Essential Sketching Materials for the Beginner

There are so many materials out there, what to choose? I would usually buy art supplies depending on what style I am leaning towards. When I wanted to try sketching with ink, with just two colors, I bought 2 ink colors and a refillable water brush (specifically, yellow and blue ink, because they also can mix and make green!). Or I wanted to try sketching to create sketches with black ink and diluted ink washes, so I got a Lamy fountain pen and used a refillable water brush to create ink washes. (Since the ink is not waterproof, it won’t work with the watercolor washes, it will bleed into the watercolor and create a mess!)

If you are just starting out I’d recommend using these supplies:

1. Simply Simmons Value Brush Set - a great value, good quality, and variety of sizes. It is missing a round brush, so I would either buy it separately or use one from the watercolor set (below) or a refillable water brush set (below).

2. Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paint Sketchers' Pocket Box, 12 colors and a small round tip brush - when you’re just starting out 11 colors (I am not counting white) are plenty. You can mix them to create additional colors, but when you just starting out, I would suggest limiting your color palette otherwise there is a chance you’ll get overwhelmed with choices! I am not sure why they would include white in the palette, as to make watercolor lighter, you just use more water and less pigment. Basically, you don’t need that color, as watercolor is a transparent medium and the paper is white, so to have white highlights, you just leave that area on the paper untouched.

3. Another watercolor set to consider is Sakura 12 Assorted Watercolors Field Sketch Set. It has a water brush included and built in mixing palette. Another lightweight and affordable sketch kit to use on the go or at home.

4. Water brush pens - these are so great to use for the urban sketching/sketching on location since you don’t have to hold a container with water or keep it somewhere near. The water brush pens have a refillable barrel for water, you squeeze it a little, and here is your flow of water! You can use them at home as well, it’s just such a great design.

5. Pencils, any brand will do, just try to use hard ones (grade H), so that the line is thin and barely visible. Thin pencil marks are ok with the watercolor washes, but not with the thick, dark ones (pencils with grades F, HB, B). But f you want to try sketching just with pencils, then the grades F, HB, B will work as well!

6. I love Platinum Carbon Pen with the refillable cartridges! I bought one years ago, and it’s no longer available, but this one seems to be the newest version of the one I use. You will need Platinum Carbon Pen cartridges for it. This pen is so great for sketching and its ink is waterproof (which means it won’t bleed when you apply watercolor wash)

7. Handbook Journal Co. Artist Canvas Cover Travel Notebook for Drawing and Sketching, Pocket Portrait 5.5 x 3.5 Inches, 130 GSM Paper. It is the smallest size of all the sketchbooks out there (as far as I know!) and I thinks it’s the best to start with. It’s easy to put away and it is not intimidating. I also have Moleskine 5.5 x 3.5 inches, but currently Handbook brand is less pricey. If you have budget for it, I’d recommend trying both and selecting the one you liked the most! They both work great for sketching, although the paper is slightly different and watercolor shows differently (but beautifully) in both. This is the one I have.

8. And the last tool you will probably need is eraser. I recommend using a kneaded rubber erasers. They lift pencil off the paper, without leaving smudges or marks. They can take any shape you give them (and you can create really thin edge) and they don’t damage the paper. Also, you can use them as stress balls.

   Below are some examples from my sketchbooks of quick sketches with ink and watercolor washes.

The best practices of growing your Etsy shop

So I am in no yet an expert on how to grow Etsy shop (check it out!), but I am doing a lot of research and will share it here. I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube, read Etsy Seller Handbook and downloaded The Ultimate Guide to Selling on Etsy from Amazon (because I am a huge fan of Amazon, and do all my shopping through them, I signed up for their Amazon Associate Program, and will receive a small commission from qualifying purchases). I am still reading the book (by the way, it’s FREE with Kindle Unlimited — so much information there!), but here is what I am applying to my shop:

1. Create lots of listings. I only have 14 at the moment and in the process of adding more. The more listings you have, the better! All of the successful stores have a lot of listings.

2. Take beautiful pictures. No matter what product you want to sell, you have to make sure it looks its best. For some people it goes without saying but it's worth reminding! Use a mock up to show your product in a setting. I sell prints so I show them in the frame on the wall in different settings. I used stock websites to find templates for my work — some are free, some are part of the paid membership. It helps people visualize how your product works. I am a designer by trade so it was easy for me to create a mock up in Photoshop, but some people have to go an extra mile to learn how to use the program. If you don’t want to learn Photoshop, there is a free design tool Canva. I personally never had the need to use it, but Internet claims that it’s pretty easy to navigate :)

3. Use all the attributes and fill out every field, when you create a listing. Each field works as a keyword, so it helps Etsy to get your listing in front of the right customer, who is searching for the specific product. Carefully read the listings of your best-selling competition to see how they use keywords.

