This is the graphics tablet I’ve used for years when I paint digitally. This Wacom tablet allows you to draw or paint directly on the screen with a pressure sensitive pen. The bigger the better! It is very precise and natural — as someone who was trained in oil paint on canvas. It is considered the industry standard for hand-drawing in the digital world.
Adobe Creative Suites is my favorite when it comes to digital painting programs, I have dabbled in Painter Coral and poser, but 75% of my workflow is drawing, collage, & painting from scratch in photoshop. Snag free trials from Adobe if you’re not sure, but the creative cloud membership I’ve used forever has been worth every penny and it is a must if you want to tap into the digital world as an artist.
This camera is a beast for a full frame camera when shooting medium format. I have played around with this camera for band photography. Great camera to use if you don’t plan on cropping your images afterwards. Super high resolution and also takes amazing video. A must for most professional photographers.
My favorite camera to use for stock photography. I love using this camera to develop new techniques by capturing photos and digitally manipulating them and painting them further to achieve a desired concept & reference for my work. Also dig the real time auto focus for video.
I love to go big so this is my main easel in the studio. It holds all size canvases. It is simple and easy to use and has many positioning options and you have the option to install the wheels or not on this bad boy so it will stay in place and support larger pieces. Even with wheels it does the job!
I found this gem at an estate sale and I do believe this particular easel is haunted but besides this it’s great for larger watercolor format because it can turn into a drafting table easily by turning it onto it’s side so it’s my go to when using water color paper taped onto a drawing board.
I have a love and hate relationship with this easel. It was my first easel and it’s def. a veteran out of all of my gear. It’s my go to easel when I need to set up quick in a particular area. It’s not super heavy to move around in a studio or room but it is def. not my favorite when it comes to painting big. If you enjoy painting small this will do the trick.
This is a must! A music pal of mine recommended this particular stool for me as it helps with your posture as you spend hours playing an instrument or in my case, painting. I wish I made this purchase sooner, as I spent most of my time hunched over painting or on a motorcycle where I was bending wrong & it didn’t help when I finally injured my back. Good rule of thumb here is that you have to take care of your form especially if you do anything artistic!
My portable painting palette of choice. You do have to put this thing together but the benefits of having this is well worth the investment for easy access to everything you need for your project. I like to start two or three paintings at a time and when I do I use one of these for each one so I have an idea of what my color palette is along with what tools I decide to use. I change things up on almost every painting because comfort in tool selection is not a good thing if you want to learn new stuff. So I recommend starting out with one of these for any serious painter.
I use all brushes and I dont mind going cheap on this because I experiment so much with so many paints and mediums that a hundred dollar brush is just not an investment for me. I go through brushes quick and I ruin a lot. Hog hair is the way to go with oil and acrylic verse nylon for water color. The hog hair holds more pigment and has a longer drag effect across the canvas surface.
I keep sketch books of all sorts around since I mainly use them for concepts but my favorites are these moleskin blank sketch books. They are so light and easy for travel. I must to influence inspiration in your life.
I just tried these out and I dig them a lot, they’re a perfect medium between oils and acrylics. Including all of the pros for oils slow drying time and acrylics non toxic chemical use. I would say give these a try with any retarder medium for better acrylic blending properties.
Golden Heavy Body Acrylics is what I use to cover more of my canvas area with. It is also great if you want to paint thicker so because I paint large I mix these with thicker mediums and go for the jar size but this introductory set is a great way to try these out for thicker color applications and see if you dig it.
I use these for detail work, air brush, and for water color concentration effects. These small bottles of paint is high in pigment and can be mixed with a lot of mediums and last for a long time.
I don’t discriminate, I may have used every brand of oil out there. Some have really high pigment and are super expensive verse others but for the most part they all do the same job especially with glazing techniques. I suggest more for your buck so I am big on the Georgian Daler Rowney brands. Grumbacher Academy oils is a good way to start with great pigment quality.
Try to go green with this one! If you decide to go with an actual oil paint instead of the water mixable option below. I would go with an odorless turpenoid instead of turpentine. Brand really doesn’t matter as much as this, unless you want to get high and easily start fires. Be careful with paint thinner and rags if you don’t go this route.
These are my go too for quick detail work. These oils are water mixable meaning I don’t have to grab the paint thinner and rags for a quick fire starter. All I need is water and these are easy to expose for some quick details.
This is great for detail work due to its transparent nature. Great for building color and value.
This one has more pigment and is great for setting up a color foundation.
These are what I hit up when I am ready to graffiti it up with bold color and no care… well, maybe some care as in these MTN cans are water based and more suited for a canvas. I love the pastel color effects these create and the combination when I play around with the paint’s aftermath. I can straight up shake it and use from start to finish.
This is great for travel and easily hooks up to an air brush for easy control.
Iwata is my airbrush of choice. Now, I personally don’t dig the gravity feed as much as the connected paint jars from the bottom. I personally just feel like I have more control this way if I decide on the spot that I want to change the consistency or color of my paint. Gravity feeds can get messy but produce a smoother application. Either or air brushes produce a photo realistic effect and this is why I love them.