Materials list
The Materials you will need
The first thing to say is that you will already have a lot of these materials if you are an acrylic painter.
The list is long because I've tried to be as comprehensive as possible. It won't all be necessary for you, and certainly not immediately.
Here is a printable pdf of a simplified version of the list: Materials List.pdf 85.04 KB
I would suggest buying things you find you need as you go. This is my affiliate link to where I buy most of my art supplies from Jackson's Art in the UK.
A journal or notebook
Drawing pencils/whatever you love to sketch with.
Acrylic paints:
Cadmium yellow Lemon Yellow Cerulean Blue Ultramarine Blue Cobalt Blue Pthalo Blue Alizarin Crimson Cadmium Red Magenta White Burnt Umber Yellow Ochre Paynes Grey Burnt Sienna Black*
I also have cobalt teal (£££) from Golden, and if you like that bright mid pink I have Pebeo Vivid Pink and buff titanium. Use any of the colours you already have.
(*I personally will probably only use this in the first week for value/composition study) or I may use black gesso. Sometimes I mix other colours into black if I want to make it richer, and less harsh)
Kitchen roll
Baking parchment or freezer paper
Trays as palettes to create plenty of space for colour mixing
You’ll need paper for a variety of purposes throughout the course and ways to cut various things:
Thinner paper that you can make up grayscale values within acrylic alongside mark-making exercises to then use for composition studies
A sketchbook to collage into or a thicker cartridge to collage onto.
Thick paper/card for paint swatches if you want to make some
A1 Cartridge paper - 300gsm for creating large black and white compositions or even full colour ones
If you think you might want to create finished work on paper then consider whether you are happy to frame your work under glass or not. If you work small you could stick paper to a wood panel or cradled board - a fiddly but doable process or you could simply frame under glass ( best when the painting is large ). I like using Arches or Waterford Saunders watercolour paper, another good brand. You can buy it in single sheets or packs of ten. This is entirely optional and there's a bonus lesson that addresses how to adhere paper to wood should you wish to at some point.
Scalpel
Scissors
Glue (or you could use soft gel medium but something like Pritt is probably more economical)
From the third module onwards, you might like to have some or all of these available.
Wood panels
Watercolour paper - I like Arches or Waterford Saunders
Canvas
and perhaps clay board
Keep the sizes small in a format you like to begin with to keep costs down and take less time to explore - but this is up to you. I use what I have available and think that you will want something that's around 8 inches along one side to give yourself some scope for exploration, note your preferences and then go on to work larger. Or smaller if you decide to create a mini series in a later section where you see me create one.
Browse a real-life art shop if you can and choose some surfaces you'd like to investigate. Do not feel you must explore everything. Go with your desires!
Gelli Plate - I have a medium one
I use a thin paper with it from a company called Rhodia - the paper is only 80gsm, something similar would be good. I have an A4 "Dot pad" You could have any plain paper that is thin but high quality. The company is www.bloc-rhodia.com. I bought mine from a Graphics shop in real life.
Wet-strength tissue paper is another alternative or deli paper perhaps if you are in the US. Here's a link to some wet strength paper on Amazon, you won't need very much and it's really just for collaging/ use with the gelli plate. If you know you aren't a collager or ever will be - save yourself some money.
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Masking tape - This is a recommendation: "After trying several types I now always use a blue-coloured painter's masking tape from Toolstation. It does an excellent job, as it has a medium to light tack, so it will adhere strongly enough, yet doesn’t damage the surface below when removing, nor leave a sticky residue behind. " The only disadvantage with this particular tape, if used as a mask around the edge of the painting, is that it is a strong blue : so you'll want to gesso it or cover it up with white paper edges so as not to confuse your perception of the colour that you use within the borders! It comes in 25mm width at £2.54, or 50mm width at just £5.04. The link here should take you to the 50mm version of this blue tape mentioned
You can use whatever you know you like - as I say the blue can be off putting!
If you want to work at a large scale at the end of the course, you will want either a canvas or wood panel that pushes you slightly out of your comfort zone in terms of size.
A wide selection of different-sized brushes suitable for acrylic paint (avoid delicate sable watercolour brushes). Different sizes - you're more likely to need sizes larger than a no. 6 - right up to window frame/ house painting size, if you plan on working large towards the end of the course.
A mixture of palette knives and miscellaneous tools that you don't mind dipping into paint and drawing or scraping paint on with, for example : squeegees, chopsticks, pieces of card, a clothes peg, old credit cards, cardboard strips with tape wrapped over the edges, fingers, pencils - whatever you already have could probably be used in some way. Be inventive.
