The Popular and Contemporary Arts

Two Mistakes New Painters Make When Buying Their Art Supplies

22 April 2022

Bradley Carr

Here are the mistakes new painters tend to make when buying their art supplies.

They buy paint palettes that don't have enough compartments

A paint palette is an essential item for any painter, as it provides them with space on which to lay and mix their paint colours. One error that new artists make is purchasing palettes that only have, for example, four or five compartments, rather than larger palettes that have 20 or more compartments. Whilst the former is fine for children who may only be using primary colours or for artists who know for certain that they only plan to create, for example, monochromatic paintings, a palette like this is not suitable for any other person interested in painting.

The reason for this is that colour experimentation is a big part of being a painter, and many of the objects or people that a person might decide to paint can feature dozens of different colours. For example, if a painter wants to paint a portrait of someone and is trying to accurately convey the colour of that persons' hair colour, they'll need to use several paints to achieve this, as hair colour isn't usually one colour but is instead a mixture of, for instance, various shades of brown or red.  If a person who's painting a portrait has a palette that doesn't have enough compartments, they will struggle to create the right paint mixtures to create the portrait subject's hair on their canvas.

Likewise, if a person wants to paint landscapes, they'll need a palette with one or two dozen compartments, to enable them to create the many different shades that are found in the greenery, water and sky colours that they wish to depict on their canvas.

They don't think about what they want to paint when they buy their paintbrushes

The other error new painters sometimes make when on a shopping spree for art supplies is not considering what they would like to paint before they purchase their paintbrushes and instead opting for a paintbrush kit that features, for example, four large-sized brushes, three medium-sized ones and two fine-tipped brushes. Whilst if a person truly has no idea what they're going to paint and just wants to start experimenting with some art supplies, this type of brush kit would be fine, it's probably not the best choice for any painter who already knows what they'd prefer to paint.

For example, if a person has decided that they're going to paint realistic portraits of people or animals, they'll need a far greater variety of fine-tipped brushes for all of the detail work they'll need to do than they will broader brushes (they'll probably only use the latter to create the underpainting for their work, whose broad brushstrokes would be quicker to create with a wider paintbrush). In this situation, the painter might be better off buying six or seven individual fine-tipped brushes, along with one wider one. Look into art supplies at an arts and crafts store near you.

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