How to Learn Art on the Cheap

[ysabetwordsmith]

Another discussion about art got into budget constraints and how to cope with them...


First, you don't need expensive lessons to learn art. Sometimes those are useful, but they are not required. Anyone can pick up a pencil or a paintbrush and start making art. People have been arting since Neanderthal toddlers dragged their fingers through the mud on cave walls.

Second, you don't need expensive materials to learn art. Sure it's nice to have high-quality media, but there are drawbacks to that too. Fancy things can be so finicky that novices can't handle them well. The cheapest media may have limitations of their own, but there are still things you can learn from them. If you can afford it, student media typically offer a good balance between the extremes.


Here are some fast, cheap options for exploring art:

Focus on the basics first. Start by learning things like straight lines, curved lines, perspective, and shading. You can use those to draw pretty much anything. It also teaches you to make art from the core out, not the surface in.

Draw a Box is the best set of lessons I have seen for foundational drawing skills. Once you have the basics down, you can move on to more advanced techniques with confidence. Pay special attention to the mass-practice exercises which explain how to learn from that type of exercise. And just to make it extra-special, the website has an audio feature that will read the text to you, for free. So if you want to, you could do this by touch and draw with a line-n-dot pen.

Lesson 0: Getting Started

Lesson 1: Lines, Ellipses and Boxes

Lesson 2: Contour Lines, Texture and Construction

Texture and Detail

Construction

250 Box Challenge

250 Cylinder Challenge

25 Texture Challenge

25 Wheel Challenge

100 Treasure Chest Challenge

Lesson 3: Applying Construction to Plants

Lesson 4: Applying Construction to Insects and Arachnids

Lesson 5: Applying Construction to Animals

Lesson 6: Applying Construction to Everyday Objects

Lesson 7: Applying Construction to Vehicles


Sketching is a great place to start. You can do it with any pencil, pen, or paper. If you want to go with formal art supplies, this is one of the cheapest options in terms of getting decent stuff. There's a range from basic to fancy sets. You can get a very nice beginning set for less than $10 and the big sets fall between $50-100. It is usually cheaper overall to buy a set, but with very limited funds you can buy things one at a time.

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/product-recommendations/best-charcoal-sketch-sets-1234577138/

https://www.plazaart.com/generals-sketchmate-drawing-kit

https://www.target.com/p/15pc-charcoal-drawing-set-hand-made-modern-174/-/A-75666767

https://schoolofrealistart.com/information/2016/5/16/drawing-materials-list-charcoal

https://www.polaroidfotobar.com/best-charcoal-drawing-paper/

https://www.dickblick.com/categories/drawing/paper/charcoal-papers/


Watercolor is among the cheapest options for paint. Even the kind you can get for a buck at a dollar store will be adequate for basic exercises such as shading and flow control, or experimenting with additives like salt. You won't get the full effect but you can practice.

https://mymodernmet.com/best-watercolor-paint-sets/

https://www.cheapjoes.com/prang-watercolor-pan-sets.html

https://www.target.com/p/8ct-watercolor-paints-with-brush-washable-up-38-up-8482/-/A-15022628#lnk=sametab

https://www.cheapjoes.com/painting-and-painting-accessories/watercolor-painting.html

https://www.scratchmadejournal.com/blog/affordable-portable-watercolor-palette-ideas

https://littlecoffeefox.com/best-watercolor-supplies-beginners-need-start/


Buy 1-3 colors of art student grade paints at an art store, and practice with those. They'll do almost all the things that professional grade paints well, at a more affordable price. This works with watercolors, oil, and acrylics. You can learn a lot about the primary colors this way. Black and white are also good choices.

https://willkempartschool.com/what-is-the-difference-between-artist-quality-vs-student-grade-acrylic-paints/

https://drawandpaintforfun.com/student-acrylic/

https://mymodernmet.com/best-oil-paints/

https://homesthetics.net/best-watercolor-paints/

http://linesandcolors.com/2013/06/24/the-joys-of-a-three-limited-three-primary-palette/

https://www.outdoorpainter.com/color-mixing-can-you-paint-landscape-with-just-3-colors/

https://acrylgiessen.com/en/mixing-colors/


The first time you buy a paint set, get one with a minimum of colors, like 6-12. You do not need 30+ when you are starting out. You need to study the medium and learn how to blend your own colors.

https://www.swintonsart.com/post/7-benefits-of-painting-with-a-limited-palette

https://artstudiolife.com/limited-palette/

https://gamblincolors.com/exploring-color-palettes/

https://www.twoinchbrush.com/tools

https://thomaspark.co/2015/11/bob-ross-color-palette-in-css/


Get a small tablet of paper or set of canvases to start. You don't need a big space until you're painting complex topics. A small one is plenty for practice exercises and painting small, single objects. Bigger surfaces cost a lot more. For charcoals, pen and ink, or other relatively dry media you can use regular notebook paper; it's fine for practice even though it's not very durable. For watercolor, you really need the special paper. For oils and acrylics, canvas board is a cheap alternative to stretched canvas.

https://arteza.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-right-canvas-for-acrylic-painting

https://www.dickblick.com/categories/canvas/

https://www.cheapjoes.com/papers-and-boards/canvas-panels-and-boards.html

https://www.polaroidfotobar.com/best-charcoal-drawing-paper/

https://www.dickblick.com/categories/drawing/paper/charcoal-papers/

https://acrylgiessen.com/en/best-watercolor-paper/


Do still life pictures. Still life is a major branch of art with a deep history. It works equally well for drawing, painting, or photography, or other visual arts. Understand how to choose subjects for, compose, and observe the parts of a still life. Plus you get to practice on a subject that isn't trying to scratch its ear, run away, or rain all over you.

