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The supply list for this course is limited to a few easy to get items, so you can get started immediately.

I've streamlined the items you'll need to save you money and guarantee the best results.

I've done my best to make sure every material is common and accessible to anyone, no matter where you're

located.

Some supplies are absolutely necessary to do this style of painting and projects in the course.

While some materials are optional or can be purchased at a much lower cost if you get the non-professional

version of them, so I'll be sure to point those out.

I've created this list to help you know which corners you can cut and where to invest, as well as which

products will give you the best results.

And just a reminder, there's a written downloadable version of the supply list along with this video

found in the course curriculum, as well as a course glossary and handbook.

I know when it comes to acrylic paints, there are a lot of minor differences, variations, and sizes

to choose from, which can be daunting.

So if you have any trouble finding supplies or want to make sure you're getting the exact same products

as I use in the course, I've set up a web page with links to every product I use so you can buy them

either from Amazon or directly from the retailer.

And to help you save money, I've even set up a page where I've chosen my favorite generic and high

end student grade products that I think are the best quality for the cost.

Just go to beginner to master Art.com.

I've also just added a section to the site with dozens of free, downloadable, professionally lit,

and photographed practice resources for you to use to make sure you have plenty of material to develop

your skills with.

The supply list is broken into two parts.

The first part is a standard list of basic supplies, but the second half is a tutorial to help you

choose a palette.

A painter's palette is one of the most important tools, and they drastically vary depending on what

type of painting you're doing.

So I want to make sure you find the right one for this medium.

The first supply you'll need is the right brushes for this style of painting, I found that most people

are attempting to paint using brushes they chose based on nothing other than what they look like, but

that really isn't the best approach.

Each brush is designed with a specific job, style and medium in mind.

If you use them for what they're intended for, you'll find painting more inspiring and intuitive.

So for some of you, your paintings are going to improve just by following my brush suggestions.

The brushes you use are going to define the style your painting is in, but should categorically be

based on the medium you're using.

So for example, if you're doing thick textured oil paintings, you would use a coarse, scratchy bristled

oil brush for portrait painting.

You may use badger hair brushes.

If you're painting a landscape, you might use a fan brush, but if you're doing smooth, realistic

acrylic paintings, you need a soft acrylic brush.

And for this, I prefer ones with synthetic bristles.

To keep things simple and save you money.

I designed this course to only require these four brushes.

The top three brushes are called angular shaders.

The sizes you'll need are a one inch, a one half inch, and a quarter inch.

The brush on the bottom is a medium sized round detail brush.

Don't worry about the brand.

In this case, any brand will do, and I prefer synthetic brushes so they shouldn't cost more than a

few dollars.

During the course you'll see me using the brand Princeton, and the brushes I chose are from the series

3750.

And the detail brush you see at the bottom is a series 3750 number one synthetic round, but it's completely

fine if you can't find any Princeton brushes.

The shape and softness is more important than the brand.

What's important is that they're soft, angular shaders like you see here, and that you buy the correct

sizes.

For those of you using the metric system, I added a handy downloadable conversion chart to the course

curriculum.

Next, you'll need three types of mediums for this course.

The first one, clear acrylic leveling gel, is absolutely necessary.

I prefer the brand Golden, but if you can't find it or find another brand that costs less, it's perfectly

fine to use it.

I chose to use the thickest density because you can always water it down a little to make it thinner

or less textured if you'd like.

But if you can't find this one, it's completely fine to use any density available.

The second medium you'll see me using during the course is called Slow Dry Gel Retarder.

This gel is mixed directly into acrylic paints to extend their drying time.

I find it helpful because acrylic paints dry relatively quickly, and it helps save time and paint because

you won't have to remix, but you could technically do the course without it, so I'll leave it up to

you whether or not to purchase this item.

Again, the brand doesn't matter.

The third medium you'll see me using throughout the course is called Slow Dry Fluid Retarder.

This is used as a medium in place of water to dilute your paints.

