Did you buy any particular art supplies this year that you regret? 😬

Just put the clip board on the wall. You can use it as a temporary frame, or as a mood/inspiration board. They are also nice to decorate first and then displaying pictures on them.

I have so many buying regrets spanning years. 2024 is the year I shall be selling all my supplies I have either not opened(!!) or have only swatched. There such a thing as simply having too much, and the more money an item costs, the more fear I feel of using them. Less supplies, and LOTS more practice will hopefully bring me more joy. 🎨👩🏻‍🎨🖌️❄️

Fantastic video! Most arttubers can't make these because they are basically sponsored by art supply companies. Love your honesty. What do I regret? Well, I decided that I hate HATE pastels (Sennelier). It's the totally-out-of-control-medium for me. Smudges everywhere, you can't touch anything after using them, they cannot be tamed ever. Maybe I just have to get used to them. But right now, I deny them.

I like watching videos like this so I won't purchase without knowing the cons of the products. Thank you for your honesty!

I regret buying the Cotman watercolours-my plan was to learn on the student grade and then upgrade to professional but then I found so many good deals on the professional so I ended up buying so many lovely ones that I don’t want to use the Cotman. I have seen that Etchr palette on several videos and I knew I would hate using it for all the reasons you mentioned so I never even considered it. Happy Holidays!

This year I gave a huge box of misc art supplies to a thrift store. Maybe someone will find some use for them. Markers of all types, colored pencils, etc. I think we all tend to collect too much and then use only our favorites.

TIP: The Derwent LF are fantastic for blending Polychromos once you have a few layers down. I chose a color similar to the color already down on the paper. They smooth everything so nicely.

I love the neocolor 1’s to my surprise. I discovered that they work lovely on smooth marker paper, the fabriano 1264. I also use them on watercolour paper. They build up beautifully if you give the layer a little time to set. I just wish they had more colour range.

one of the most helpful vids on here. Thank you for sharing when everything isn't sunshine and kittens with a supply. Especially the pricey ones!

Roman Szmal are fine. They are affected by humidity because of the honey. When mine were delivered on a rainy day, it was a nightmare to get the paper on top of the pans off BUT I discovered that if you put them in a refrigerator they lose stickiness and the paper came off easily. My Roman Szmal's are now fine because my home is not humid.

When I first got my few Derwent lightfast pencils to try I wasn’t keen on the texture, but I gave them a chance, and now they’re my faves, especially in how they blend beautifully,

Thank you for your honesty! So helpful and reassuring that it's not just me regretting buying items here and there. 😅

You can refill Poscas with other brands’ flow/fluid/ink acrylics

Great idea with 1 month trial to see if you can befriend some of them. Good luck and less regrets this year ❤

I totally agree on the Etchr palette. I ended up giving away mine to my mother in law with some decent quality paint in it since she wanted to start painting in watercolour and the paints she had were school-grade. And I do remember buying Poscas and similar stuff once to try years ago and also giving it away... so much money wasted.

such a fun video, really interesting look back at the year 😊😊

I like the idea of you trying to use each one for a month ❤Happy New Year!

I’ll buy the atelier from you.💖it works out very well in my style of painting!😊

Love this video. I keep my honeybased paints in the fridge...it helps. And RS has such beautiful colours❤

I would say to just start using them! The acrylic paints would be easy to use to make background papers for art journals also the pens you can make all kinds of marks with. Watch KZfaq videos on the products for encouragement. I would say I don’t use my colored pencils as much as i should because I like an oil pastel or gelato instead. You can also use the paints to dye pieces of fabric to add to your art.

Just found your channel via this video! I am excited to spend some time watching more of you. I appreciate the in depth reasoning why you don't like something; it helps as an inexperienced artist 🎉

One surprising thing about the Roman Szmals is that they don't handle some brand/student-grade watercolour papers well. They perform best on 100% or 50% cotton, which makes it frustrating as I want to practise or experiment with them on the affordable sort.

I bought a cheap set of acrylic paint markers off Temu....I enjoy them way more than the Posca pens I have

I have few regrets since I was really strict on what I bought.I was this close to splurging in some A. Gallo watercolors several times in the year, Jackson’s tempted me sooo much, instead I bought several pans of various labels and made a custom palette I find is perfect for me.

