The wonderful world of art supplies is never ending and starting out can be quite overwhelming and confusing. With so many products available, where do you start?

Art supplies are a very personal choice. Products that I love you may try and really not enjoy. As your creative journey unfolds and you begin experimenting with different mediums you will begin to accumulate a collection of your own favourites. The types of art supplies you need will depend on the mediums you wish to work with but in general the basics are similar.

I have put together this list of items I think are essential for a beginner just starting on their creative journey. So, let’s begin.

#1 Graphite Pencils & Watercolor Pencils

I recommend to all of my students to do a drawing of your subject before you start painting – even if it is just an outline to be used as a guide. I recommend using a 2B graphite pencil which are great for general sketching and shading.

I also think watercolor pencils are a MUST in any basic art setup. They are great to draw your shapes onto canvas, paper or boards as your lines blend with the paint and disappear. Goodbye unwanted pencil lines.

#2 Erasers

I would highly recommend a kneadable eraser as opposed to your standard hard ‘white’ eraser. I love these erasers because they don’t leave behind any residue. You can also shape the eraser into different shapes to erase small areas without disturbing the surrounding drawing.

It is a really great idea to have all your art supplies accessible and easy to get to. Getting creative is much more fun when you have your own little sanctuary just for you.

A quick snapshot of my studio; my sanctuary. As you can see, I take my art supplies very seriously… it grows bigger every day.

If you don't have a large area to create your art; make a coffee table kit. While watching a movie with your family you can still practice, play and learn. You will find if your kit is accessible you will do more art.

Above is my coffee table kit for inks. What you put in your coffee table kit will be a personal choice depending on the mediums you enjoy working with. You will find that as you develop your skills the supplies in your coffee table kit will change. You may even be like me and have several kits that contain different mediums. I have a kit for watercolor, a kit for acrylics, a kit for gouache and a kit for drawing and marker pens. Your coffee table kit is also a good base for a travel kit when you are on holidays or away from home.

#3 Visual Art Journal

I call these little gems my testing and trial zone. Before I start on any artwork, I like to work out the composition, sort out my colour palette and experiment in my visual journal. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on these journals and they come in a variety of sizes. I like to use a visual journal as opposed to lose sheets of drawing paper because all my ideas are kept together in one place.

#4 Quality Paper for Final Artworks

When it comes to painting surfaces for surface and textile design, I recommend using paper where possible. I say this because it is the easiest way to scan your artwork.

If you prefer watercolors or water mediums, I recommend using either hot or cold pressed watercolor paper 300gsm. The brand I like to use in watercolor paper is…

For acrylics you can use acrylic/canvas paper. I like using these paper pads because they are easy to scan and store. I am quite fond of (name the company) paper.

#5 Art Brushes

Depending on the medium you wish to use will depend on the brushes you will need. There are many different varieties, quality and price ranges.

The best brushes for acrylic painting are:

Brights Hogs Hair – for laying down your first layer of paint (they do all the hard work)
Filbert Hogs Hair– for general painting, blending and touch ups – great for finessing
Flat wash brush – for painting backgrounds
Small liner brush – fine details

Brushes from left: Liners in varying sizes, flat wash brush, filbert & brights.

The best brushes for watercolor painting are:

Medium/large flat brush – for washes
Round brush – size 8, 10, 14 for general painting
Liner Brush – size 6 for smaller details
Foam brush – great for washes and large areas of color

Brushes from left: Flat brush (large and medium), round brush & liners in varying sizes & foam brush.

For water media I also highly recommend a water brush. These are inexpensive and are amazing to use. They have a reservoir which stores water in the barrel of the brush which allows you to easily create a color gradient or blend colors.

#6 Water Trays

To make sure you have the purest colors when painting I can’t stress enough the importance of clean water. My water trays are my best friends. I always have two on the go – one for clean water and one for washing my brushes between colours. You can buy trays that are separated to hold two lots of water. But if not, you can use any vessel you like.