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Saral - wax-free transfer paper - in white. Great for drawing through onto dark backgrounds. Just like carbon paper - which you may already have, and this leaves a fine white line.
A brayer (a rubberised roller used in printmaking)
https://www.jacksonsart.com/soft-lino-rollers
Grouting tools - metal or plastic spatulas that usually come as a set from a DIY store
Gesso - the non-sandable sort that is suitable for any support- not just rigid ones.
Pastel Ground by Golden - this is a transparent granular textured 'gesso' that gives a great tooth and it is optional. I don't use it that much and it's definitely worth trying it and/or other surface texture mediums to see how they perform for you.
To mask shapes in module two, you might want some low-tack glue for thin papers OR something designed for the purpose, like Frisket 254 x 3.66 m Matt Low Tack Masking Film.
Sandpaper. I like P120 - not too rough and not the finest either
Plenty of rags to wipe brushes on or draw through paint with your fingers inside
Large moveable wooden boards or MDF panels that you can stretch paper onto or tape pieces of smaller watercolour paper or cartridge onto to use as a portable surface. Another suggestion for backing boards for those who may struggle with the weight of MDF or wood is to use a foam-core or core flute sheet. Only recommend for use with thicker paper stock though as the internal structure pattern of the core flute can imprint through. Coreflute is a brand name for that corrugated plastic that is flat on both sides but has an undulating core. It's waterproof and very light.
Gummed Butterfly tape IF you will be stretching watercolour paper and IF you love perfectly flat painted paper.
Medium or acrylic paint extender to add to your paint for glazing or matt medium. Basically something other than water which extends the pigment without breaking it up too much - as water would. I like matt and semi-gloss medium, but I also have some glossy Gac 100 that I might use to seal layers and also seal bare wood before glueing paper art to it. I also have a Golden glazing medium for large areas of paint and Golden's Fluid Matt medium is good too, I think the former might be slightly less matt and specifically for large areas - slower drying but there are user-friendly slider bar charts on Golden tubs so that you can compare differences.
I also have Golden's Isolation coat which seals layers of paint before varnishing allowing someone to remove the varnish without affecting the paint underneath as the isolation coat is not removable. In most cases, I don't use the Isolation coat. Where it's nice is if you have a surface you love but you want to risk painting over it. If you've isolated that surface and let the isolation coat dry then you can paint over the top and if you don't like it - quickly wash/gently scrub off and you should see the surface you loved again.
Winsor and Newton UV varnish in Satin (or gloss if you prefer) or matt (colours will be duller with matt) for use over finished paintings
Old jars/containers for plentiful water and ice cream tubs or big yoghurt pots with lids for mixing larger amounts of paint in.
Black Gesso - optional - it’s powerful as the darkest value there is. You may already know that you do or don't want to use it.
Notes on surfaces
The brands of canvases I have tried are: Loxley Gold a good professional mid-range quality ; A fine weave 40cm square one by Belle Arti - Linea 20-569 - ideal if you want to paint in a detailed way; and the smaller chunky "Jackson's Art" - premium cotton stretched canvas which seems to have quite a lot of size so it does need gessoing more as sometimes thin paint seems to resist going on easily. I've also recently started working on a Winsor and Newton Professional cotton canvas which I think I like best, it's not dissimilar to Loxley Gold.
A big roll of natural canvas to use during module 7 which I bought from Art Discount online.
I wouldn't advocate going out to do this unless you're fairly sure you will use it. Perhaps see what my findings are first!
Primer for naked canvas only if you do want to try this much later in the course. I wanted to preserve the natural colour of the canvas so I used the Michael Harding brand - Non-Absorbant Acrylic Primer - clear - 500ml
I also buy my wood panels - of all different sorts - from Jackson's art online website.
I want to mention the huge variety of grounds that Golden produce to paint onto surfaces in addition to gesso or even instead of it. I am not affiliated and I have not tried that many but one I do like is Pastel Ground which is almost like painting a fine layer of sandpaper on your surface. Definitely worth trying to see if you like it. I do.
Large Wooden Panels - when it's vital to have top quality and be assured they won't warp
https://www.artistsurfaces.co.uk/
Where to have canvases made to order
https://www.harrismoorecanvases.co.uk/
Sometimes I specify pieces of birch plywood to be cut for me from Cut My Plastic in the UK.