Art Supplies

Oeneus

Right, I'm at the stage of thinking about Preparing for college and building up my portfolio etc.

My parents have given me some money to go out and get some art supplies for myself. But I'd go into an art supplier, and I just ahven't got a frickin' clue what to get.

Could anyone help out and give me a list of things that you would recommend I purchase. This is for general art whether it is painting, drawing, engraving...the lot. I'm not worried about what stuff I can already do. I'm willing to learn new stuff. What kind of things would colleges want me to do?

Figment

Havok is your best man to talk to, having gone through it most recently.

The most important thing you should get is a small sketch book you can carry around with you and get into the habit of jotting down ideas and sketches. This is not to show your drawing skill, thats what college is there to teach you, but its to show how your mind works and how you develop ideas.

Other than that depending on what you fancy doing.
I did a lot of watercolour painting and found the cottington(student range) range of paper, paints and brushes from daler rooney great and cheap(ish). Forget your mixing pallets and easels. just use a table and plate

A nice set of colouring pencils,

Black pen and an a3 pad for the big stuff. You will have to experiment for a while to see which paper suits you best.

Some self drying modeling clay.

and what ever takes your fancy.

beaver

Hmmm, cartridge paper, stretched canvas, Daler board, acrylic, oil, gouache, watercolour, charcoal, pastels -- oil or chalk, pencils of various densities, brushes, knives, fingers, rulers, compass, masking tape and fluid, linseed oil, turps, varnish, inks, wood, saws, clay, wire, glass and anything else.

Any or all of the above. There are no rules.

Oeneus

Originally posted by beaver
Hmmm, cartridge paper, stretched canvas, Daler board, acrylic, oil, gouache, watercolour, charcoal, pastels -- oil or chalk, pencils of various densities, brushes, knives, fingers, rulers, compass, masking tape and fluid, linseed oil, turps, varnish, inks, wood, saws, clay, wire, glass and anything else.

Any or all of the above. There are no rules.

That's going to cost a bloody fortune. Thanks both of you for the info.

beaver

Over time, yes, it'll cost a fortune. But, so do lots of things. You don't need to buy it all at once. Grab a few bits of different stuff. Mixed media pieces can be cool and give you a lot more scope than mono-media in my opinion. Get a few of tubes of water colour, acrylic and maybe some ink and just go at it -- canvas is actually a cool base for this kinda stuff. Then build up more materials as you see what takes your fancy.

Monkey

"an a3 pad"

more like an A1 pad for the big stuff.

Get whatever you like using but use plenty of colour.

Just work work on paper or card don't worry about working on canvas at this stage. They don't really expect/want to see that. It'd only make your portfolio more difficult to view.

beaver

Walls are good for big stuff too

Oeneus

Thanks for stating the obvious, beaver