My $25 Sketch Kit

Is it possible to build a high-quality sketch kit for $25?

 The Art Supply Posse podcast took on a fun challenge: Build a beginner sketch kit for $25 or less! Although I’ve built myself many types of sketch kits for various purposes – minimalism, wet weather, life drawing, physically tiniest, nocturnes – I’ve never put one together with an eye on whether it could be purchased for $25. Game on!

The important factors would be versatility and value – a kit that could serve as many of my sketching needs as possible for the lowest cost. For me, that would mean the kit would have to meet my urban sketching needs, which might eliminate some specialized needs like sketching at night or life drawing. If you’re considering building your own, it would be key to consider how you would use your kit the majority of the time.

If cost were the only factor, it would be easy enough to assemble a watercolor pencil sketch kit inexpensively. Cheap colored pencils are a dime a dozen. But of course, I’d want it to be a good sketch kit that I would be satisfied using on a daily basis – that’s a bit more challenging, but certainly possible.

Let’s do the fun part first: the watercolor pencils! Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a luxury user in this department since I was spoiled early on by Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles: Unfortunately, I don’t think they’re going to make it into this kit. But Caran d’Ache Supracolors would be only a minor compromise (after all, they would be my choice if I absolutely had to choose only one colored pencil – it’s that versatile). The key is to carefully select a basic, open-stock palette ($2.69 each at Blick) instead of buying a pre-packaged set. And that palette would be four CMYK-based hues: Gentian Blue (370), Purplish Red (350), Canary Yellow (250) and Black (009). Yes, it’s challenging to use only these four colors, but my experiments have been lively, informative and fun.

Open-stock Caran d'Ache Supracolors... 

... in a CMYK palette.

An essential partner for watercolor pencils is a waterbrush. My choice would be a Kuretake in the compact, versatile medium size ($5.75 at JetPens). There are cheaper brands, but they lack the plug between the brush and reservoir, which I find important for controlling water flow.

With watercolor pencils as the color medium, a pen is optional. I use one so often, though, for line drawings without color that I consider it an essential sketch kit item. Any of my favorite fountain pens and inks would blow my kit budget big-time, so my choice is a Uni Pin brush pen ($2.45 at JetPens), which is currently the pen I use most for sketching anyway. Containing waterproof, pigment-based black ink, the tip lasts longer than most firm-tipped brush pens under my heavy hand – at least as long as the ink – so it’s a good value.

The clincher is the sketchbook: I’m picky about paper quality, and I don’t think compromising on paper is ever a good idea. My long-time favorite Stillman & Birn Beta softcover or my current Hahnemühle watercolor book would put me way over budget. I have an easy solution, though: Go back to hand binding sketchbooks, which I did for many years (and if I ever travel again, I intend to make a book for each trip as I always used to). My favorite paper for that is Canson XL 140-pound watercolor paper in the 9-by-12-inch size (30 sheets for $8.84 at Blick) which folds nicely into 6-by-9-inch signatures. With the same 52-page count as a 5 ½-by-8 ½-inch Stillman & Birn, I could make a book for about $4, including bookbinding thread and cardboard covers.

The final essential piece in this urban sketching kit would be a portable pencil sharpener. Here’s where I am saved by putting Supracolors into the kit instead of slightly girthier Museum Aquarelles: The barrel is a standard size, so any sharpener will fit. (The few handheld sharpeners I own that fit Museum Aquarelles would put me over budget.) The Kum wedge is not the best handheld sharpener in the world, but it gets the job done sufficiently, and for only $1.95 at Blick.

Here’s my tally:  

Supracolors: 4 x $2.69 = 10.76
Waterbrush: 5.75
Brush pen: 2.45
Handbound sketchbook: 4.00
Sharpener: 1.95
            Total: $24.91

High quality, compact and essential for $24.91!

1/22/22 Central District (Caran d'Ache Supracolor pencils 
on Canson XL 140 lb. watercolor paper)

You’ll note that I haven’t used the term “beginner” for this starter kit as the Posse did; it’s an idiosyncratic kit for myself. But if I were recommending one for a beginning urban sketcher, would it be any different? Not much. I might take out the brush pen and suggest replacing it with any pen or pencil of choice. The best way to start sketching is to use a drawing instrument that is already familiar and comfortable. Everything else, though, is a perfectly good, basic watercolor-pencil-based urban sketching kit – and very compact and portable, too!

