Getting into art? Artist Lexi DeConti shares 2 essentials beginners need

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. 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 rarely use a bigger one, except when I’m doing wide areas. But yeah, I kind of stick to what I like. So, it’s definitely a tool I can’t live without.”

Still, DeConti isn’t saying this handy little brush is going to make you a master in detailed watercolor painting overnight. “It was a lot of trial and error to figure out how to do cursive lettering with a brush versus a calligraphy pen. 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 it.

“Every time I post videos of myself doing hand lettering, people always ask me about the brush, and I’m like, ‘This is what it is. I don’t know if it’s going to necessarily be helpful if you’re just starting out with detail or calligraphy work, but it’s great for me and I like it.

“I usually just buy 10 at once. 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.

I do use the same paper all the time, but it’s very specific to the fact that I scan my art into the computer and edit it because usually I’m putting it on products or stationery,” DeConti says. “I personally use Fabriano. I feel like it’s decent quality, too.

“A lot of people use cold press paper, which has texture to it, but I use hot press paper, which is pretty smooth, so that I can edit easier, basically. But the texture is great 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. 

“I feel like there was a little bit of a learning curve with the hot press paper. I think it maybe absorbs water faster, so you kind of don’t have as much opportunity to blend. At first I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I like this.’ But I have adapted, and I actually really do like it.

“I just use it for all my stuff now. It makes scanning so much easier because I spend so much time in Photoshop getting the edges clean. If it can be closer to a smooth edge when you use the wand tool, it saves a lot of time because you don’t have as many rough edges.

“Also, I personally don’t like to use paper that is super expensive because I’m just making things to reproduce. I’m always cutting the paper into as many little pieces as possible to use as much of it as I can. 

One tip: This might be an upgrade paper once you’ve got some skills down versus your starting-out paper. DeConti says, “it might not be the best for learning watercolor technique because it doesn’t have that texture like cold press paper, but it can be nice to have more of a smooth surface sometimes. I feel like it would be really good if you were interested in mixed media. If you want to add in some color pencil, pen, ink, or whatever, it can be nice to have a smooth surface.