What are the nice art supplies?

[madteaparty]

My niece is really into drawing and painting, and I'd like to get her some real stuff versus the box at 40% off at Michaels as I usually do. :) what's the good stuff? She's 7, but bit of an old soul â¤ï¸

Thanks so much everyone

Edited December 7, 2016 by madteaparty

[OneStepAtATime]

Blick has quality art supplies. Order on line. they sometimes has great sales.

 

Or if you have a local art supply store the people there could steer you to some quality mid range stuff. High end isn't necessary unless she is producing art for sale.

 

Oh, and you might look at water based oil paints instead of acrylics. No odor, cleans up with water, but has the versatility of oil. Does not dry right away, though. That gives the artist time to do layers And tweak but it can mean a mess if someone leans against it, LOL.

[madteaparty]

Thanks OSaT. I do have a nice store in town now I think of it. Thanks again!

[klmama]

Hmmm....  I was going to suggest a 40% off box of artists pastel pencils from Michael's.  They are easier to work with and store than the regular pastels, but you can get the same great effects.

 

Also, you could move up to the next grade of paints from Michael's.  Really, she's only 7, and she'll be painting and drawing for many more years.  Leave yourself some room for "wow" gifts when she's a little older, too!

 

 

[Raifta]

My DD has always loved to sketch and draw and paint and she's almost 11 now, but from a very young age she eschewed any lower quality supplies, despite being given them frequently as gifts.  She would much rather have had a small pack of good quality items as a gift.

 

My DS, who is now 9, is loathe to draw/sketch or write but he once we got him some better pens and markers, he did actually start doing so spontaneously on a fairly regular basis.

 

Their favourites so far are the Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens.  The 4 pack of different thickness black ink markers has been the favourite  with the 6 pack of landscape colours and 6 pack of terra colours also popular.

 

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens are also a popular and Frixion erasable markers were a revelation for DD (and for me, as they are actually erasable unlike the erasable pens of my youth).

[TKDmom]

My dd15 loves Prismacolor colored pencils. She just got a set in manga colors and adores it.

 

She says the best markers out there are Copic markers. (Eta: but probably too expensive for a 7yo)

And she has a whole Amazon wish list of art supplies. If you want me to share it with you, send me a pm.

 

I also really like to do chalk pastels with my 7yo.

Edited December 7, 2016 by TKDmom

[Arcadia]

My kids liked Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils, Soft Core, 24-Count and Koh-I-Noor Progresso Woodless Colored 24-Pencil Set, Assorted Colored Pencils. We like the Strathmore Medium Drawing Spiral Paper Pad for pencil/crayon/chalk drawings

https://www.amazon.com/Prismacolor-Premier-Colored-Pencils-24-Count/dp/B00006IEEU/

https://www.amazon.com/Koh-I-Noor-Progresso-Woodless-24-Pencil-FA8758-24/dp/B004O7895I/

https://www.amazon.com/Strathmore-Medium-Drawing-Spiral-Sheets/dp/B000KNJQ98/

[Closeacademy]

Prismacolor premier pencils

good sketchbook not the cheap one but one with nicer paper where colors don't bleed through

Copic sketch markers

drawing markers in a variety of tip sizes

Pencils in a variety of soft and harness 

a gummy eraser

a nice art box to put things into 

watercolor in the tube (red, yellow, blue, white and black)

a variety of brushes

watercolor paper

 

[bibiche]

Supplies that my son's art teacher (a working artist herself) recommended when he was your niece's age:

Newton-Cotman Pocket Plus watercolor travel set

Good but reasonably priced watercolor brushes

Good 140lb paper

 

A good water brush is very useful. DS is also a big fan of water soluble color pencils like these.

If he is traveling light, he often carries a little sketchbook that he has drawn a palette on (like this) and a waterbrush.

 

If she isn't into watercolors, I'd recommend charcoal, a mie de pain eraser, some decent but not expensive acrylic paints like Golden.

[Guest]

Good quality paper in sketchbooks or pads. Match the medium of interest.

 

One of my goddaughters was into exploring with are. She could afford the media but the right paper was viewed as too much. I got her some and it made her super interested in practicing. I told her I'd always keep her in paper for her explorations. :0)

[Hammfried]

Blick has quality art supplies. Order on line. they sometimes has great sales.

 

  

Copic sketch markers

 

Copic Sketch Markers are phenomenal for sketch artists! There are lots of great tutorials on YouTube to get an idea of the different techniques you can do with them. They unfortunately cost an arm and a leg to build up a set of colors but Blick has come out with their own house brand version that are of comparable quality for a cheaper price. Blick also runs graded sales the more money you spend so we tend to buy our art supplies in one large seasonal order.