4. Use the right and very specific keywords. There are two types: short-tail and long-tail keywords. You have to aim for the long-tail to make sure your shop appears in the search. (Long-tail keywords are more specific – and usually longer – than more commonly searched for keywords. For example, “high-quality lemon art print” is a long-tail keyword, while “art print” is a shot-tail keyword). The best way to learn what keywords to use is to use tools, such as eRank. It has free and paid options, I am using free for now but considering to upgrade.

   There are many other tools, but I would stick with just one or two in the beginning, because they do require some learning and research… and if you use multiple tools, you are risking to get stuck in the research phase forever. (Well, maybe not forever, but for a long long time… that definitely happened to me!)

5. Get first sales and reviews. Ask friends and family to help get your shop off the ground, and offer them a free product for their review. First of all no one would wanna be the first customer and risk having a problem with their order. So potential customers have to see that the shop is up and running and reviews will help them to see that. Second, it's best to test the shop with your friends and family who want to support you and won't get mad at you for any mishaps in the beginning.

6. Always test the fist shipments. Testing helped me realize that I should change the processing time from 1 business day to 1-3 business days. First, I put 1 business day as I read it somewhere that customers love the 1 business day processing time and are more likely to order from that shop. What I didn't consider is that I am using an outside printer and while my processing time takes 1 business day, theirs take 2-3. Hence the change. Second, Etsy asking for the tracking numbers, otherwise they won't let you move the orders from "processing" to "complete" sections. So keep that USPS receipt with your tracking, if you are shipping out yourself. (Something easy to forget when you are using to shoving the receipts in any bag you are currently carrying). Adding tracking will help you to earn the Star Seller badge — something that will definitely show customers that they can trust your shop!

7. Check on how your shop is doing. Yes, that's a simple one but I somehow skipped that step! I thought of it as my side gig, so I created the listings... and forgot about it for a few weeks. No sales happened during these weeks. I decided to check on it month later... and found out that my account was suspended! I don't know for how long my shop was out, and considering that you are paying for you listings to stay active, that was a huge disappointment. I never received an email from Etsy that they are suspending my shop, so it came as a surprise. I emailed them, and week later they reactivated the shop without ever explaining what happened in the first place. Check in on your shop.

8. Be an active Etsy shop owner. Etsy loves to see that there is an activity in your shop, and Etsy algorithm rewards you by boosting your listings. Create new listings often (at least once a week), or update other information about the shop. This I learned from The Ultimate Guide to Selling on Etsy, but they recommend not to update tags and categories more than once a month.

9. Add an image of yourself and a few words about yourself to the listing. I noticed several illustrators do it, and I loved reading about them! People love buying from people and not faceless businesses. If you don't know what to write about yourself, try this: "write about what the name of your shop means, why you are selling your products, why are you passionate about your shop, how you started doing what you are doing.”

10. Run Etsy ads when you already have several sales. It’s best to have some initial budget for getting your shop off the ground. Etsy ads won’t help to get the first sales (remember, normally customers wouldn’t want to be the very first ones in your shop), but can help get more sales. Even if no sales come from the ads, customers who click on the ads and visit your shop will show Etsy algorithm that there is interest and Etsy won’t move your listings to the end of the line.

These are the top 10, but of course there is a lot more that can be done to grow the Etsy shop. I am happy to report that my shop earned a Star Seller Badge for August! I am still in the beginning of the journey and will share the updates in this blog!

Illustration: What's holding you back?

I always loved to draw. I was pretty good at drawing but never took it to the next level professionally. I wanted to be an artist but when I was growing up, “artist” or “illustrator” was never a viable profession choice. Only recently I had a complete change of heart and realized that I need to do something about my creative ambition.

I keep analyzing what was holding me back in my creative journey and came to the conclusion that illustration was never my priority Number One. Well, I always thought I am meant to be an artist, but I always was good at drawing so I took it for granted. I never had to learn to be good at drawing, so I never appreciated my skill and thought this talent will always be with me. And I will have plenty of time to get to it and do something with it. So I was pursuing other things (a career in design, to name one.)

Then I had a thought — what if one day I wake up and I suddenly don’t have it anymore? Don’t have the skill that comes so easily to me now? This weird thought got me a little more motivated. I really did not want to face God and explain to Her why I threw away my talents.

That’s when I started painting with watercolors. I used to do acrylic and oil painting (and that is what launched my creative career, by the way, but that is the story for another time), but it’s not easy to use that kind of messy/smelly medium in a small space. That was time for experiments. I took a workshop on how to create paint from nature (stones, in that case), along with a workshop on creating pottery from natural clay (found on river banks or stream beds). I also painted with wine and coffee (using them as medium, not sipping while I paint). I watched some online classes and copied a lot of other artists’ work. (that’s how they used to do it in the old times!) That took me a while, but I did come to the realization that I want to share my work with the world.

