Prismacolor portrait set (eBay)

I purchased these 22 portrait set pencils of eBay for $20 AUD.

Some colours give off a chalky look so I suggest you purchase a colourless blending pencil to soften the colours.

The top half has not been blended with the colourless pencil, but the bottom half has it's not noticeable in the lighter colours but makes a big difference in the darker shades.

My most used colour in portraits, "light peach" varies with pressure more than the other colours seem to.

Unlike Derwent/Polychromos pencils these leads are easily broken and require a lot of sharpening, the blacks seem to need to most sharpening even with the same usage as the other colours.

Overall a good set for the price and for people starting out drawing but not a wide enough range for professional artists.

Leads and fabric paint

I purchased 40 leads from Eckersleys (online art shop) they come in this smart dispenser. So much cheaper than buying small packets of leads.

Push the top down to center a lead.

After a few pushes on the top a lead will slide out.

If you decide you don't want that lead anymore place it in the hole.

And hold the top button for the lead to fall in.

I also purchased this fabric fixative medium and some black background acrylic paint.

Sofft Panpastel tools.

I was in my local art shop and they had a one of supply of Panpastel tools (Sofft tools) which in Australia is extremely rare, So I picked up this oval set for $4.90 AUD.

If your using Panpastels you definitely need the Sofft tools they are partly what makes the product so unique, eBay art products sellers stock Panpastel products but are usually expensive so head down to a local art shop or look at online shops.

Unlike the actual Panpastels the tools don't come with any storage containers or covers so I store mine in a transparent acrylic box.

Palette Knives!

eBay 5 pack of palette knives for $5(AUD)

Pebeo 100/129 palette knife.


I was actually impressed by the eBay palette knives, I was expecting them to be flimsy and poor quality but are the best palette knives I've used. Definitely goes to show that even in art price doesn't equal quality all of the time.

I mostly use palette knives for mixing paints or laying paint down for a large block colour, I still rely on brushes for detail.

Leather sketch book!

I purchased this leather sketch book from USCHA while in Western Australia. Head over to their site or look them up on Facebook.

Refillable pages you buy around 200 page insert for $10-$40 depending on the book size.

Engraved back and front with a unique design.

Press button clasp, there are other types of clasps available though.

My favourite brushes.

The flat and round brushes I use most. Both synthetic #4.

I acrylic tube I kept from chocolates proved to be a great holder for those delicate little brushes, currently holding my to favourite large detail brushes.

My Mont Marte taklon detailer in #1 was only a few dollars yet proved to be a great brush for travelling, I use it with watercolour more than other paints. 

One of my favourite brushes for fabric painting, I use a taklon round brush in #5.

Derwent Inktense pencils.

Applying two medium pressure layers with the Inktense pencils produces a dramatic, abstract and bold effect.

 Colour swatches from the 6 pack of pencils, using Pentel water brush produce such vibrant colours. 

The thick strong cores are resistant to breaking and need less sharpening than a student grade pencil.

Colours displayed on the end of pencils allow for versatile storage as you can easily see which colour is which.

Pentel water brush in action, slightly stained brushed tip but still has a great output. 

Such a small brush but it feels like the water lasts forever! The one i was using here was the fine tip, sizes range from extra fine brush tip to a large tip.

Super flexible brush bounces straight back into shape.

Glass painting supplies!

For a family friends birthday I painted wine glasses with little scenes, I bought a tonne of different brand glass paints and these gave the best results! Hopefully this helps out someone looking for a gift idea, these also make great gifts for kids, I was given a few as kid.

The small tips allow for intricate designs and surprisingly last very long, I managed to paint 8 glasses and only used 1/4 of the paint!

These glass paint pens were good for a background giving a less solid colour, like a watercolour finish. 

I used these painted on with a cheap synthetic paint brush, mixable colours gave such great palette options.

Reasonably priced compared to some art products in Australia. 

Copic Ciao 12 colour set reivew!

Above shows the flexible brush tip which creates such a great variation in line width.

I scored this 12 pack for $60! Which in Australia is pretty crazy i went to my local independent art shop expecting the usual brands but they had two of these! I've had this set for a few weeks now and still amazed by their ability to blend.

In the pictures below I tried to show how they are packaged, so secure in an acrylic transparent case with end separators which seem like they wouldn't be of much use but make it a lot easier to store these markers you can take one or two out without the other markers moving or falling.

The top swatch set of  each colour shows the brush tip and how it looks applying light, medium and hard pressure, allowing a large range of strokes which is great for tattoo style designs and anime.

Top row of the green colours is the brush tip and the bottom row is the broad tip used on the three different main sides.

Using the brush tip to blend colours.

Top: Blending purple and red. Middle top: blending red and yellow using orange to assist the blending. Middle lower: blending red and blue. Bottom: blending yellow and blue.

Back of the paper used for these swatches even on 200gsm paper the back clearly bleeds through the paper, so DO NOT use Copic markers on the back of important paper! Remove paper from your art book or paper stack and use on a clipboard or dark desk.

I did not take my own advice and marked my desk permanently if this happens on a wooden surface it can be lightly sanded back sometimes even may need to be lacquered. 

After using Copic Ciao for blending for about two weeks even my lightest colour shows no discolouration from the other markers ink.

My yellow Promarker was used for blending with a red Promarker and is now permanently discoloured.

Blending of Promarkers is possible but doesn't produce and nice of results, considering they are almost the same price I would much rather own Copic and Copic Ciao