It’s easy enough to add up some supplies to equal $25, but I thought it was only right to put my money where my mouth is. I brought the budget kit with me the next time I went out and made the sketch at right. (Part of the house really was cyan blue and so was the sky!) I inadvertently cheated when I grabbed the spritzer from my bag without thinking, but since the spritzer is a reused bottle of hand sanitizer, technically it adds zero cost to the kit. My budget is intact. Indeed, it’s a perfectly good kit that I am happy to use. (Maybe not indefinitely, but I consider it a starter kit.)

(Whew! It’s been a while since I’ve had to use a calculator to write a blog post! I need a nap.)

Crown Hill House

 

1/19/22 Crown Hill neighborhood

When I was working on my series of Maple Leaf architectural styles, I almost always had to stand on the sidewalk across the street to get a good view of the house fronts. I can’t sketch much from my mobile studio unless I turn myself uncomfortably sideways, so I usually leave house sketching for warmer days.

Looking for a sketch in the Crown Hill neighborhood, I discovered a few residential streets that end at the cross street without going through. That means I can face the fronts of some houses while parked on the perpendicular street: Ideal winter sketching from my car. This green house with a blue roof caught my eye. The recessed area at the bottom of the stairway is the front entrance at street level, which is unusual for houses of this style. My guess is that it has been remodeled significantly, maybe to accommodate a resident who wanted easier access to the street. That tall tree at left? In a few months it will conceal most of the house, so I’m glad I caught this sketch now.

Blindingly Fun

 

1/18/22 Ching, Tina and Natalie

While chatting with friends on Zoom the past two years, I’ve sketched a variety of subject matter. Easiest is a small still life like a pastry on my desk. I recently tried sketching the view through a window while online with USk Seattle. Most commonly, I sketch the people I’m chatting with – whether they know it or not. That’s probably the most challenging, though I thoroughly enjoy it. They’re all fun in different ways.

Last week when I Zoomed with Kate and Roy, I tried blind contours, and that’s possibly the most fun of all – and the results are always amusing. This week I made blind contours of Ching and Natalie. Perhaps I’m starting my Picasso phase.

If you socialize on Zoom, I highly recommend making blind contours! In fact, I recommend it even in a business meeting on Zoom. I guarantee that the meeting will be more fun that way, at least for you (sharing results with business colleagues not recommended 😉).

Like Snow, But Better

 

1/17/22 Foggy in Maple Leaf

Fog is like snow: It completely changes the way I see ordinary views. With nothing but tones and values, and most details hidden, drawing those ordinary views feels fresh again.

We often get morning fog this time of year, and I enjoy the way it teaches me how far away familiar things are. Even during the half-hour or so that I sketched this, distant trees came in and out of view as the fog’s density changed constantly.

The best thing about fog, though, is that I know how to drive in it, and shoveling is not required.

Through the West Window

 

1/16/22 West view sketched while Zooming with USk Seattle

USk Seattle is back on Zoom, at least until it warms up enough so that we can meet safely outdoors again. Instead of doing only a “hold up” of previously made sketches, we tried something different: Sketch together while chatting online. Apparently USk Poland, whose members are geographically spread throughout the country, has been sketching together online since before the pandemic. Thanks to Carol for suggesting the idea, we gave it a try, and it was a lot of fun! We had more time to chat than we usually do at real outings. With more than 20 in attendance, we’d never be able to sit at the same café table for wintertime sketching, even during “normal” times. Meeting on Zoom would not be my choice if it were safe to meet in person, but it does have its benefits.

Sunday’s theme was to sketch a room, through a window or whatever we could see from wherever we were. The view through my west-facing window, which I have sketched several times as color temperature or value studies, made a convenient primary triad study this time. The fog gave everything a challenging mid-value tone, but I tried to liven things up with exaggerated hues.

Technical note: Since I started using a Hahnemühle sketchbook last month, I haven’t had many opportunities to use a spritzer to activate watercolor pencil where I’ve drawn trees or other foliage. My favorite spritzing bottle was downstairs in my bag, so during the Zoom, I made do with another one I keep on my desk. This one puts out a heavier spray, so I over-spritzed a bit, but even so, I’m pleased by how well the paper takes the water.