#7 Paints

With so many paint colors on the market, it can be extremely difficult to know which colors you should buy when you first start painting. Try as you might realistically you can’t buy every available color; you would become overwhelmed and not know where to start.

Regardless of the paint medium you are using whether it be acrylics, gouache, oils or watercolor it will help to have these basic colors to start with. I think it is important to start with the three primary colors (blue, red and yellow) because from these colors you can mix a rainbow of colors.

The essential paint colors you need are:

Blue
Red
Yellow
Brown
Green
Orange
Purple
White
Black

The brands that I really love to use for my paints are…

Winsdor & Newton
Reeves
Monte Marte
Charvin
Matisse

One of my favourite mediums to work with is watercolors and I have developed my own set of vibrant watercolors that I love to use in conjunction with other watercolor brands and in my mixed media pieces. The set also comes with a set of four stencils, a water brush as well as a FREE online watercolor lesson. They are also make a great travel kit.

If you would like to purchase your own set of my Articci watercolors you can purchase them through Amazon (America) or through the Australian Amazon site

flamingo with floral background painted with watercolor in a Lilly Pulitzer inspired style

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#8 Add your own quirky style

Above I have listed the 7 items I think you need to get started on your creative journey, but I also think that you need to add your own signature to your art kit. By that I mean adding items that you might not purchase from an art store. In my art kit I have included unconventional tools that I like to pull out from time to time.

Your art kit doesn’t have to be filled with items you have purchased from art supplies stores. Why not step outside the box and add items that you have found or that you would like to experiment with down the track when you have time. Look around your home and see what items you can use as “paint brushes”.

Try experimenting with items such as:

Feathers
Seashells
Star fish
String/ribbon/lace
Old credit cards for dragging paint
Twigs
Sponges

My art kit is very much an extension of who I am and what I love and it is extensive (but I have been creating art for a very long time) but don’t let this overwhelm you. In time I’m sure your art kit will be as substantial as mine.

With this basic list of supplies in hand go forth and unleash your inner creativity. Just remember that with every art supply there are many brands and pricing structures. In my collection I have a mixture of expensive and cheap products. I am always on the hunt for new mediums to experiment and play with and I really hope that you do too.

Tracy xx

Would you like to learn how you can become an artist?

If you have a passion for art, but are not sure how you can turn it into a career or make money doing what you love, then Tracy Saywell's Paint Art That Sells program might be just what you need! Click below to find out more about how the course can help develop your art skills, inspire you with ideas for what you can do with your art and show you how you can make money doing what you love.

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Textile design is the process of creating designs to be printed, woven or knitted onto fabrics. Most textile designers focus on the print designs to be printed on the surface of a material rather than on knitwear or woven designs as more specialist knowledge is required for this. In this article we will focus on the print pattern design portion of textile design.

When you first think of textile design, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet the first thing was fabric for clothing, although there are a variety of uses for textile designs.

There are two major areas of textile design:

Interiors – upholstery, soft furnishings and carpets
Fashion – fabrics for clothing, footwear and accessories

The person who is responsible for these creations is most commonly known as a Textile Designer (a.k.a. a surface pattern designer, print designer, textile graphic designer, print repeat designer).

What is the difference between a Surface Designer and a Textile Designer?

A surface designer creates print designs suitable for a range of products – not just to be printed on fabrics. For example, a surface designer can design wallpapers, stationary, packaging, phone cases etc. Basically any surface is fair game for a surface designer! So in actual fact, textile designers are a form of surface designer!

shades of blue watercolor design printed on canvas shoes

Surface designer, print designer, textile graphic designer, pattern designer, print repeat designer - the many different names for a Textile Designer – the list could go on.

What does a textile designer really do?

A textile designer’s job is multifaceted. You not only create the artwork for the design, either by hand or digitally, but you also need to be able to marry the creative vision of what the finished design will look like with a good understanding of fabrics, fibers and dyes and the technical considerations and aspects of the fabric print production process.