It keeps the paint on your brush wet longer and it makes your paint application smoother and last longer.

I'll give you a demonstration with it later in the course to show you its potential, but again, you

could replace it with water, so technically you could do the course without it.

So I'll leave it up to you.

And finally, if you choose to varnish your paintings, once you've completed the course, you'll need

a gloss polymer varnish.

I use Golden Brand in this course, but feel free to try other brands if you'd like.

What matters is that your varnish has these letters on it.

You Vlz stands for Ultraviolet Light Protection.

Again, whether or not you want to varnish your paintings is up to you.

So this is also an optional item that you could do without or always purchase later.

Next, I've broken the paints you'll need into three tiers, so you should choose one depending on your

budget.

Again, you can always buy more paints if you decide to increase your engagement with the course.

Here's how it works.

The first tier is just the absolute necessities Titanium White and Mars Black.

I designed this course so that you can do it in its entirety in monochromatic grayscale if you'd like.

In fact, you'll even see me paint each image in black and white during the lectures.

It's great practice and it's affordable to anyone, and you can always add color to your paintings in

the future.

So tier one is the most cost effective approach to try this course.

Next is tier two.

Tier two is the minimal amount of colors and tubes of paint you'll need to purchase.

To complete this course in reduced color, you'll get a chance to mix a complete color palette and color

scales.

In fact, with tier two, you'll do the first five paintings and exercises in full color.

Only the sixth and seventh paintings would be in reduced color.

Having said that, this course is designed to take between 2 and 3 months, so you can always buy those

paints later if you decide you want to do the final pieces in full color.

And finally, there's tier three.

If you choose this option, you'll mix the full spectrum of colors available in the course, including

mixing skin tone and some more dynamic color scales.

No matter what spectrum of paints you choose to purchase, I assure you you will still learn the same

material as everyone else.

This is just a consideration I took to make sure to work within everyone's budget, while still making

the most of this course.

When choosing the brand of paint you decide to purchase, the next consideration you'll have to make

is the quality of paint you purchase.

You'll notice during the course that most of my paints are Winsor and Newton Professional grade.

However, I also made sure to use a few tubes that say Galleria on them.

Galleria is a very inexpensive option to professional grade paints.

As you can see, there are only a small fraction of the price.

It's completely fine to use them.

The pigment is a bit weaker, but all that means is that it will take less white to lighten them, and

you can compensate for that.

The brand Winsor and Newton is my favorite, but there are plenty of other brands you're welcome to

use.

What's important is that the paints you purchase are heavy body.

Do not use soft body acrylic paint, so anything that comes in a fluid form or in a jar or bottle is

going to be soft.

Body.

For this style of painting, you want a medium or heavy body paint.

This is not where you want to cut corners.

I would rather you went with tier two or even tier one and purchased good quality paint.

Then get all the colors and use a poor quality.

This will make a huge difference.

There are dozens of high quality downloadable printable resources for this course, so having a printer

may be helpful for some of you, but I've created the content so you can work off the screen of any

device so a printer isn't required.

You'll need a container of gesso, a roll of artists tape.

You'll need a palette knife, but be careful which one you buy.

These are actually all for knife painting, not mixing colors.

To mix colors, your palette knife should look like this one.

The next necessary item on the list is Illustration Board.

Be sure to buy Heavyweight Illustration board.

If you can't find heavyweight, then go with multiple plies 24 even 36 ply.

The more plies, the better.

Cold or hot pressed?

Doesn't matter in this case because you'll be priming it with gesso.

You'll be working on this instead of canvas for a number of reasons.

I'll explain during the course, but most importantly because it's much less expensive than canvas,

which makes it ideal to practice on.

It's easy to cut into the specific sizes of the lessons and still archival.

During this course, you'll complete six studies and exercises, so you'll need six surfaces to paint

on.

These are the sizes of the paintings we'll do, so you'll have to do the math yourself.