Lights Off

 

1/15/22 Wedgwood neighborhood

After an errand in Wedgwood, I was planning to stop somewhere, anywhere, for my typical sketch of “nothing.” I had pulled over facing a random traffic circle when I noticed a man putting up a ladder next to a tree. Then I realized that the whole row of tall trees was wound with lots and lots of lights: He was going to take them all down.

No wonder so many procrastinate long after the holidays: Taking down lights is a pain.

Late Bloomer (and Thoughts on Lines)

 

1/14/22 colored pencils in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

Here’s the fifth and last amaryllis blossom that I was worried wouldn’t bloom because it was so far behind the others. Obviously, I didn’t need to be concerned!

For this final drawing, I used the methods I have studied in Crystal Shin’s botanical illustration workshops. While the nature journal sketchbook pages were done by making a line drawing first, I made this drawing entirely with colored pencils and with the intention of trying to make the initial contour lines disappear as much as possible. Using both methods back-to-back on the same subject got me thinking about the differences, though they are still mostly muttered musings. Being the process-oriented sketcher that I am, I thought I’d mumble out loud in this post to see if I could clarify and articulate my thinking.

When I first began sketching and for several years after, I used the “coloring book” method of making an initial line drawing, then coloring it with watercolor. Popular with many urban sketchers, it must be one of the most intuitive and natural ways to draw, since we all did it as children. The actual coloring books we used as kids reinforced the method: The line drawing was done for us, and all we had to do was color within the lines. Prehistoric cave artists also seemed to use a similar approach. Drawing a line around a shape is the most straightforward way to distinguish it from whatever is around it.

Around the time I started using colored pencils on location, it no longer made sense to use a pen to make an ink line drawing first: I’m already holding a colored pencil in my hand – why not use it to draw the contour lines? So I did. It then became natural to make the initial contour lines blend in with whatever color filled in the space.

Ultimately, when I started learning to make more formal drawings with graphite and colored pencils, the technique was the same as what I was doing in the field. In classes and books focused on classical realism, we are taught that the line (as in a contour drawing) does not exist in reality. A visible outline tends to flatten a shape into a comic character (such as Charlie Brown, not a highly rendered comic book Batman). Since a goal of classical realism is to render a form as three-dimensionally as possible, eliminating a visible contour line helps to reinforce the illusion of form.

Lines define shapes but flatten the forms.

Although I’ve studied all of this in various ways, it wasn’t until I sketched the amaryllis repeatedly that I started thinking about these concepts more actively. In the nature journal sketches, the ink contour lines help to efficiently define one petal from another, a bud from a leaf, or a change in plane. On the other hand, the outline does seem to flatten the forms, even when I tried to use color and values to help show dimension. I like the style for a nature journal format, so I’m not arguing against it; I just became aware of the effect.

My drawing at the top of the post is closer to the approach painters take, which is to avoid the visible line. Painters may make a pale graphite sketch to guide them, but they use a brush to make the shapes, and the under drawing disappears. Without ink lines, I had to work harder to distinguish one petal from another with subtle color or value changes, but it was somehow easier to create the illusion of form without the lines.

A few more comments about this final amaryllis drawing:

I wanted to make a “portrait” of this one late bloomer without drawing all the other blossoms, but I also wanted to somehow indicate that it was part of a larger plant. I tried ghosting the other blossoms lightly in the background, but now I think the drawing just looks unfinished. I’m not sure I like the effect, but it was something to try.

Faber-Castell Polychromos, Caran d'Ache Pablo, and vintage and 
contemporary Prismacolor pencils used in this drawing.

I had technical difficulties with lighting. The amaryllis is so tall that I had to put it on a box on the floor to put the blossom at the right height for me to see. It was not at all an ideal placement for either my desk lamp or the window, so it’s actually backlit (but not well). But as I’ve talked about here before, I enjoy approaching botanical drawing in the same way that I make urban sketches: Accepting whatever conditions I have to capture whatever is possible.

Of course, I could have put the blossom under ideal lighting and taken many photos to draw from; I’m sure that’s what a botanical artist would have done. The result would likely have been better, if by “better” you mean something that looks closer to a photo. But I don’t want to replicate a photo; I want to express life. (Maybe I should put that on a T-shirt or a bumper sticker. 😉)