Sourcing Cheap(er) Art Supplies

Fancy art supply stores can be super expensive and I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I pretty much never go to them.

Look, quality is important, but if you don’t have the budget to splash out on high end art supplies and $500 canvases, you don’t need to. Some specialty products can only be purchased from these places and cost a bit of money, but there are a lot of products that you can get for cheaper that still do a great job! Granted you might need to try out a couple of brands to find one that works for you, or check certain things a little more thoroughly before buying, but you probably should be doing that anyway.

I see it a lot, particularly with people who have previously studied art at uni and had access to million dollar studio supply rooms, where they can only work with the best materials, buying the highest quality canvases they can find, the most expensive paints, and some of these people have never even sold their work before, and in my opinion IT’S SO UNNECESSARY. Leave that shit until you’re making a decent amount off your art. If you’re spending over 100 bucks just on the canvas alone, before the paint, before the hours, days, weeks, or months of work to create the piece, you better be selling that shit for at least $5,000 or have a very large hobby budget.

I know there’s some genuine and understandable reasons that these stores are more expensive, they need support to stay afloat and if you can afford it (like actually afford it) then by all means go ahead, but artists with smaller budgets, especially newer ones still trying to figure things out, should NOT feel pressured to spend more than they need to because of some false idea that they have to be using museum quality materials to be allowed to sell their first art piece. This is incredibly important if they want to make any kind of profit (which is a dirty word to a lot of artists but HELLO, HOW DO YOU THINK YOU GET TO KEEP MAKING ART? That's a whole other blog post that I won't get into right now).

Honestly, just hit up your cheap shops, K-marts, etc. A lot of them will have some of the same basic brands the art stores have for cheaper and they stock a lot of different things including paints, texture paste, modeling clay, tools, etc. You can even head over to the gardening section for things like wire and mesh. Bunnings is also good for any wirey/mesh stuff, spackling, wood panels, etc. This might seem obvious, but some people don't even think to check these places first, they just google art supplies and head straight to Eckersley’s. Granted, depending where you go there will likely be some trash mixed in, but some of it is literally the same products. If you're buying canvases, make sure to check the wood quality and look for any damage. I had to change stores for canvases because the place I use to get mine started getting ones with frames made out of balsa wood or some shit that snapped like styrofoam.

The best thing about cheapy art supplies is that they help your fancier ones last longer and reduce the stress around wasting materials and perfectionism. They're great for experimenting without the guilt of using up all of your nicer paints on something you might end up hating and you can use them for less important projects or bits that are going to be covered anyway like underpaintings or just giving your little display stand a makeover to match your branding.

Op shops are also good for things like frames, fabric, and things to upcycle (if you can find one that's still actually cheaper than buying new).

Personally, I’ve always loved those little wooden boxes and treasure chest things you can decorate, but they're really expensive now, even at kmart and the dollar stores. My favourite place to go for those kind of things is Riot Art & Craft (online only). They have a much bigger range of wood pieces than most places and they're significantly cheaper than the others I usually see. They also sell a lot of the same type of stuff that Spotlight has if you're having trouble finding something at the other stores, but the savings vary so it's worth comparing prices across stores if you’re trying to keep your expenses as low as possible.

Get creative, check the sections of your regular shops you wouldn't normally look at, go to op shops, you can even get canvases and random bits and pieces during hard rubbish collection (I rescued a few abandoned canvases after covid when people ditched their new craft hobbies). Turn trash into art, baby!