Deciding on my color palette before I begin painting

The key to successful print design

Like all businesses you need to have a thorough understanding of the customer for whom the product is intended or your target market. This is so important, and I can’t stress it enough. Without knowing who the end customer will be for your design, it will be hard to get the design right to achieve sales.

As well as knowing who your customer is you also need to consider the end use of the design and if the print will suit not only the final product but also appeal to your target market. For example, if your target market is toddlers than the products would need to appeal to the parents and be toddler appropriate. The style of artworks you design for toddlers would be very different then for a mature lady.

Another point I’d like to mention is scale. The scale of the elements in your design need to be considered for its intended purpose. If you are designing a print for a bikini the print scale might be smaller than the scale of the design if it was to be used for a maxi dress.

The key to creating successful textile designs is to understand the end customer you are designing for, just like you would understand the target market for any other business.

Tracy Saywell

How to develop a winning print design…

A winning print design can be developed by hand using your favourite art mediums or created digitally using graphic software, but ultimately your designs will need to be finished on the computer to prepare it for print production.

I am more of a traditionalist when it comes to art and my own prints are artworks created by hand using many different art mediums and then scanned into the computer and prepared for printing.

Digitally designed prints can be created using almost any graphic design software (Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator being the most popular choices) and exported ready for print.

Original artworks such as hand drawn illustrations or photos can also be scanned and digitally manipulated to make a repeating print which can also create really amazing fabrics.

Check out our Essential Guide to Creating Winning Print Designs blog post for more tips in designing fabric prints that stand out from the crowd and get sales.

Knowledge of graphic software for textile designers is a bonus but it's not necessary!

If you have knowledge of graphic design software that’s a bonus. However, if you don’t, it’s not the end of your dream! I don’t personally have many skills when it comes to graphic design software but that hasn’t stopped me creating my beautiful fabric prints and building an extensive library of textile designs.

I am always learning but have been fortunate enough over my career to have been able to hire graphic designers who have the knowledge to be able to create a textile repeat from my artwork. You will find that not all graphic designers will have an understanding of how to create textile repeats so be aware of this when hiring someone.

Not all graphic designers have an understanding of how to create textile design repeats.

A graphic designer that specialises in creating textile repeats will not only know how to turn your artwork into a repeating print, but will also have knowledge of how the repeat will end up working out once it is repeated over the width and length of the fabric and will be able to tell you if you will need to tweak your design slightly to create the perfect repeat. They should also know how to correctly prepare the artwork file for sending to the textile printers.

Below are some of my hand painted artworks, which have been scanned and turned into repeat prints for fabric using Adobe Photoshop.

My red hot tip for textile designers…

The best tip I can give you as an emerging textile designer is that you don’t need to know everything in order to have your artwork turned into a fabric. The most important thing is to work out what skills you do have and outsource the rest (where your budget allows).

Focus your time and energy on creating the best artwork designs you can rather than on trying to learn graphic design if you’re not already computer savvy. You can work with a graphic designer to turn your artwork into a repeat if you don’t have the graphic skills to do it yourself.

- Tracy Saywell

You can start building and selling your fabric and surface design collection now with the skills you already have, and continue to build and grow your collections as you develop as an artist and improve your design skills. As you create prints and start to sell your work, you will learn what sells best and what your target customer wants and likes, allowing you to hone in your designs to suit them more with each new design.

How to get started as a Textile Designer

The first thing you need to do is build up a portfolio of work. You cannot sell designs you haven’t created yet and you cannot get a job as a designer without a portfolio to show a prospective employer!

Many textile designers are self-employed, running their own business from home. You can sell your work in a variety of ways including:

Licencing prints to fashion designers/fabric wholesalers or for other purposes such as for product developers and designers to use for their companies;
Selling print on demand products through websites like society6, redbubble or printful;
Selling graphic assets online for use by other designers;
Working freelance for companies to design for their requirements;
Developing your own products with your own prints!

