Art Supplies Buying Guide

Art supplies are easy to buy badly. The packs all look similar, the numbers on the box mean different things depending on the product, and most listings tell you what something is without telling you who it is for. This guide is written to fix that. It covers every range COLOURIVO stocks, explains the one decision that actually matters in each, and points you at the right collection.

No prices here — they move. Every link goes to the live range.

Alcohol markers or acrylic markers?

This is the decision people get wrong most often, because both are called "markers" and they behave nothing alike.

Alcohol markers are transparent. The ink soaks into paper and dries almost instantly, and because it is see-through you build colour by layering — a second pass over the same area makes it darker, and two different colours over each other blend into a third. That transparency is why illustrators, manga artists and designers use them, and it is also why they only work properly on paper. On anything non-porous the ink has nowhere to go.

The trade-off: alcohol ink bleeds through ordinary paper. If you are working in a colouring book printed on thin stock, put a spare sheet behind the page.

Acrylic markers are the opposite. The paint is opaque and water-based, it sits on top of whatever you put it on, and it dries to a solid, permanent film. Light colours cover dark surfaces — white over black works, which no alcohol marker can do. They write on paper, wood, rock, ceramic, glass, canvas and most plastics.

The trade-off: because the paint is opaque, you cannot layer to blend the way you can with alcohol ink. You get flat, clean, poster-like colour.

If you are colouring in a book, you want alcohol markers. If you are decorating an object, you want acrylic markers. If you are doing both, they are not interchangeable and most people who are serious end up owning both.

How many colours do you actually need?

Marker sets are sold by count, and the counts run a long way up. The honest answer is that the right number depends on whether you blend.

• 12–24 — enough to colour with. You get one of each colour family and little else. Fine for casual colouring, kids, and testing whether you enjoy it before spending more. In our range that is the 12-colour set or the 24-colour set.
• 36–60 — the range where blending starts to work, because you begin getting two or three tones of the same hue. If you are shading faces, fabric or skies, this is the realistic entry point. See the 36-colour set and the 60-colour set.
• 80–120 — full tonal families. You stop compromising on skin tones, greys and greens. This is where most people who colour regularly settle: the 80-colour set and the 120-colour set.
• 168 and up — a working palette rather than a set. Worth it if you draw daily or professionally; overkill otherwise. We run to 168, 204 and 262 colours, and the price per marker is lowest at the top of that range.

A useful rule: if you are choosing between a bigger set and a smaller set plus a second product, the bigger set is usually the better buy, because refilling gaps one marker at a time costs far more per colour.

Canvas: which size, and stretched or board?

Stretched canvas is cotton pulled over a wooden frame. It has depth, the edges are finished, and it hangs straight off the wall without framing. That is what you want for a finished piece.

Drawing boards are flat, rigid, and much cheaper per unit. They stack, they post cheaply, and they are what you want for studies, practice, and anything you will paint over. They also sell in three-packs, which is the sensible way to buy them if you are practising.

On size, the mistake is buying too small. A canvas that looks generous on a screen is smaller than you expect on a wall.

• 10 × 10 to 20 × 20 cm — studies, gifts, ornaments, miniatures. Too small to be a focal point.
• 30 × 40 to 40 × 50 cm — the standard "a painting" size. Reads properly on a wall, still fits a normal easel and a normal shelf. If you want one to start with, take the 30 × 40 cm canvas.
• 50 × 70 cm and up — statement pieces, to 80 × 100 cm. Check your easel height before ordering: a tall canvas on a short easel is unusable.
• Round canvas — 15, 20, 30 and 40 cm. Harder to compose on than a rectangle, but a set of three at different diameters makes a strong wall group.

Browse canvas and drawing boards.

Paper and pads

Marker work wants its own paper. Pads come in A5, A4 and A3 across six types — marker, sketch, watercolour, canvas, acrylic and black paper — with the paper weight or sheet count your choice on most of them.

One honest note on the marker pad: our supplier has not confirmed a bleedproof coating, so we do not claim one. Put a spare sheet underneath when you are working with alcohol markers or building heavy layers of ink. Black paper is the exception worth calling out — it is the surface where acrylic markers look their best, and where alcohol markers will not show at all. See marker pads and paper.

Acrylic paint: tubes, pots or bottles?

The volume on the label tells you what the paint is for more reliably than the price does.

• 12 ml tubes — starter and travel sets. The twelve-colour 12 ml set is printed as including four brushes and a palette, so it is a complete first kit rather than paint alone.
• 25 ml pots — screw-lid pots in six colours: yellow, red, green, white, purple and black. Pots beat tubes when you are working flat and dipping a brush repeatedly.
• 35 ml tubes — the practical working size, in 12 and 24 colour boxes. Enough paint to finish real pieces without restocking constantly.
• 100, 250 and 500 ml — single colours in a pot or a flip-cap bottle. Buy these for the colours you burn through — white, black, and whatever dominates your palette. Do not buy a full range this way.

