2024 is coming to an end, but not without a few (small) celebrations and taking some time to reflect on the past year.
After many years of feeling the need to narrow down my material choices in order to maintain a clear visual style, I fully embraced being a mixed-media artist. I’m simply too curious, experiments fuel my work, and with AI breathing in our necks, there is no need to stray from our humanity, the imperfections, and the play.

So my favorites, in random order:

1. Artgraf
Artgraf is water-soluble graphite, available in a tin and as a putty. It’s dark grey and has a tiny bit of sheen. By adding water, you can get beautiful textures and tone variations. When you apply it very thick (with the putty for example) it resists some other materials, but in thin layers, it’s easy to combine with pencils, neocolors, or gouache.

2. Nitram water soluble Charcoal.
Very similar to the Artgraf but a bit grittier, black, and no shimmer, this charcoal comes in a tin which is easy to travel with. Just take a brush pen with a water reservoir and you’re good to go.

3. Gouache.
I didn’t think I would ever like, let alone love gouache paint but I have overcome my high school trauma of this material. What made me change my mind?
First of all: tubes instead of glass pots!
Secondly: combining wet and dry gouache. Straight out of the tubes, the colors are not my thing, but I now have a palette with the main colors + white that I let dry and use like a watercolor palette. I love mixing dirty colors and the slightly rough texture on the paper.
I also filled a few empty pans of my watercolor travel kit with gouache. Gouache is great as a base layer and it’s easy to add pencils.

4. Gansai Tambi Zig Kuretake.

This Japanese watercolor feels like a mix between our traditional transparent watercolor and gouache. It’s heavier, more opaque and there are some interesting colors available. When I got mine, the sets were not available in my area but I managed to get a few loose pans. The downside is that I don’t have a tin or box to keep them nicely together so they tend to float around my workspace.

5. Luminance pencils.

These pencils by Caran d’Ache have changed my perception of colored pencils. It’s of course what we call ‘mensengoesting’ (personal preference) but I adore the color range and softness of these pencils.
Some of my favorite colors are: Silver Grey, Payne’s Grey, Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue 5%, Dark Cadmium Orange, and Olive brown.

6. Karst stone paper.

This paper is really something special and I’ve been experimenting a lot with different materials. You can read more about it here.
Until the end of the year, you can use my code ‘Fenne10’ for a 10% discount. (their watercolor pencils are also great!)

7. Neocolor 2.

These water-soluble wax crayons by Caran d’Ache, quickly became some of my most used material in sketches. it took me a long time before I started to love them as I thought they were chunky and clumsy. It wasn’t until I found some colors that matched my mood and work that I started finding more and more ways to use them. By now, even when I pack light, I always pick a few to bring along. I couldn’t live without the Light Cobalt Blue, Dark Olive, Payne’s grey, Greyish Black, and Vermillion.

8. Staedtler Mars Lumograph 6B & 8B.
Nice deep black pencils. I always have one in my pencil case, I always restock these.

9. Brush pens with a water reservoir.
These are ideal for bringing along when sketching on location or even on the sofa. I love using them with the Art Graf or to soften some of the Neocolor 2.

Art materials I haven’t used much:

– Acrylic paint: I still love acrylic paint, especially for larger paintings, but I haven’t used it much in my sketchbook as it tends to stick, sometimes I don’t want so much cleanup or chance of ruining my clothes (I also have a lot of work with the printmaking when it comes to cleaning and caring for clothes).
Another reason is my recent purchase of acrylic gouache by Liquitex. This paint doesn’t reactivate like regular gouache but has a matte surface when dry. The color range is weirdly limited, but a little goes a long way. The main reason that I got this paint is because I scan most of my illustration work, and when I work with heavy body acrylics, I sometimes have some unwanted reflections.

– Soft pastels. I tried. I also got 2 tins of pan pastels but I still need to get an applicator.
I don’t know what it is, but these dusty sticks annoy me in irrational ways. So often I see wonderful work by other artists that use all kinds of pastels, so I try again now and then (but never on their own)

– Markers: I actually use them far more than you can see. I have a few very light ones that I use for guiding lines or a quick sketch. Sometimes I like their bold marks.

One item still on my wish list is liquid charcoal by Schmincke in the color “grape seed black”. When I visited Belgium, It was sold out in the shop in Antwerp, and it’s unavailable in my area. But that’s a nice thing to look forward to. I have enough materials to keep me busy and happy.

Did you have any favorites this past year? Perhaps an unexpected one?
Something I should try? Let me know!

Bye!