In this case, as you will be running your own business, you will need to think about all the aspects of building a business – and in particular marketing – as if you have no customers, you have no business!

Alternatively, you can get work as part of a design team within a company – this could be a fashion, textiles or home wares brand or it could be a gift company for example.

The first step in either case is to start creating a collection of print designs!

How would you like to work?

Tracy xx

Take Your Surface Designs to the next level

If you would like to learn how you can improve your art skills so you can create textile and surface designs that stand out, Tracy's online program Paint Art That Sells is for you!

The course takes you through a wide range of art mediums and techniques, starting from very simple techniques to get quick results right through to advanced artworks.

Along the way she shares inspiration, business and marketing tips and ideas, contacts for manufacturers, patterns and templates for products and much more so you have everything you need to take your print design business to the next level.

Saywell Designs print dresses and cushions

Find Out More!

Coloring books can be great for stress relief and mindfulness, but do you sometimes feel guilty that you're just "wasting" your time not doing something productive? I know I do...

So I will share with you some ideas on how you can use coloring books in a whole new way!

You can turn your coloring pages into your own designs and artworks which you could put on products such as t-shirts, tea-towels, beach towels and more for gifts for friends... or even to sell!*

*subject to copyright limitations if using someone else's designs.

Coloring in is a great creativity kick-starter to warm up your creative juices and inspire your own unique illustrations! You can also use coloring books as a design reference or to practice your drawing skills.

Discover the many things you can do with your coloring pages to take them from the coloring book into the world, or even use them as a tool to improve your art.

Check out these 10 fantastic ideas you can try out.

Download our free tropical coloring book with 24 beautiful pages you can print to use anytime

10 Tips to Use Your Coloring Book for Artistic Inspiration, Journaling, Product Design and More!

1. Have fun with the endless possibilities of watercolor, without ruining your coloring book!

Photocopy or print the coloring pages onto watercolor paper! This means you can get creative with water without the coloring book pages buckling or running through. Watercolor looks best when you let it do what it does best - wash, bleed and run - so color outside the lines, using them as a reference.

Tip

You may like to experiment with lightening the design lines using your printers settings, so that the lines are not as obvious on the watercolor paper and when you color over them they don't stand out as much.

Alternatively you could try printing onto canvas paper, or other card stocks so that you can use other paint mediums. If you can't print onto these heavier stocks at home, you can take your paper to a print store and they should be able to print them for you.

2. Scale up your favorite coloring page and have it printed on canvas!

Many print shops now print onto canvas. This means you can have your coloring page (either colored in or blank) printed onto canvas. You can then paint over it with acrylic or oil paints!

When painting with acrylics or oils, you should be able to completely paint over the lines, so it won't even look like a coloring page. Even if you print your colored in page onto the canvas, you can add extra texture and dimension by painting over the top of it, making it look more like a painting than a print!

3. Did you know that you can embellish your colored pages with other mediums to really make them POP?

It's time to go mixed media on your coloring pages! If you print your coloring pages onto heavier paper or canvas, you can use any art medium you desire!

Experiment with paints, metallic paint pens, white gel pens or even acrylic paint pens to emphasize elements within your design, along with your pencils and makers.

You will be surprised how these subtle touches can really lift your page and make it POP! For example, use a white gel pen to add a white dot to show the glint in the eye of a bird. Or, using a black sharpie or metallic marker to outline a shape or create a shadow in the design.

3. Get your Collage on!

I know what you are thinking........collage is for kids......but it's not!

Choose one of the pages from your coloring book and select shapes to trace onto colored paper and cut out and glue together to create a more textured artwork.

You can create your own interesting compositions and prints using a variety of elements, or focus on just one element, like the flower below.

A simplified outline drawing was used to trace and cut out the colored pieces in the collage on the right.

Finished collage.

