10 Things Every Artist Needs

A rundown of the things my art career can't function without, from tools of the trade to broader perspectives, this is what I use.

1. A Tombow Fudenosuke

My go to pen for the last five years, I switch between this and the Pentel Sign Pen which I only use for my abstract pieces nowadays. An industry favourite, it comes in two main types of nib, a soft one and a hard one, I use both but prefer the hard nib as I feel the soft nib is very similar to that of the sign pen while not being quite as fun to use. I've used this pen to draw all my architectural pieces, trees and scenery and am currently using it while working on a Christmas art show!

2. Procreate

Even if you don't do digital art on the daily like I do, this iPad app is indispensable. I use it for everything, from boob drawings to packing labels, it's an intuitive app that truly works well.

If physical art is your thing it can be used to help you free your mind, before I pivoted to digital I used it to get ideas out of my mind without the fear of wasting paper and creating abominations of art that I couldn’t simply undo.

3. Twitter

And so it used to go, Instagram was for artists, Twitter was for the mentally deranged. This is still half true, only Twitter is now preferable for artists too. With Instagram burning down their algorithms to only work for people posting several reels a week, this social network no longer provides a good framework for artists to get seen. While gaining a following on Twitter still requires a lot of work, the end goal is attainable and that alone puts it head and shoulders above its formerly better competitor.

4. Printer Paper

You go through a lot of ideas when you do art every day and one of the main barriers I've faced is not wanting to ruin a sketchbook page with a bad drawing. For this reason I buy cheap copier paper and just waste it, it sounds terrible to actively waste paper but if you ever want to learn, you need to put pen to paper and this is an easy and less stressful way to begin.

5. A Little Notebook

Organising your ideas and thoughts is a very important part of being an artist, every snippet of a project, every sight that inspires you, every thought of what to try next, should be captured and written down. Ideas come in waves and they're rarely flowing when you need them most so having a messy notebook where you can scrawl down whatever comes to mind is a must.

6. An Art Space

My art space is my corner desk in my former studio turned bedroom (I got married, things changed), but an art space is more of a state of mind. When I was starting, my space was the couch in the sitting room at 2am. When my house was quiet and my family asleep I would put on a Bond film and sit down with my clipboard of copier paper and just start drawing. Some of my best art was made there, some of the art that is now in print form and on people’s walls all around the world. Your art space should simply be a quiet place where you can form your thoughts into art, there are no specifications, only what feels right.

7. A Favourite Artist

While I don't vehemently prescribe to the theory that one must know art to make art, it definitely helps. But more so than that, it helps to know how artists live. I take a lot of inspiration from the beginning of the Impressionism movement. It was an exciting time in art, a time when a small group of people were creating things the classical art world wasn’t ready for. The way they worked, the way they lived, where they travelled, what they saw, and what they thought is tantamount to how they succeeded and how their art is now some of the greatest ever made. The art world has changed a great deal since then but whether or not you're searching for specific ways to get your work seen or whether, like me, inspiring stories of how art found its audiences help to keep you on the path; taking an interest in the wider art world and the people in it is very helpful.

8. A Hobby

If you do art for a living you need something that differentiates it from when it used to be your hobby. If you turn pro without another hobby to fill its place you'll find yourself always doing work, your once relaxing hobby will stress you out and leave you wondering why art doesn't make you feel like it used to. My go to hobby right now is playing Mario Golf with Laura!

9. A Light Box

One of the more functional items on this list, a light box takes the stress out of using pen on nice paper. Just layer your pencil sketch and your paper and trace your lines with confidence. It's how most pen and ink artists do their day to day work and they're generally affordable, add one to your tool kit!

10. Frames

Too many artists never frame their work. Artwork looks best framed and the sight of your creation presented to its full potential is eye opening, it can help you visualise your art in bigger settings, pushing your ideas further. A lot of what goes into the creation of art is learning to get out of your own way and this is a great tool to assist in that.