Depending on the sizes of sheets of illustration board you have access to, or you can simply buy it

as you progress with the course.

You'll either need a razor, or a box cutter, or an exacto knife to cut the illustration board, and

you'll need a ruler that's at least 11 by 17 to take measurements and cut a straight line.

You'll need a pad of tracing paper, and finally, you'll need a pencil.

I suggest using a mechanical pencil with to be led in it, but if you can't find one, any lead pencil

will do.

Before you begin mixing paints, I think it's important to talk a little about what you'll be mixing

them in.

An artist's palette is one of the most important organizational tools he or she has, and depending

on the type of paint you're using or painting style you're doing can vary quite a bit.

For example, this would handheld palette would be the wrong one for the style of painting you've chosen

to learn how to do in this course.

This is generally used for oil paint, not acrylic paint.

Classically used for what's called an open palette.

In this course you'll be learning how to use a controlled palette.

So let's talk about what the ideal setup is for this style of art.

This is an airtight Masterson Stay wet palette that I've modified and optimized.

It's helpful to have a palette with an airtight lid for acrylic painting, because acrylic paints dry

out within a few hours if left exposed to air.

Having to remix your paints every time you work can get expensive and time consuming, but paints stay

wet for days, even weeks in an airtight palette, so it's a worthwhile investment.

This is not a requirement for the course, so it's up to you to decide if you want to invest in one.

If you can't find a Stay Wet palette, a quick, easy home solution is to use a Pyrex cooking plate

and plastic wrap.

Simply place the plastic wrap over the Pyrex cooking plate, then use a rubber band to make sure it

stays taut around the edges to keep it as airtight as possible.

This is a great temporary or even permanent solution, because it's easy to clean and gives you plenty

of room to mix paints and values, but any airtight container will do.

Tupperware is good, but it's plastic, so it won't be as easy to clean as the cooking plate.

Just do your best to find something that's as close as possible to the same dimensions as my palette,

which is 16in by 12in and about two inches deep.

Because I get so many messages from students taking my other painting courses asking how to make my

palette, I've decided to put a simple tutorial in this course as a bonus lesson.

So for those of you who are interested in building the palette I'm using, I'll show you how to do it

easily and step by step.

Again, this is optional.

To build the palette you'll see me using in the course, you'll need to purchase a masterson Stay Wet

palette, a piece of illustration board, and a sheet of glass cut to fit exactly into your palette.

So in this case, 12 by 16in.

Step one paint your illustration board a neutral medium gray.

To mix gray, simply combine the Mars Black acrylic paint you purchased with an equal amount of titanium

white paint, and do your best to match the gray tone in this box.

Don't worry if you don't match it perfectly.

Just get it as close as you can.

You can easily change it later if you'd like.

Step two is optional, but some students find it helpful.

Notice there's a grid on my illustration board that's there to help you estimate the amounts of paint

on mixing and sizes of my paint piles.

Those are one inch by one inch squares.

I suggest drawing the same grid on yours for comparison.

Doing this step is quick and easy.

You'll just need a ruler and a pencil.

First, cut your illustration board to fit exactly into your Masterson palette.

So 12 by.

16in.

Next, using a ruler, simply draw.

Mark every inch across the top of your illustration board.

For those of you using metrics, that's every 2.54cm.

Then do the same across the bottom.

Finally, draw a line connecting each mark.

Then do the same across the right and left sides.

Finally, for step three, simply place it inside your Masterson palette, followed by the piece of

glass you had cut on top of it for an easy to clean protective surface.

Each square should be the same size as a quarter.

Now you'll be able to compare the ratios of paint I mix by matching the size on my palette to yours.

Students often find this helpful in an online course because there's no measuring tool for small amounts

of paint when mixing colors.

This way, you'll have something to compare the size of each pile of paint I mix to help you get the

ratios right, and that's how to build a do it yourself palette that will extend your paints drying

time for weeks.

That's easy to clean and will last forever.

I've had this one for over 25 years and used it every day.