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.

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

Pan pastel mixed media set.

Mid last year (2013) I purchased a Pan Pastel mixed media set, this set was not the original colour combination I wanted but I was only buying it off eBay not an art shop, this set was $61(AUD) with $11(AUD) postage. I'm extremely happy with the pigment and quality all round for these pastels but due to the odd colour palette I haven't made an art piece with them, sometime this year I will purchase the 20 colour portrait set from an Australian art website http://www.seniorart.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14_480_483_486 I've been looking around for a long time for his set and this site seems to be the cheapest and most reliable. If you have never used Pan Pastel before or even pastel at all I would definitely recommend buying a 5,7 or 10 pack first.

I wouldn't recommend this to someone who hasn't tried painted, used charcoal or pastel before, but definitely good for people like me that like the appearance of a painting but hate waiting between layers and people that like pastel but hate the dust getting everywhere.

All the Sofft tools this set comes with.

Slide the cover off for cleaning, all cleaning instructions come with each pack.

The cover on for more precise lines.

I could imagine this set would last an artist half a year and the hobbyist anywhere from half a year to two years. 

I hoped this could help out someone not sure whether to splurge on these products.

Epson Scanner for under $200!!! And review.

Feather in charcoal, photographed with canon 1100D.

Same feather in charcoal but scanned with my Epson scanner. So much clearer than a photograph.

Love my new scanner, previously I was just using the scanner in my multi function printer but the DPI was half this scanners.

Easy to set up and use, only took me 15 minutes to get it out of the box and connect it with my computer, comes with a simple editing program so you can flip or crop the scan instantly. 

It came with a 12 month warranty with the store I bought it from, and through the Epson site if a technical problem occurs with the product they will replace it, as long a it wasn't you dropping it after the warranty. The sites operators are nice and easy to talk to, so head over to their site to read other reviews and pick the right scanner for your price range and needs.

Derwent Colorsoft 6 pack skintones.

My first encounter with Derwent Colorsoft pencils, they are almost like pastel pencils so buy the Derwent Artist pencils for details. For larger pieces these are great.

They produce a lot of dust, but are highly pigmented.