My collection of color media! 8D I obsess over enjoy looking at other people's collections of art supplies, and since I'm putting my room at home back together I thought I'd share this while everything was out. Starting from the top, we have:


Copic Markers: I love these guys so much <3 The blue bands on these are not a normal part of the marker, they're used to identify them as mine. In studio a lot of kids had Copics, and it can get hard to tell which are whose. After a bit of a mix up where some of my new markers got swapped for beat up ones, I put blue duct tape strips around mine so there's no confusion. I prefer the aesthetic of the marker without them, but it's a small sacrifice to make in order to help hang on to them all. Also, a note to all you new Copic collectors: when I got my first set of these as a gift, I had a "gotta catch em all!" attitude. I felt like I would always be limited in color choice unless I owned all 358 colors. Well, I can tell you now that actually, you don't need nearly that many. Even with less than half of the possible colors, there are some that I rarely use, and I have yet to feel like I need more markers. I suppose I could use all the super light tones, but for now I'm perfectly content. My wallet just sighed with relief as well xD

Tombow Markers: These are the black things underneath the Copics. I absolutely love these markers, and if you're in the market for a nice water-based marker then I strongly recommend these ones! Since the ink is water-based, you can blend them with a paintbrush and water! They also layer very nicely, meaning you can create a nice variety of shades. Unfortunately, the company only makes 95 colors, and I do feel like they could use some more light and less saturated tones, but that's OK. I don't think the company sells the complete collection any more either; I got these about six years ago, and now they only seem to come in sets of 6-12 or individually. Either way, they still seem to be going strong! My main recommendation is that you don't use them on plain old printer paper or toothy sketch paper. To look nice, these need a higher quality paper.

Prismacolor pencils: These are the only pencils in the photo. I purchased a set of 120 (I think? I don't remember anymore xD) about 7 years ago, and have been slowly adding to the collection as new colors came out and others were discontinued. I have no idea how many I have now, but it's enough so that I can't use the original tin they came in lol. Primsmas are unique from other colored pencils in that they have a particularly waxy lead, which means you can lay them on thick and blend endlessly. They are different than your standard colored pencil, but I love them dearly <3

Acrylic Paints: The story behind these paint tubes is interesting. I bought my very first acrylics from Fred Meyers, a random department store in the Northwest. They sucked terribly, so I upgraded to the Liquitex Basics. Those are the small tubes you see, and there are 48 of them. The set was only 20-something USD, and for anyone who wants to try out acrylics or needs a general, varied set, I highly recommend them. They're of a surprising quality for being student grade, and I love having plenty of pre-mixed colors when I need a small area of something and don't feel like trying to mix it from scratch. Of the larger tubes you see, I only bought five or six. My brother and I went to the same community college, and he and his friends all took a painting class. The teacher wasn't the greatest, and they all hated the class and ended up giving me their paints! 8D I have two each of every color, and that includes warm and cool varieties of the primary colors, along with greens and purples. I would not have bought the secondary ones as green is extremely easy to make and I don't have much need for purples, but obviously I didn't say no to them. Browns can be finicky though and I have a hard time reproducing them exactly, so I did pick up the burnt sienna and raw umber as a nice starting base for a particular painting that needed a lot of earthy tones. Somewhere I have a large tube of white, but no black. I do love acrylics and for anyone who would like to learn some color theory, they are an excellent tutor.

Sculpey: On the far left are the colored blocks of Sculpey III I have. I actually have a colored set from a Christmas or three ago that I'm still working through, but the bricks are kind of mutilated and these look nicer xD. Michaels had them on sale for a dollar a piece a while ago, so I couldn't resist grabbing some. There are also blocks of white, black, and transparent in there, but they got cut off in the photo. I picked up warm and cool versions of each primary color, as well as some secondaries because I don't think I could mix some that were so vibrant. The vast majority of my polymer clay creations don't make it to dA since I'm still definitely in the learning phase, but I may be posting some soon.

Watercolor Paints: Across from the Sculpey on the far right is my watercolor set. I don't do a whole lot of watercolor these days, but I am fond of the medium and it's nice to have the set available for when I need them. There are 12 tubes that come in a handy travel case, and they are actually of pretty decent quality.

Nupastels: Right under the watercolors are a line of chalk pastels made by Prismacolor. They are much denser and harder than your typical pastel, so naturally I like them a little more xD. I never really learned how to use pastels, and I struggle to control them. The harder consistency of the Nupastels makes them a bit easier for me to manipulate, and every now and then when I come across a big piece of colored, textured paper I like taking them for a spin. Again, not much of that makes it do dA lol. I also have a hard time storing chalk works since nothing can touch them without ruining them, so that also impacts my production rate.

Chalk Pastels: And finally in the bottom right we have a set of chalk pastels that I was given in fifth grade. They're just Proart brand so they are nothing fancy, but I've used them for gestures and to rough out paintings for years. I also started doing my first still lives with them.



Anyway, that's it! Obviously I also have a tablet and thus access to the millions of colors on a computer, but that's not quite the same. Even though I haven't had a whole lot of time in the recent past for traditional media, I still enjoy it very much and I'm thrilled to have such a nice selection of mediums at my disposal. There's nothing quite like decideing on a whim that you'd like to do a painting or a pencil portrait and having everything you need at your fingertips :3