Tip

You may like to photocopy an enlarged version so that your shapes are larger and easier to cut.
Combine coloring in with collage papers for an interesting effect!
Even try newspapers and other patterned or textured papers for an even more exciting look!

4. Use your coloring pages as inspiration or designs for your journal

Whether you're into bullet journaling or your an art journaller, you can us the coloring pages as templates and inspiration for your journal!

Create beautiful page layouts for your bullet journal using your coloring book as a design reference or by tracing the shapes!

bullet journal page design coloring in template

5. Trace elements of your designs to create your own prints and artworks!

Place your blank paper on top of the coloring page and hold this against either a light box or a window (with light shining through). Trace your chosen design elements from different coloring pages or sections of the page onto the paper, to create your own compositions and patterns.

Alternatively you could photocopy the coloring page and then use graphite tracing paper to trace the illustrations. Combine with your own drawings for a more unique composition.

Would you like to learn how you can become an artist?

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6. Improve your drawing skills by creating your own designs using the coloring book as a reference.

Practice your drawing skills, by trying to copy elements by hand. This will help improve the scale and proportion in your drawings.

Take a flower from one page, a bird from another and a tropical leaf from a different page and design your very own unique page that you can then color and go crazy with. Picking elements from different coloring pages and putting together in different combinations will help improve your composition skills.

Add to existing pages by adding patterns or extra flowers in the white space or add extra design details or patterns within shapes to create more texture or interest.

Practice your shading skills on your coloring designs to make them more three dimensional. Pick a light source angle and shade on the opposite sides of where the light would hit the item.

Tip

Use a photocopier to scale up or down image elements to add to your page. You can either trace or try to free draw it yourself to practice your drawing skills!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COLORING BOOK

7. Turn your pages into gift cards and wrapping paper.

Instead of rushing to the newsagents to buy a gift card why not make one?

In today's world so much of our correspondence is via the internet and apps so when somebody sends me a beautiful hand written note on gorgeous stationary I really remember it.

Complete any gift with your own design printed onto wrapping paper. There are a few online companies that can print your designs onto wrapping paper.

Spoonflower is a great site where you can have your designs printed onto not only wrapping paper but also wallpaper and a wide range of fabrics.

9. Scan your completed design and have it printed onto products as a placement print.

You might want to have your design printed onto a 'ready-made' product as a placement print. There are many companies that can do this for you and so many products you can choose from to have your design printed on to. Zazzle is a popular site that offers a variety of products to choose from and has an easy to use interface.

Cushions - why not add a pom pom trim to "dress" them up.

Artwork printed onto a plate.

Tip

You can then scan this completed repeat print in to your computer and if you have some Photoshop skills you can edit the image to remove any unwanted lines or marks, adjust colors, then use the finished print in graphic work OR upload to a service such as Spoonflower to have it printed onto fabric for you!

Would You Like to Make Money From Your Art...

Paint Art That Sells is an online program created by Tracy Saywell to teach you a variety of art techniques and mediums and show you a variety of ways that you can easily turn your art into products that you can sell. With inspiring examples and activities to get you on your way to creating an income doing what you love!

Find Out More...

Insert Image

10. Create your own repeat prints and have it printed onto fabric for home decor items, clothing and so much more...!

1
Take a motif print - for example a bird or some flowers and cut the page into 4 equal pieces.
2
Flip the squares around so that the center is on the outside (by swapping left to right and top to bottom).
3
Now, add additional motifs to fill in the gaps of the print - making sure you draw across the cut lines in the centre and not drawing across the outside edges.

1. Cut your motif into 4 equal squares.

2. Flip the squares - swapping right for left and top for bottom.

3. Fill in the gaps with additional motifs.

Turn into a repeating print

These are just a handful of ideas of what you can do with your colored pages. Take the time to research the other endless possibilities and remember to think outside the box.

Happy Creating.......

Tracy Saywell

@ Saywell Designs Pty Ltd