Lindsay the Frugal crafter has a video on how she refills poscas.

I use my Roman Szmal palette at home, as they are my "good" ones, but I bought a basic palette and added a lot of my favourite convenience colours. So it's not just a basic, but an entirely fun palette. But I use Rosa Gallery for my courses (because they are so cheap and easily replaceable), they are as sticky as Roman Szmal, but I don't mind. The upside is that I don't have to spray them to activate, when other people are busy spraying I can immediately start. If you keep them open, they will get dryer, but I keep mine "sticky" so that they activate really fast.

Really useful video, thank you! I'm not yet experienced enough to be able to plan where to put masking fluid but I've had a bit of experiment with using a glass dip pen to apply it and find it goes on really well, with the added bonus that it washes off really easily too. Also, I've used A5 wooden clipboards for years and now that I'm trying to make art, find that they're great to lean a sketchbook on while out and about (I mostly use the Seawhite A5 landscape travel journal).

I have got way too many brushes - for watercolour and acrylic - so I could probably do without some I bought at the end of last year. Two regrettable purchases - Renesans H20il printing ink and a lino cutting set. They will eventually end up in a charity shop.

Nice to know about the Roman Szmalls. Saves me a big investment in something I won’t likely use. I have that Etchr set and haven’t even filled it. Don’t regret it so much yet. I regret a few art backpacks that I don’t use, plus two French easels I don’t use either.

This was so helpful! I was considering getting a few Poscas to try out but I never knew you can't refill them. (For what they cost, that's nuts!) Don't be too hard on yourself though because you never know whether something will suit you until you give it a go. 😊 Thanks for sharing! 🙏☺️

Hi Evie, think of the neo 1 as a large chunky prismacolor pencil that can cover more ground quicker. Hope that helps ❤

So, there's a really cool 3d printed insert you can get for that etchr palette that makes it a little more user friendly, I think. I got mine from Arts to Embers on etsy. It's in a video I did...about a million years ago now, it feels like. 😂 I appreciate this video so much - I have so many supplies I really need to dedicate time to before buying anything else!!

I am happy to say that I barely regret buying anything that I own, and I own a bunch. Since I started buying art supplies in 2017 the only things I regret buying are a brush that didn't work for what I needed, a charcoal set that I don't like the quality of, maybe a pencil set that's student grade and a bunch of water mixable oils I bought before realizing I much preferred regular oils. I do regret the money spending in some cases, but not the products I have as a result. I do need to use my art supplies more, but I don't regret having them!

Hi Evie - happy Christmas …. We are back in NL on the 9th hopefully, on the first flight out… Jackie

Hey! so i get what youre saying about RS being sticky, but in most cases its only when they're dry. Maybe try spraying all of them with thin layer of water to active them? its easier to forget the texture this way. I have to say I love my RS, even though I have W&N, Maimeri and DS paints as well. I'm not saying they're THE best out of all of them but quality/price definitely is there, and the colors are so nice!

I didn't buy them in 2023, but I regret getting the Arteza 36-color set of watercolors. When I decided to try watercolors, I wasn't sure I'd like them, so I got a kiddie-grade set of paints that'd gotten a "Surprisingly good for the price" review from a KZfaq artist. And they *are* -- I still use my Prangs for, like, practice and brush control exercises, stuff like that. But I upgraded [cough] to the Arteza set, looking forward to having more colors and better paints. Umm, yeah, not so much. First, I now know what everyone means when they say that having too many colors kills your learning/development in mixing and color theory. But mostly I hate the Artezas for the way they're made and packaged. First, the pans are too small. They're half pans, and having that set taught me that I loathe half pans. If I can't get at *least* a number 10 round (and a 12 is better) comfortably into a pan, the pan is too small. And second, the paints are dry as an old bone in the desert. Working up a decent amount of paint is a major pain, and moreso because it seems like they pour out and dry the paint on huge trays, they cut them and drop them into the pans, rather than pouring them into the pans and letting them dry there. Some stick up above the rim of the pan so that any water you add runs off and into other colors, while others have gaps between the bock of paint and the edge of the pan so that any water you add runs down into the gap rather than pooling some actual, usable paint on the surface. I pulled them out again just the other day to see if they were as awful as I remember, and they were. I probably won't use them again. :/ BTW, if you don't like "sticky" paints, don't get M. Graham brand. My good paints are M. Grahams, and I love them, but after sitting in my storage pallet (a Mijello) for some years now, they're still tacky, which is great IMO; grabbing and nice big pool of paint off of them with a wet brush is incredibly easy, and then I'm ready to paint. There's no waiting for them to soak and soften and decide whether they're going to give you a few drops of paint today. Or not. :P

