical pencil is fine but I would recommend the Worison for artists on a tight budget and Uniball kuru toga in general. 

7. Paper

Paper is just as important as the pencils and my personal favourites is the Scholar shield protect sketchbook but some options are :

• Scholar shield sketchbook
• Brustro Watercolour paper
• Brustro bristol (natural tooth)

This is because these papers have grain , tooth , smoothness and a thick GSM but not too thick that they are uncomfortable to draw on.

8. Extras!

A few extra items that aren't quite necessary but still useful are :

•  Exacto Blades (for details like hair or fur)
• Colourless blending pencils
• Prismacolour White pencil

If you liked this blogpost , you may enjoy my other art posts such as https://romantisinglife.blogspot.com/2025/05/golden-rules-of-colour-pencils.html