Painting & Drawing

Watercolour pans and tubes, acrylic and oil paints, brushes in every shape, watercolour paper and sketchbooks, graphite and coloured pencils, pastels, markers, canvases and table easels. Everything for loose sketching, botanical painting, life drawing or a first go with a paint-by-numbers.

Choosing well: student-quality paint is ideal for learning, artist-quality paint holds more pigment; watercolour paper of around 300 gsm buckles far less than thinner paper; synthetic brushes are easy to care for and suit acrylics. Ventilate the room when you use solvents with oil paint, and never pour solvents down the sink.

Read our guides watercolour for beginners and acrylic, oil or watercolour?

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How to choose painting and drawing supplies

Start with the medium that suits how you like to work: pencils and pens for quick, portable sketching, watercolour for loose washes, acrylics for fast-drying layers, and oils for slow blending. Then buy the surface designed for that medium.

• Student-grade materials are fine for practice; move to artist grade for colours you use most once you know what you like.
• Match paper or canvas to the medium, as wet media buckle thin paper.
• Check lightfastness ratings if the finished work will hang in daylight.
• Keep a starter kit small: a few colours, two or three brushes and one pad teach more than a large boxed set.