The funny thing was this next step — watercolors — was still holding me back. I really tried to improve but I couldn’t devote as many hours to painting as I wanted to, so the progress was super slow. I started with what was hard for me, and it was not helping me to move forward!

It’s important to always analyze whether or not what you are doing is bringing you closer to your goals or holding you back. If you are not moving forward… well, it means you need to make some changes.

There are few things I’ve started doing, but these were the first two steps that helped me to get started with my artists journey:

1. Gouache. Gouache (unlike watercolor) allowed me to become fully absorbed in the process and I absolutely loved the end result of my paintings. Gouache was easier for me than watercolor and not as messy as acrylic. Don’t start with what’s hard for you! Start with small, easy steps.

2. Forgave myself for not making enough time for my art. Yes, I was beating myself up for not being able to paint for 3-4 hours daily. As soon as I realized that not everyone have the same 24 hours a day (opposite of what they tell us, huh), I let go of that massive weight of guilt and that freed up energy! So right there I got some extra energy, that allowed be to be more efficient with that one hour a day I could devote to painting.

So it’s pretty easy first two steps, right? Read my previous post on how to start painting, I go into more details on the steps that I took to start painting more.

Share your thoughts below, what do you think is holding you back?

Illustration: How to start drawing

Lately I felt inspired to start a blog about how to become an illustrator and an artist (aka answer to your calling and lead a more fulfilled life). I finally was able to take the right steps towards some goals that I set years ago and that felt worth of sharing. The reason for my procrastination was simple — I did not know where to start and how to get where I wanted. I remember googling “how to become an illustrator” and finding a lot of stories of succes. All of them suggested pretty simple steps: paint every day (ha!) and then promote yourself.

I tried many steps but they did not work out for variety of reasons, such as:

1. I was playing around with watercolors but couldn’t achieve the mastery I was aiming for. Painting with watercolors was hard! That didn’t allow me to finish my illustrations and kept me in the endless loop of trying to improve. No wonder I couldn’t finish any of my illustrations, not to mention offer them for sale.

2. I kept trying different colors but couldn’t figure out how to make them work together. Everything felt too disjointed. I did not realize that I need to rethink how I approach color.

3. I thought that I should be able to sit at the desk and start creating momentarily. I don’t know where this idea came from but it was not serving me at all. Whenever I had a minute, I would rush to my desk and stare at the blank page, trying to come up with the idea. One hour later I would still be either staring at the blank page of my sketchbook or unfinished and disappointing illustration.

4. I didn’t have much time and when I had an opportunity to paint, I always felt I need to rush and use that time and that would stress me out. So naturally I did not want to do that and chose to read instead or look at other artists’ work (and envy them silently).

One day I came across a portfolio website of an illustrator who was using gouache, and all of a sudden I’ve decided to give it a try. And that was a game changer for me! Gouache felt so much easier for me, I was surprised I did not arrive there sooner.

Below are some realizations that helped me to get my foot off the ground:

1. Start with what is easy to draw. Yes, pushing yourself is important but not when it feels overwhelming! Watercolors felt very difficult for me, and my interaction with the medium became more stressful than exciting. It was holding me back from achieving the goal I set for me - such as to create beautiful prints and set up my Etsy shop.

2. Not everyone has the same amount of time. Yes, we all heard that saying about 24 hours in a day… but realistically a mother with a full-time job has a different amount of time than a single person with a full-time job, or a married person with no job. Everyone’s circumstances are different. So I stopped beating myself up for not “making time” for my art. Realistically I had very very little time for my art, so I had to be very efficient with that little time.

3. You can streamline your creative process! The trick that I learned from my endless internet search is to think about the color scheme before you start your illustration. I always thought that I should be able to just pick any colors and make them work. Why? Because everything should come easy to a genius. Not sure. But one tip I read online was to use swatches. Creating swatches and then selecting the colors that work together is the great way to be efficient with the time you have. Although sometimes I have to rethink the color palette that I originally selected, but that’s an easy fix — gouache is a flexible medium that allows you to paint over!

4. Limited color palette. I created some illustrations with watercolors, but somehow they were all in the red and orange palette. And that could be fine if that was my intention. But I mostly went with my gut and it didn't work for me. So chose few colors, experiment and finally you will end up with the color palette that feels truly yours.

5. Think before you start drawing. Thinking about what you want to draw, researching the references, and selecting colors are important steps and should precede the process of painting. I did not rush, and the result was great.