Essential art items — start the New Year in a creative mood!
Bring out your inner artist in the New Year
As we enter the start of the celebrations to see out 2014, many people will be thinking about how they’re going to make 2015 a better, healthier and happier year. This often involves taking on new skills by learning it yourself or even going to night classes and in a straw poll we held recently in the office, one of the most popular skills that people want to learn is some kind of art.
Art seems to cut across all types of people and men and women alike seem to want to get in touch with their artistic selves and put pencil/pen/brush to paper to release their inner Monet. This is in stark contrast to gentlemen in the 1500s where painting wasn’t seen as a suitable occupation for them, oh no, art was for women, men did accounting and smoked pipes (I may be being unkind, my research for the smoking pipes jibe is merely from watching period drama on ITV, a seriously flawed source!)
But, whatever medium or whomever is looking to take up this (now) noble of pastimes can’t do so without the correct tools for the job and there are many tools available based on your own preference.
Many people start off with pencils because they’re readily available and it’s sometimes the base of many artworks anyway. Even if you eventually venture into watercolours or oil painting, it’s best to sketch out what you are going to paint first and pencils are a very forgiving medium when paired with an eraser.
But pencil art is a skill in and of itself and there are different pencil types available that will give you different results based on the softness of the lead (I use ‘lead’ loosely, pencils use graphite, wax and other materials), the colour and the texture of the medium.
Indeed, add a water wash to a pencil drawing and you can end up with a watercolour which can give stunning results.
Other Essentials
Paper — what else are you going to draw on? There are loads of different paper types, textures and weights that all give different finishes which can really lift your painting. There are some papers that are specifically designed to work with different artistic mediums.
Watercolour paper for example comes in rough, hot-pressed or textured surface and these hold the water in different ways giving hugely varying results. You’ll need to try different types of paper from different manufacturers as many use their own methods they’ve built over time and you’ll find they give different results.
A quick tip here is to make sure you stretch paper that is under 350gsm in weight as it’s likely to warp, wasting all that hard effort.
If you’re just using pencils without any need for water then you can pretty much use any paper, but obviously you need to find one you’re comfortable with and gives you good results. Pencils and papers vary so much that it’s hard to give a recommendation but just try some (even the really cheap stuff) and see how you get on. Pencil art is one of the cheapest ways to start out for this very reason.
Oil is a different matter. Many people go for canvas when creating an oil painting but you can use specially formulated paper that has been treated with a primer.
Whatever you decide, The Office Supplies Supermarket has a whole range of products that can help you get started or even be a gift for that special person who is looking to start a new hobby in the New Year.
This article originally appeared in: http://www.theofficesuppliessupermarket.com/articles/essential-art-items
