MY ART SUPPLIES! 🎨
Hellooooo! 👋🏻 I get a lot of questions about the tools I use and where I buy them, so I've pulled together a list of all my essentials and favorite creative supplies! This page has been split into two sections: Calligraphy and Gouache Painting as these are the two art mediums I'm trying to learn right now 😊
calligraphy
Plastic holders are the most affordable ones you can get if you'd like to try your hand at calligraphy. I've had mine for more than 3 years !! which proves that they're durable!! 😁
2. Oblique Pen Holder with Brass Flange
I used to hoard boxes of different nibs when I was just starting out. They're so tiny and pretty 😫 I wanted to try them all! I find myself reaching for Hunt 22 the most! The nib produces both thin and slightly thick lines that go really well with my favorite style of calligraphy handwriting which is Copperplate.
Other nibs in my stash: Hunt 101, Leonardt Principle, Nikko G, Tachikawa G
I buy nibs from The Craft Central and Common Room.
INKS
I’m not very picky when it comes to ink, I go with whatever is readily available just as long as it's suitable for calligraphy.
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Elefante China Ink - I love that this ink is thick and glossy. But it can corrode nibs when left dry for hours, so I make sure to wipe off the ink from my nibs with water/pen cleaner once I'm done writing. Bought this from National Bookstore!
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Higgins Calligraphy - Permanent, non-waterproof, and gives a matte finish. I use Higgins in most of my calligraphy works here.
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Walnut Ink - Really good for practice drills! Walnut ink is known for its sepia color. I use it when I want to achieve a classic vintage look.
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Silver Mica - One of my favorite combinations is metallic ink and dark card stocks. I grab this jar of silver ink when I feel like adding more glitter to my life 🤪 Picked this up from Art Bar, Power Plant Mall branch.
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Gum Arabic - I use gum arabic mainly to mix with the Higgins Eternal as I find it a bit watery and can cause bleeding on the paper.
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Pearl Pigments - This one is in powder form and it's usually mixed with gum arabic and small amount of water to create sparkly metallic inks ✨
PAPER
I always go for papers/pads that are not only smooth but also heavy enough to hold ink so bleeding or feathering won't occur.
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PC&Co. Black Pad - This black pad will make your metallics and white ink stand out 🖤 I took a close up shot as the guidelines are almost invisible from afar. Picked this up from National Bookstore.
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The Workpad of Awesome Practice - I think this one's perfect for beginners! It contains guide notes on the basic strokes, letters, and numbers. Paper is very smooth that inks glide and don't feather/bleed.
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Muji A5 Unlined Notebook - My go-to pad for all my calligraphy drills.
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@the_md_writes' Calligrapads - One of the best calligraphy-friendly pads I've tried! Paper is translucent and you can see the guidelines underneath; you won't need to draw lines or purchase those fancy light pads. It comes with a Copperplate examplar and guide sheets, too!
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Gray Area Pad - A5 sized, 120 gsm, 50 leaves. This pad includes a guide sheet for writing serifs and sketching botanicals. What I love about it is that it's gray! I use it for brush calligraphy and sketching.
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@thefozzybook's Ivory Pad - Got this for free when I attended one of her workshops!
BRUSH PENS
My favorite kinds of brush pens are the ones that have flexible tips and can produce fine lines.
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Brush Writer
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Zig Kuretake Brush Pen
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Tombow Fudenosuke
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Rivere Fountain Pen
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Cheap chinese pentel for outlines.
BOOKS
The first two books on my list are like my bibles! I really can't practice Engrosser Script without peeking through these manuals. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to muster up the courage to try Spencerian handwriting. I indicated here the title of the book in case you guys are interested!
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Mastering Copperplate Calligraphy: A Step-by-Step Manual by Eleanor Winters
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Copperplate Calligraphy from A-Z by Sarah Richardson
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Learning to Write Spencerian Script by Michael Suller
Copperplate
Spencerian
QUICK EXTRAS
Dumped in one photo all the tools I use in making guidelines.
Pencils (low quality mechanical and wooden ones), protractor for creating 55 degree angle slant guides, an eraser and my latest purchase - this one single-handedly saved me hours of manually drawing guidelines: The Engrosser Ruler designed by Aquino da Silva. The artist is based in Macau and you can purchase this through his online shop. Luckily, I was able to find a set of rulers from a local Shopee reseller.
PAINTING TOOLS
I haven't touched this watercolor palette for over 3 years! 🙉 The brand is Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor (set of 36). Colors are vivid, opaque and very pigmented. Because it has a creamy-smooth and thick consistency, I've used it as ink for my calligraphy projects, too.
If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably noticed that I use the same spiral sketchbook for all my gouache paintings 😅 It can hold multiple layers of paint and size is just right for my landscape artworks. The brand of this handy dandy sketchbook is Strathmore Visual Journal. Got this from Deovir!
Key components of my paintings are grass, blue skies, and other earthy things. Here are my most-used colors and tube paints:
Viridian Green, Burnt Sienna, Deep Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Jet Black, Titanium White and Ultramarine.
For my brushes, I only use 3 types: angled, flat brush for painting larger surfaces and a small liner brush for details. They are all synthetic as acrylic gouache tends to dry up really fast and can damage the bristles.
I've only been able to try two brands of gouache paints. Will do an in-depth review once I've familiarized myself with the colors, consistencies, and other components 🥰
1. Holbein Acryla Gouache (set of 12) - Deovir Arts
2. Himi Miya Gouache (set of 24) - Shopee
I mix my paints in ceramic and plastic palettes. For cleaning brushes, I use a Cheez Whiz jar 😆
ART SHOPS 🛒
I buy most of my materials from the following online and stand alone shops. Lately I've been hoarding stuff from Shopee, too! If you have other inquiries about art supplies, please send me a message here! 😄