I just received my order of art supplies and thought that I would share with you my art supplier.
Many of us in USA heard of Dick Blick art materials. It's an oline store that ships to your door your paper pads, CPs, brushes, ink, pencils and more.
I am very satisfied with the offer as they have good quality materials.
Now for drawing needs and art in general you have three sources: kids supplies like crayola and cheap school supplies, your local art store and online specialized art suppliers.
What is your art supplier in your country, region, town or online?

Usually art stores carry both student grade materials and artist quality art supplies.
Student grade materials are pretty good for beginning art practice but hey, holidays are coming!
Send Santa a letter about nice art supplies in your stockings to surprise your friends and family with your art.

i want an afrt supplies

I tried to order on Dick Blick, but it was going to cost me 10 dollars for a sheet of special paper that i could get at my neighborhood Michael's for $1.50.

I usually go to a hobby or craft store to buy supplies. ive only been to one fine art store and it was quite a ways from my house. Very small, but a great selection of top-quality artist grade supplies. If you dont have a craft or art store near you home, i would definitely suggest an online service such as Dick Blick, Cheap Joes Art Supplies, or Jerry's Artarama.


But i think more important than where you buy your supplies is what you get. I did an experiment where i drew a high-quality drawing with cheap pencils and then with my beloved derwents. The results were amazing! the cheap pencils scratched the bristol, and created huge smudges that no eraser dared to fix. While the derwents created a wonderful picture that i cherish and am very proud of.

goes to show that the artist is only as good as his pencil. =]

Shipping costs are the killer in online ordering of art supplies, especially if you are ordering small amounts.

As I live on an island and can't get the range of supplies that I need, I often use mailorder or buy in stores when I travel. But when I do mailorder, I make sure I spend enough money to make shipping realistic in proportion to what I am buying. I sometimes share shipping costs with a friend who orders at the same time.

I order from Canadian supplies and American, but with the Canadian dollar slipping in value against the American at the moment, cost savings are that great right now. So I pretty much stay with Canadian online stores and some local supplies when I need them. If there are specialist items that I can't get here, then I bite the bullet and buy in the USA, but then I get into duty and brokerage fees and currency exchange differences.

My advice to all, is shop around. See who's having sales, note the shipping costs which are usually based on how much your order comes to and often the weight of it. If you have to pay over the top for shipping, its often not worth it unless its something you really really need.

As for quality of supplies, I have to agree. You really do get what you pay for and quality materials will make life a lot easier for both beginners and professional artists. To fight with poor quality materials often frustrates people who believe they can't work with a specific medium, when in fact, its the quality of the pencil or paint or paper that's at fault. So buy the best you can afford. Even if its one tube of paint at a time or one pencil at a time. ANd remember, holidays are coming Circulate your wish lists now!

I agree that shipping costs in online suppliers are high, but for items that I can't find anywhere else I have to use an online supplier.I actually buy from all three sources listed above, kids supplies, neighborhood art store and online supplier.But in terms of price of items like prismacolor Cp they are the same in my art store and online.