- A lot of today's designers and illustrators
work digitally, so when I suggest that they try
using real world paints to expand
and solidify their understanding of color,
they might find themselves looking around their work area,
saying yeah, sounds good, but I don't see
too many painting supplies around here.
If you're one of those designers,
then let me help you out.
I have provided a simple list of painting supplies
with the resources for this course,
just some things to get you started,
and without spending a fortune.
So let's talk about the things on this list.
Paint wise, I'm going to recommend acrylics.
Why?
It's because they don't stink,
and they don't let off toxic fumes.
Acrylics are water soluble when they come out of the tube,
and once they dry, they're water resistant,
which is why you should never let acrylics dry on a brush.
It's almost impossible to get dry acrylics off a paintbrush.
Now I'm going to reccomend five specific tubes
of acrylic paints.
Primary Cyan, Primary Magenta, Primary Yellow,
Mars Black, and Zinc White from Golden acrylics.
Why these colors?
It's because this cyan, magenta, yellow, and black
are very similar in color to the CMYK colors
used in printing, and not only are a huge range of colors
possible by mixing just these five tubes of paint,
every time you use them,
you'll be learning lessons about color
that can be applied to CMYK print jobs,
and that's awesome.
Along with these tubes of paint,
you may want to pick up some gesso.
It's a chalky, white, paint like substance
you can apply to papers and cardboards
to give them a tough, toothy, paint ready surface.
A container of either gloss, or matte medium
can also come in handy.
These mediums start out whitish, and then they dry clear.
You can add them to your paints
and make them more transparent.
Next, just get some inexpensive nylon
or synthetic brushes.
I'd suggest these four sizes,
a fine tip triple zero,
a good all purpose number six,
a half inch shader,
and get a three quarter inch flat tip brush
for things like large backdrops,
and for applying matte or gloss medium over a painting.
While we're on the topic of brushes,
here are some quick brush care tips.
Don't let your brushes stand on their heads
in the water jar, it could damage their tips.
Swish and swirl the paint out of them like this,
and then lay them flat like so,
or like so.
You also want a round tipped palate knife for mixing paints,
and a cheap plastic or metal palete,
or you could go to the second hand store,
just get an old muffin tin for a palette.
That works fine.
Then a pad of nice, thick, watercolor paper.
An illustration board works great too.
If these options are too expensive,
you could always paint or roll some gesso
onto scraps of cardboard, that works just fine.
Other basic supplies include a water jar,
some expendable rags, and I also like
to use a spray bottle to keep my paints
from drying on my palate, or on my brushes.
And a second hand hair dryer can be handy too,
to speed up the drying process.
And you know, that's about it,
just protect your clothes, and your work table
from paints and spills, you should be good to go.
Just a good, solid, short, and practical list
of painting supplies.