Everything you need to try painting, according to an artist

“I sketch in pencil,” DeConti says, “I have some fancy pencils. They’re the Blackwing pencils. They’re kind of expensive, I think, but they look cool, and the rectangle eraser comes off, which is convenient.”

“I don't think you want your pencil lines to be too strong with watercolor,” she says. “I’m usually trying to erase as much of the pencil as possible by the end so that it doesn’t show, and this pencil has a soft touch to it, which helps.”

But, when that Blackwing’s eraser gets worn down, DeConti has another favorite tool she keeps handy. 

“I think any brand would be fine, but I have the Faber-Castell Kneaded Eraser. It’s a pretty good, cheap option. It's the one that's stretchy, and it's like clay.

“So I'll sketch and then roll over it basically with a kneaded eraser to get rid of most of the pencil. So yeah, that's important.”

A little insider secret from DeConti, though? “I personally like to use any generic mechanical pencil sometimes. It’s just like, I don’t have to sharpen it all the time.”

“I use a lot of different paints and mediums, but I pretty much use the same paintbrush all the time for various reasons,” DeConti says. “It’s the Princeton brand Lauren series, round, size two.

“I feel like one of my signature things is my stationery illustration, and I use this brush for that,” she says. “I do all of my lettering by hand, the headings and stuff. I don’t know if you would call it calligraphy because it’s not done with a calligraphy pen, but it’s that style.

“It's a small enough brush that it works with a lot of the detailed painting I do, like little icons and designs like that. I also just like using a relatively small brush.” 

“I usually buy 10 at once,” DeConti says. “They don’t last forever, obviously. Especially with the calligraphy lettering sort of stuff, if it gets frayed, I feel like it doesn’t work as well because you want that point.”

This brush won’t turn you into a watercolor letting pro overnight, but it’s a great place to start. 

“It was a lot of trial and error to figure out how to do cursive lettering with a brush versus a calligraphy pen,” she says. “It’s also six years of practice and muscle memory, so it’s not a magic tool, but I feel like I found the right brush for what I need to do. And so I’ve never really wavered from that.”

“Texture is great when working with watercolor. If you’re hanging an original or something like that in your house, you probably want it to have that texture and use cold press paper,” DeConti says. “I used it a lot when I first started out. It comes in this blue pad, and it’s the Canson XL Watercolor Pads. It’s really affordable.” 

“I think it’s a little more forgiving than hot press paper because it’s textured and not smooth,” DeConti says. Because of that texture, cold press paper doesn’t absorb the water and paint quite as quickly as hot press paper, so it’s forgiving of accidental smudges or immediate misgivings. 

“I think it's just fine to use when starting out,” she says. “There’s no need to spend $12 on a sheet of paper when you don't know if you're going to like it.”

“I don't think you necessarily need the best paint, but I know it's tough because I think when I started out, that's when I needed more professional-style, better-quality,” DeConti says. “Now that I'm more experienced, I'm like, ‘Oh, I can paint with anything.’ I think that's because I understand the medium better and I have a style. 

But I think in the beginning when I tried cheaper stuff, I got frustrated. So, I think you have to have the right affordable stuff.

Her go-to? Meedan’s watercolors. “What’s nice about this set is that it has a lot of colors, so you don't have to worry about mixing the colors you need, which is definitely a skill that you would want,” says DeConti. “But when you're just starting, you don't know if it's for you. It's kind of nice to just have pink instead of having to figure out how to make pink.” 

Plus, “they have the palette attached. It's nice because you can do watercolor on the go, [and] you can easily travel with it — I've done that,” she says. “But, you could also just use a plate.”

Once you’re ready to tackle mixing colors, you can pick up a tube set that challenges your artistic skills a little more. 

“I use the Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Paint Tubes and Sets,” says DeConti. “They have a student version, the paints come in tubes, and there are so many colors.”