Art Fun Cheap

The brushes that come with cheap watercolors are usually just junk. Generally they are not worth even trying to use. (Save them to use for glue and other one-time uses.)
That’s why, as I mentioned in Cheap, Fun Watercolors, I was surprised to find that the brush that came with Coloriffic watercolors was quite good. That [...]

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Cheap watercolors are generally full of fillers, which means they look great in the package but are too diluted for real watercolor painting, They are fun to play with, though, and are great for art journaling and other uses (where light colors are what you want).

Generally, if watercolors look pretty in the package, they are [...]

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The interesting thing (to me) about glitter glues and dimensional (3D) paints is that while the package says “water washable,” that’s only while they are wet. Once dry, they are water resistant. You can layer them, and they don’t melt each other (except the pearls).
You can also paint over them with watercolors, using the gels [...]

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People often think that you need to draw well to enjoy making art. That’s not true. But at the same time, you can have a lot more fun with art if you can draw well enough to please yourself.
How do you learn? Formal academic courses are not necessary. Many people don’t have access to them. [...]

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Magic pencils are fat, colorful wooden pencils with multicolor lead, made by the pencil company, Koh-I-noor Hardtmuth and sold for 99 cents at most Walgreen’s stores. Michael’s may still carry them, too.

Each pencil has three colors arranged in the fat “lead” in a checkerboard pattern, so you can write a rainbow, and make multicolored backgrounds [...]

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“Glitter is good,” is my motto. The great glitzy stuff I love goes by various names: glitter glue, dimensional paint, paper glaze, and fabric paint. The textures and finishes are different, but all are fun and useful. I use them for art journals, artist trading cards, drawings, paintings, greeting cards, origami paper, and all kinds [...]

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Among my favorite cheap art supplies are Elmer’s ColorSlicks. In the package, they look like fat markers in primary colors, but what they really are is very, very soft fat crayons in twist-up holders.

They are wonderful for embellishing the pages of journals, cards, paintings, drawings, illustrations, and a lot of other things. They’re just [...]

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Every artist, even—maybe especially—a part-time, just-for-fun artist should have a sketchbook. If you can’t act on your art ideas when you think of them, you can jot down a few notes, a diagram, a primitive sketch, and keep those ideas for use later.
We all have so many ideas. They pop into our heads at [...]

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Here is the info I promised on how to get the three-color rainbow-writing pencils. What you want is the Marvy Color Tricks Mechanical Pencil. It comes in a package with a supply of extra lead for just a couple of dollars.

Marvy products are sold in many art and craft stores, especially their markers. However, so [...]

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Rainbow-writing pencils sound like a novelty item, but I’ve found the best ones to be a versatile and addictive drawing tool. They are so much fun that they brighten your day.
I like using them at work, because they look like ordinary mechanical pencils. Doodling with them makes boring business meetings bearable. Rainbow pencils actually [...]

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