﻿If you’re a complete art newbie and don’t know what supplies to get,
we’ve got you covered.
We’ll show you eight of the best beginner Japanese art supplies, from pencils to fineliners and more.
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Sketchbook
While the best sketchbook depends on the medium,
if you’re just starting out, the Maruman New Soho Series Sketchbook is a great choice.
Its slightly textured heavyweight art paper can handle both dry media and light washes of paint.
It comes in several convenient sizes for sketching on the go,
and the glue binding lets you pull out finished pages cleanly.
Pencil
The Uni Mitsubishi Hi-Uni is a pleasure to write and draw with.
It lays down buttery, dark, and even lines.
The pencil offers an impressive 22 lead grades, so you can create light sketches or soft charcoal-like drawings!
The 2B pencil is great for sketching and light shading,
though if you want to fill more space, go for softer leads like 4B.
Eraser
A good eraser is essential for sketching, and the Tombow Mono stands above the rest.
Requiring little pressure to use, it erases cleanly and reliably,
even with darker markings.
It’s available in five sizes, but we recommend the medium size for starting out:
it’s small enough for detailed erasing but big enough for larger mistakes.
Fineliner
When it comes to fineliners, you can’t go wrong with the Sakura Pigma Micron.
This one is also one of my personal picks!
Artists love these pens for drawing comics, outlining artwork before coloring, and more.
They’re waterproof, lightfast, and archival,
and they come in a wide range of tip sizes, from a super tiny 0.15 mm to a broad 3 mm tip size.
Just be sure to use a gentle hand with the smaller tips! You don't want to bend those.
White Gel Pen
White gel pens like the Uni-ball Signo Broad are game-changers for adding finishing touches to artwork.
The viscous ink stands out on dark paper and over artwork,
so you can add highlights, sparkles, outlines, and so much more.
Since it’s broad-tipped, it’s perfect for large artworks.
We recommend using it frequently since the thick ink can dry up if you don’t use it that often.
Although I'm pretty sure we have a video on how to revive those if you forgot.
If you want a finer tip option, consider the Sakura Gelly Roll Classic:
the 0.8 mm tip size has a similar opacity, but it's a little thinner.
Color Pencil
Uni Arterase Color Pencils are unlike any color pencils you’ve seen before–
they’re erasable!
And not only do they erase well, they also produce creamy, vivid lines.
The colors are blendable and show up well on both light and dark papers.
You can try the 12 color set, or if you just want to test a few colors, they’re also sold individually.
Marker
If you prefer markers, try Tombow Dual Brush Pens!
Available in a dazzling array of colors,
these double-sided markers are great for adding a splash of color or depth to your art.
One end features a bullet tip for drawing consistent lines while the other features a flexible brush tip for coloring or shading.
Tombow offers a blending pen if you want to seamlessly blend your colors too.
Watercolor
The Sakura Koi Watercolor Set is the ultimate all-in-one beginner kit.
Besides paint, it includes a mini water brush, a sponge for dabbing, and mixing palettes!
The small size makes it portable and easy to take out into the field.
The paints themselves are fairly pigmented and blend easily.
I also own this personally. I actually really love this set, it's so small and compact!
Sakura Koi Sets come in a variety of pan and palette sizes,
but for beginners we suggest the 18 color palette.
It’s a good starter number of colors and the lid also acts as an easel for postcard size paper.
Which of these art supplies did you like best? Let us know in the comments below!
Do you have a favorite that didn’t make the list?
You can find links to all these products in the description below and at JetPens.com.
Thanks for watching.