Regarding acrylics, I do find its a very brand-dependent medium. For example, I do not enjoy Liquitex at all but have used most of my Goldens. I also really enjoy Jo Sonja paints and their almost gouache like matte finish. I encourage you to lean into the brands/type you like!

Great anti-haul, tfs. :). I would really suggest trying out the supplies that lay down with a problematic texture, try working on a more saturated substrate to see if that opens some possibilities. I've seen people painting with acrylics on stretched canvas use some of the same methods watercolour artists use to enhance the workability of their first layers by wetting the back of the canvas down.. Paper and canvas can be treated as if they were sponges to be worked with rather than a flat, inert plane to apply successive layers of pigment. Happy 2024!

I love Neo Color 1. They are encaustic. Try warming the paper or use on wood panel. They layer nicely. Heat them to fuse layers together

Im with you on masking fluid. I actually do in use and enjoy it but only ever used W&N and hate the safety cap so i tried another brand. Unfortunately it has an orange dye in it that i absolutely hate when i use it so i have been avoiding it. 2024 is my year of using supplies ive collected. Ive been burnt out the last 2 years but did get several various supplies in the beginning (not realizing i would go this long without using them). This past year the only supplies i bought was Da Vinci watercolors and an Art Toolkit Folio palette. Loving both of them and cant wait till i reach the end of my supply no-buy to get more DV paints (no supplies till im regularly using the ones i have for 3-4mos). They are my upgrade from Grumbacher Academy and now I'm kind of annoyed at how hard to rewet my older paint is (ive been using it 10yrs and never noticed lol).

Good info!

I'm going to take a gander, that your Szmals will also fall into the same hopeless waste the Llama palettes have found themselves in, especially since it's a dislike of the feel under hand, and not a size issue. But thank you so much, for your honesty with Roman Szmal's. Because, I have a sticky palette I don't like and they're not even honey based.

You should do a video testing all of these, giving away to viewers

Actually ROMAN SZMAL are my favorite watercolors, i prefer honey made watercolors bec it is easy to reactivate them.

For your watercolours, have you tried creating smaller palettes that have a colour theme to them? I found once I started to build palettes around themes like seasons or moods that I am more likely to use use them when that spark of inspiration calls. It’s okay to regret your art supply purchases, I’ve been there too, we all have. Sharing your experiences is great so thank you for making this video. 😊

I love those Atelier Interactive Acrylics! I had to buy them for uni (I was annoyed that I had to buy 2 cad colours) but I loved them from the first time I used them. Being Australian made is also a plus since most things aren't made here anymore and are super expensive.

Agreed Atelier are my least favourite acrylic paint, with the exception of dioxizine purple. I much prefer the Matisse brand at the moment.

I use posca to mark my queen bees 😂 ........I'll gladly take any you throw out 😊 I didn't know they were an art thing.

A local hard ware would cut the clip board for you, or a friend with a power saw . I cut mine to fit my bag.😅

Obviously the brands and products themselves, for the most part, are not deficient. It's wise on your part to show perfectly good art supplies that you felt you should have looked before you leapt, so to speak. I'm sure many people buy the product of the day and end up putting it away, never to be seen again. Maybe this will help impulsive buyers to think before they commit.