A common and expensive mistake is buying a large mixed set when you only heavily use three or four colours. Buy a mid-size set for range, then bottles for the colours you actually exhaust. See acrylic paint.

If you want paint, brushes and a surface together, the Mini Acrylic Painting Kit pairs the 25 ml six-colour set with a ten-brush pack and three 10 × 10 cm canvases, and Acrylic Painting Essentials pairs the 35 ml twelve-colour set with a 33-piece brush selection, a 20 × 30 cm palette and three canvases.

Brushes: shape matters more than count

Brush sets are advertised by piece count, but the count is the least useful number on the packet. What matters is which shapes are in it.

• Round — lines, detail, filling small areas. The one you reach for most.
• Flat — blocks of colour, sharp edges, backgrounds.
• Filbert — a flat with a rounded tip. Soft-edged strokes and blending.
• Fan — texture: foliage, hair, clouds. A specialist, not an everyday brush.
• Wide flat / wash — covering large areas and priming.

A set with five well-chosen shapes beats a set of fifteen near-identical rounds. For children, look for short handles and non-slip grips rather than fine detail brushes — control matters more than precision at that stage. See paint brushes.

Coloured pencils: everyday set or gift set?

Wood-free pencils have no wooden barrel — the whole pencil is pigment in a thin protective wrap. They sharpen without splintering, they do not snap if dropped, and the colour lays down more heavily than a traditional pencil. They are the more forgiving choice, and the better one for children. They come in 12, 24, 36 and 48 colours, in a slim hanging pack with a die-cut window.

Night-sky sets come in a rigid two-piece presentation box with a painted night scene wrapped around it, in 12, 36, 48 and 72 colours. Choose these when the box matters as much as the pencils — for a present rather than a desk — and take 36 or more if you want a set that still gets used after the wrapping has gone.

The same "how many colours" logic as markers applies: 12 is enough to colour a shape in, and you want 36 or more before shading inside a single colour family works properly. See coloured pencils.

Easels and palettes

Easel height should be chosen against your largest canvas, not your average one. Ours run from 36 × 70 cm tabletop frames up to 60 × 175 cm floor-standing A-frames. A tabletop easel is right for small work and tight rooms; a floor easel is right once you are working above roughly 50 cm.

Palettes come oval and rectangular, from 10 × 8 cm up to 40 × 30 cm. Oval palettes have a thumb hole and are made to be held while you paint standing at an easel. Rectangular palettes are made to sit on a table. Pick by how you work, then size up — the most common regret is a palette with no room left to mix on.

See easels and palettes.

Colouring books: the paper is the product

Line art is a matter of taste, but paper is not. Thin stock lets alcohol ink bleed straight through to the next page, and one-sided printing is what stops a bleed from ruining a second drawing. If you colour with markers rather than pencils, always put a spare sheet behind the page you are working on, whatever the book claims.

Our books are grouped by mood rather than by artist, so you can find the one you want without scrolling everything: Bold & Easy (thick lines, large shapes, the easiest place to start), Cozy Scenes, Hygge & Nature, Cute Characters, Cozy & Comfy and Girl Moments. Or see all colouring books.

Buying for a child

Three things matter more than anything on the packaging: the tools should be non-toxic, they should be hard to break, and there should be enough of them that sharing is not a fight.

Practically, that means acrylic markers over alcohol markers (water-based, no solvent smell, and they do not bleed through onto the table), wood-free pencils over wood-cased, short-handled brushes with grips, and drawing boards rather than stretched canvas — boards survive being leaned on.

Delivery and returns

We deliver to mainland Great Britain with tracked delivery at a flat rate, free above a set order value — the current figures are shown at checkout and on our delivery page. Coverage outside mainland Great Britain, including Northern Ireland, the Scottish islands and the Channel Islands, is set out on the same page.

You can cancel and return an order under UK consumer law, and the full detail — timescales, condition, who pays return postage — is on the returns page. If something arrives damaged or wrong, email support@colourivo.co.uk and we will sort it.

Common questions

Can I use alcohol markers in any colouring book?
Physically yes, but expect bleed-through on thin paper. Use a backing sheet, and prefer one-sided books if you colour with markers regularly.

Will acrylic markers work on dark paper?
Yes. The paint is opaque, so light colours show on black or coloured card. Alcohol markers will not.

Do acrylic markers need shaking?
Yes — shake with the cap on, then press the tip down on scrap paper a few times to start the flow. Re-cap after use and store them flat.

What is the difference between a drawing board and a canvas board?
Both are rigid and flat. The practical difference from a buyer's point of view is that a drawing board is for working and practising, and a stretched canvas is for keeping and hanging.

How do I stop my brushes going stiff?
Wash acrylic out before it dries — once it cures in the ferrule it does not come out. Rinse in water, reshape the tip with your fingers, and dry the brush lying flat rather than standing bristles-up.

What size canvas should I start with?
30 × 40 cm. It is big enough to read as a finished piece, small enough not to be daunting, and it fits every easel we sell.