Drawing Materials (Required for Sadie’s Drawing Classes)
Buy your supplies at:
Blick Art Supply (Market St location validates parking in lot behind store)
Blick Art Supply (Market St location validates parking in lot behind store)
Artist’s & Craftsman’s Supply (Validated parking at garage)
Note: Flax Art Supply is a great art supply store for many things, but they don’t have a lot of our required materials.
Note: Flax Art Supply is a great art supply store for many things, but they don’t have a lot of our required materials.
Paper: Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pad
14 x 17 inches, Medium Surface
Correct pad has a brown cover, and a drawing of a GIRL’S FACE (NOT the LION)
NOTE: Please be careful to buy the exact paper pad listed, look carefully for the “400”. Don’t buy “Sketch” and don’t buy “Recycled” paper, they are both much lower quality and will create problems. The pad with a LION on the cover is too smooth. The correct pad has spiral binding along top/short edge, NOT the long edge.
NOTE: Please be careful to buy the exact paper pad listed, look carefully for the “400”. Don’t buy “Sketch” and don’t buy “Recycled” paper, they are both much lower quality and will create problems. The pad with a LION on the cover is too smooth. The correct pad has spiral binding along top/short edge, NOT the long edge.
Pencils: Staedtler LUMOGRAPH brand (blue wood)
2H, H: At least 5 of each
Kneaded rubber eraser
Pen-style retractable eraser
“Tuff Stuff” Papermate brand
Black plastic shell, white eraser, usually found near drafting materials (other brands are too wide, please use this brand)
150/250 grit sandpaper or similar, in a sandwich-size ziplock baggie
Small utility knife: retractable snap-off style (NOT a large blade box-cutter)
Drawing board: Instructor will provide foamcore drawing boards.
White low-stick masking tape called “Artist’s Tape” found in art supply stores
Metal 12-inch ruler (not necessary for Figure classes, or for 1-day workshops)
T-square ruler, 12-inch (not necessary for Figure classes, or for 1-day workshops)
NOT REQUIRED: Charcoal Drawing Materials
In my classes I teach my students to use graphite pencil exclusively. I feel pencil requires the artist to be more sensitive and more precise. But returning to charcoal after developing skills with pencil is a lot of fun! This is what I use:
Paper:
Murano paper, in “Storm”, which is a medium grey. I get it at Artist & Craftsman Supply in San Francisco
I like the “Storm” color, but there is a range of colors you can choose from.
The Murano paper is online here (I have not bought it online, I buy single sheets which might be tricky to ship)
Murano is a bit smoother than most charcoal paper, but it holds charcoal well enough, and you can get a lot of detail without fighting against the grainy texture of something like Canson or Ingres.
I also like the “Artagain” paper for charcoal, it comes in pads of different colors. It’s kind of a narrow rectangle shape and has a smooth texture, but with a “speckled” pattern:
You might try doing a value sphere with new materials on new paper, you can learn a lot about the materials (and find out if you hate them!) without investing all the time and energy into a full drawing.
Charcoal
Vine (Winsor & Newton) sharpened to a fine point on sandpaper
OR - If you can find it, “Fusain” brand charcoal
OR - If you can find it, “Fusain” brand charcoal
Generals’ Charcoal Pencils in Hard and Medium (Soft breaks too easily)
Generals’ White Charcoal pencils (which is actually chalk).
Generals’ White Charcoal pencils (which is actually chalk).
Others
Erasors, paper blending stumps, and rough, cheap paper towels for rubbing and blending
Erasors, paper blending stumps, and rough, cheap paper towels for rubbing and blending
I highly recommend doing the Value Sphere exercise whenever you are trying out new paper or drawing materials. We will review the Value Sphere exercise iun class.