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Question: When drawing how important would you say it is to have the right materials!?
Does springing for the good art supplies make that big a difference!? And would you reccommend any good chains where I could get decent quality art supplies!? I'm really just a casual doodler but wanna try to improve my drawings!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Hmmm!.!.!.well!.!.!.i am an artist myself!. I've recently done a series of art which, to be honest consisted of a few inexpensive things such as a tree branch!.!.!.it was like 3 inches long, a bottle of ink, a piece of trash, a starbucks straw, and some kind of pricey Prismacolor markers (which if going for markers, is definitely the only thing you should get because they are quality and if well taken care of, they last a long time)!. Aaron Brothers has some quality stuff!. You can look up University art!. They have good bargains there!. Honestly, to have the right supplies CAN affect your work but with a bit of creativity, you can go a long way!. Good luck to you!Www@QuestionHome@Com

A LOT depends on the ultimate use for your drawings!. If you are doing it for enjoyment for you and your friends, or for practice, it makes little difference if you are using expensive artist's pencils, or cheap color crayons!. But, if at some point, you have a serious or paying client, the materials make a HUGE difference!.

If a client wants an oil painted portrait to hang on his mansion's wall, he will not be pleased with peeling cheap paint by numbers oils, daubed on canvas paper, pinned to his wall!. This is a place where quality of materials is EXTREMELY important!.

Displayed artwork can be affected by sunlight or even artificial light!. Fade resistant pigments are critical!. Work meant to be permanent needs to be done on acid free paper so that the piece lasts!. A professional artist wants to spend time and effort on the creative process, and less on making the materials do what he wants!. In such a situation, a brand of color pencil that blends smoothly is VERY important, as well as the surface texture (tooth) of the paper being used!. An artist who uses artist's markers will spend the money on a good brand that works well and on paper that bleeds less than other papers!.

This is also true of digital artists!. If I am going to do a freehand drawing in my computer, I'd much rather do it with a digital tablet and stylus than with a cumbersome mouse!. I spend big money on Adobe Photoshop, instead of the cheap Microsoft Paint program that came with my computer because Photoshop is a much better and more capable tool than paint!. Illustrator works more smoothly and intuitively than Corel, and my big monitor is easier to work with that a small one!.

When it comes time to taking your work seriously, and are ready for profession level results, then research into good quality materials is essential!. I will advise, that for a "casual doodler" who wants to "improve" drawings, the materials make no difference at all!. At this point, what is needed is a LOT of practice untill the skills improve!. Materials will not impove one's skill!. Only practice can do that!. Just like with digital art!. No software can turn a crappy artist into a good one!. It takes a good artist to make a good digital artist!.

A good craftsman does not need a shop full of power tools to make good furniture!. It just makes it easier!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It depends on how the products work for you, personally!. Sometimes I have to do some experimenting with some brands!. An example: sketchbooks!. I go by the thickness of the paper and how easy they are to open!. I make lots of mistakes and can't afford to have my eraser tear up the page, and I don't like spiral-bound sketchbooks because the pages get caught in the wiring!. The sketchbook I recently bought was like $8, but I think it works a lot better than some of the $15 ones I've bought in the past!.

If you're a casual doodler, I don't think buying "better" supplies will help improve your work that much, unless you mean you would like to buy a nice paint set and add color!. There's nothing wrong in wanting nice supplies if you're serious about your work!.

Since you're interested, Dick Blick Art Materials stores have great selections of all sorts of supplies!.Www@QuestionHome@Com