Oh my goodness do try the Roman Szmal I just finished a picture with them they are awesome. Try putting them into the freezer for a cpl hours that may help, mine are not sticky, they wet wonderfully and lift wonderfully also.. But if you decide you don't like them at all shoot me a price I would consider taking them off of your hands for a good price. Thx for the video have a blessed "Christ" Mas.

I regret getting some Derwent Graphitint watersoluable pencils, for a combination of reasons. I bought a few, but the color selection is a bit strange and buying them based on the preview images online also didn't make things better, because now I got some very similar colors instead of a decent range. I also fell in love with watersoluable pencils and ended up getting a big set of Faber Castell pencils, which I like way more than the Graphitints. Really could have saved myself the Graphitint "detour"... Very nice video and a great discussion topic! By the way, I finally used my masking fluid a bit in 2023, because my masking pen (which is dyed blue, and so much more useful) dried out. But it will probably be 30 years or so before I finish that little bucket of masking fluid. Especially because I already bought another blue masking pen, because the pen is just so much more useful...

I was actually looking at Posca Pens last night. Need something to add highlights to my watercolor urban sketches and thought those could do the job. However, I can't decide on the size: PCF-350, PC-1MR or PC-1MC. May I ask for your advice on the matter since you have so many of them? xD

Hi Evie, my Roman Szmals watercolours aren’t sticky when placed down. How can you tell if they are and which paper do you use?

I dont like sticky watercolour either ha ha, thanks for the video

I have no regrets, but I did get some stuff that I just had no time to use. I love gouache but I rarely find the time to use it and I got 2 gouache sets that I did not even try. One is completely unopened.

Very interesting that you regret art supplies that many people love (ex Posca and Derwent lightfast pencils). I have Posca and when I use them ai like using them but I don’t reach for them much because ai use them mostly for mixed media and ai don’t do much mixed media. What is the name of the book about painting birds that you mentioned? And the author’s name?

I have hesitated to buy the Etchr palette even though it looks so pretty, I fear it would be unused. I regret buying a set of Sennelier tubes because they are way too sticky and never dry in pans.

I find the stickyness of honey based watercolours to go away with water and its not really been a problem But now paints that wont rewet very well is a problem that annoysvthe hell out of me some are like rock Butveveryone is different

You CAN refill Posca. Pretty simply...

So far, I regret buying Uhuhu alcohol markers.. color caps no where near match the color, and I have a bit of an aversion to swatching. I need to watch a few more tutorials.

I also have problems with the derwent lightfast...the colors you mention...they have black Brown reds stripes...very horribel, also the beautiful champagne color...and some yellows, why i only have this with derwent, i have all the sets...pro and soft ....also some colors Who are black stripes.... I tought i was the only one... The lightfast derwent are very beautiful colors Who are very dark...

Why not set up a buy and sell here or swap shop for the stuff bought and regretted?

Why don’t you cut the board to handbag size

I don't mean any disrespect here, and I've never watched you before, but I seen the words "The Worst" on your thumbnail as I was flipping past KZfaq channels, and I'm always curious about these things. But I get the idea that these supplies aren't exactly "the worst". You didn't really use the masking fluid, so you can't exactly say that it's the worst, and Posca pens aren't really useful for painting. But I have to say, the Roman Szmal paints? If you're saying they're "the worst" simply because they're sticky, well ... not sure what to say to that. I love my Roman Szmal paints. I have over 150 now, and they are excellent paints. Yes, I get that we're all different, and we all like different things. But I just feel it's a bit strange to put a graphic up saying "The Worst", when in fact, these supplies aren't bad, it just seems more that they're not your thing. I think there's a difference between something not being right for you and being a horrible product. I'm not keen on Arches paper, but I would never say it's the worst, I'd just say it's not my thing, not my preference. Anyway, I just felt like commenting because the video title just struck me as a bit odd. Anyway, happy arting! 😁

Very difficult to hear you and make out everything you are saying!

I haven't bought lots of art supplies in 2023 and honestly I'm curbing up the behaviour of buying beyond what I can use. I don't like a watercolor pad that I got by mistake ( it's rough texture) & there's 2 watercolor purchases that didn't match the label/looked different than what I expected, but I'll be sure to use them up since it's just not good to waste art supplies... 🥲💸