Top sketching tools (top 7)
Our most popular tools for sketching outside:
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Rosemary & Co travel brushes: Artist grade brushes, housed in a metal reversible handle to protect the brush tip when not in use. Popular designs are R2 Sable, R9 Squirrel, R12 Dagger and R10 Synthetic. For big brushes, look at the R16 dagger 3/8" and short handle Series 33 rounds and 772 daggers.
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Sailor Fude sketch kits: An expressive, bent nib fountain pen, combined with high-flow waterproof fountain pen ink. Kit includes converter to draw up bottle ink and a blunt syringe for moving ink. We recommend the 40 degree pen for beginners.
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Twsbi Eco: A smooth, round nib fountain pen, for consistent lines. This piston-filling pen fills directly into the belly of the pen, to hold a lot of ink. We recommend the Fine nib for sketching and handwriting. Compatible with De Atramentis inks and available in sketch kits.
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De Atramentis document inks: Waterproof and lightfast fountain pen inks, with pigment particles that bind to the paper within a few minutes. Popular colours for sketching include black, browns and greys. Shake the bottle to redistribute the pigment and use your pen fortnightly to maintain ink flow.
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Daniel Smith watercolours: Artist grade watercolours, many with granulation, to mimic the textures found in nature. Popular colours for sketching include Buff Titanium for beaches/sandstone, Cobalt Teal Blue for the ocean, Quinacridone Gold for warm Australian landscapes and a favourite of artist Liz Steel, Potter's Pink. Grab a Test-Dot card, with generous dots of pigment to try.
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White Nights watercolours: Best value artist grade watercolours, available in tubes, large pans and travel sets. Try this compact travel set or get an empty palette and select your own colours.
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Seawhite sketchbooks: Good value watercolour sketchbooks in stitchbound and spiral formats. Range also includes low-cost cahiers sized for wet media, and fun concertinas for telling stories. A good choice for beginners, before moving to premium pulp and cotton based papers. Next on the list is Stillman & Birn Alpha 150gsm, a lighter weight paper (so you get more pages) with good gelatin sizing that handles water surprisingly well.
Test fountain pens and sample watercolour papers available in our Brookvale store. Learn more about sketching and painting classes and community groups. If you are enrolled in a class, check here for your Materials List or contact us for help.