The question I get most often on Instagram is “what paints do you use?”, and the second most asked question is “what brushes?”. This post is an effort to answer those questions a little better than I can in an IG comment.

Let me start by saying that I am not overly picky about most of my art supplies, that I love to experiment and try out new things, and that I will use whatever an illustration seems to need. For watercolor paints, I stick to “artist grade” (as opposed to “student grade”) paints but I am not loyal to any particular brand. Some of the brands I find myself using the most are Blick, Daniel Smith, M. Graham, Winsor & Newton, and Holbein (None of these are affiliate links! I just order quite a bit from dickblick.com.) Paint with the same color name is going to look slightly different in the various brands because each manufacturer has their own “recipe” for the colors. For example, I have tried several brands of the color “Sap Green”, but nothing (in my opinion) compares to the beauty and vibrancy of Winsor & Newton’s Sap Green, so that is one I will stick with.

Since we are on the topic of greens, I just might have a problem with collecting green paints. I love them and use them in so much that I do… I just keep picking up one here and one there. The photo above is only a small part of my “greens collection”.

I occasionally will use a bit of gouache paint on a picture that seems to want it. I bought this set ages ago (Again, I am not an affiliate.) and will probably be using it for years to come.

Other things that find their way into my illustrations are both regular color pencils and watercolor pencils. I will also use a bit of white ink now and then.

As for paint brushes, I have several Winsor & Newton Cotman brushes, as well as a few from their University Series. Most of what I do is smaller and fairly detailed so the brushes I use are usually size 00 through 4, but I do have a couple of larger size 10 round brushes and a 1/2” flat brush (affiliate links) that are great for bigger areas.

To draw I use regular HB pencils or a mechanical pencil and Micron pens for inking the lines. The Micron ink will not run or bleed when watercolor brushes over it. Even though I love to try out different watercolor papers and sketchbooks, the paper I use the most is Canson cold press watercolor paper.

Hope that helps! Feel free to drop me a note if you have any other art supply questions. :)