Collect objects for still life. Keep them in a box or shelf for easy access. You can search thrift stores, antique shops, and rummage sales for interesting items. Replace them on a first-in, first-out basis to prevent boredom (unless you get attached to a few favorites). You can bring your art box to a sketch fest with friends and swap objects. Another fun activity is to fill a box with nonperishable items that represent your locale, then swap it with a friend who lives far away. If you want to experiment with ephemeral subjects, try loose parts from nature. Look for these in your yard, a garden, the farmer's market, or out in the wild. Select things with dramatic shapes: pine cones, driftwood, seashells, rocks, spiky seedpods, strange-looking fruits or vegetables such as Buddha's hand or peter peppers. For a different approach, gather objects that represent yourself, arrange them so they look good, and draw or paint them. You can go through different aspects of your personality to make new sets, too.

https://feltmagnet.com/drawing/How-to-Draw-Still-Life

https://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Still-Life

https://ranartblog.com/blogarticle09.html

https://www.belindadelpesco.com/watercolor-persimmon-on-sill.html/

https://www.belindadelpesco.com/still-life-watercolors-painting-larger.html/

https://www.simonneroy.com/blog/184217/still-life-paintings-inspired-by-the-garden

https://willkempartschool.com/how-to-paint-simple-still-life-using-oil-paints/

https://www.creativebloq.com/how-to/painting-still-life-in-oil

https://feltmagnet.com/painting/Still-Life-Oil-Painting-Limited-Palette


If you want to push yourself, take a mini-kit to a park and do some plein air painting. The point is not to duplicate the scenery accurately. The point is to see how much you can do with 2-3 colors and a small pad. Plus it's great practice for later: you do not want to lug 60 pounds of equipment through the woods. A good plein air kit is small and light. When you're familiar with a small palette and can afford more materials, then you can expand it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_plein_air

https://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/plein-air-painting-which-paint-to-use/

https://www.theartleague.org/blog/2018/04/23/plein-air-painting-what-it-is-how-to-join-the-fun/

https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-subjects/plein-air/how-to-paint-en-plein-air-beginner-landscape-oil-painting-techniques/

https://shuangliwatercolors.com/blog/137612/watercolor-plein-air-basics-tools

https://emptyeasel.com/2016/09/28/three-ways-to-draw-plein-air-and-a-plein-air-drawing-challenge/

http://bindersart.com/guerrilla-painter/11458-guerrilla-painter-thumbox-plein-air-kit-6x8.html

https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/give-mom-a-plein-air-painting-kit-this-mothers-day

https://thewatercolourartist.com/product/white-nights-artists-watercolour-plein-air-set-12-whole-pans-plastic-box

https://www.cheapjoes.com/sennelier-landscape-plein-air-oil-set.html

https://www.instructables.com/Movable-Pallet-Altoid-Tin-Watercolor-Set/


To learn faster, study anatomy. It's fascinating, it's useful, and it will automatically improve the anatomical aspects of your art as you learn more about how human and animal bodies go together.

Gray's Anatomy is the go-to reference for artists, especially the various levels of coloring book. Keep that in mind for later budgeting. (You might want to make a list of art supplies to buy; you can't stock a whole studio at once.)

But you don't need to spend money on it. There are loads of anatomy websites, coloring pages, worksheets, etc. online for free. Just search until you find ones you like.

Once you've got the hang of using anatomy to inform art of bodies with the meat on, step up your game and try imagining meat onto skeletons. Forensic art is an actual profession now, but it started as an art exercise. Remember the still life skulls? That's why you want one. You can find lots of references for extinct animal skeletons online, or go to a museum and draw them live.

Comments

[erulisse]

For watercolor paper one of my favorite hacks when I want to practice is to buy one or two large individual sheets and then use the fold in half and tear along the fold method to break them into smallish card size pieces. I find I can get a decent supply of quality paper at a more reasonable price than buying it in book format and the small size (I usually go for something in the 5x8 vicinity) is less daunting to me while still being large enough to practice composition and new techniques.

I have also found that most of the chain craft stores have coupons they will send you (Michaels typically does 40% off one regular priced item) which can be handy if you are looking to buy a larger item (such as a block of watercolor paper or some kind of specialized tool).

[(Anonymous)]

Used to work in a craft store. If using coupons, be sure to know the policies, if they have them at the register, etc. At my old store, someone could save a lot by bringing a few friends, extra coupons and splitting the transactions.

And be nice to the associates - in the words of a former coworker "We just want to be treated like people!" (More practically,
we also know who the resident in-store expert is, what today's coupons are, where a really good item is hidden, what sales are popular this week, workarounds if we don't have exactly what you're looking for...)

And yeah, we'd sometimes direct people towards the less-expensive less-fussy stuff if they were starting out. Most of the people who went right for the top quality paint and markers were college art students or professional illustrators, etc.

Also, check out online instructions/tutorials and videos for specific skills - circle loom knitting, drawing faces, working with charcoals...

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's clever. I hadn't thought to price paper by the square inch, I just knew that bigger pads cost more.

So much of watercolor in the beginning is learning what the paint can do and how to make it do that, you don't really need a lot of space for exercises. But most people don't want to learn the medium first, they want to go right into painting things. Then they get frustrated when it doesn't turn out well. :/