I live in a small town, but there's a small art supply store here that also does paint-your-own ceramics (which I suspect is what pays the bills). They can order most things and their prices are reasonable, so you might want to do some digging and see if there's anything nearby.

For mail order, Jerry's Artorama, Cheap Joes (RIP - they're in the process of closing their doors), Dick Blick, etc.

I've found some things at St. Louis Art Supply for a good price, as well. https://shop.stlartsupply.com/

Block art materials is a reliable website to order from in the us. I don’t have any specific brand recs though

Blick's art supplies is good but the paint markers I like from them are Acrea and they're $20 for a 6 pen set, also Shuttle Arts has some good cheap acrylic painter markers.

Cheap Joes, Jerry's Artarama, Dick Blick Happy painting!

I love dickblick!!! They're great

Former art supply salesman here, I’ll give you my 2¢:

If you’re starting out on a new medium, it IS detrimental to cheap out IF you’ve never used it before. I saw this so much, where a parent or student would get cold feet, buy the cheapies, and come back later complaining that it “wasn’t working,” and ask how to fix it.

The thing is, that if you’re expecting a certain result of how the materials should work, the cheap stuff won’t do that, because the inexpensive options contain more binder than pigment, or use low quality elements to offset the costs.

So you’ll find a runny paint, or bristles falling out or not holding more water, or paper curling more or yellowing faster, colors looking duller, or if you’re using colored pencils, gaining a waxy bloom or breaking inside the pencil itself when you try to sharpen them.

If you DO have experience with the medium, and know the risks going in or don’t care, then yeah, go for the cheap stuff!

I don’t work in that industry anymore, so I genuinely don’t have any skin in the game for whatever you choose, but do consider all that, especially if you’ve not used ____ before!

Over many years, here's my experience:

Oil paints - Get the best paints you can afford, but the quality of brushes does not matter, as long as the bristles don't fall out, or you're trying to get type of brushstoke (soft brushes for smooth, hard brushes for crisp or textured strokes). Ok to go cheap on brushes.

Watercolor/gouache - Brushes do matter here, since nicer brushes will give you a lot more control over the paint. For watercolor paint, I actually really like grumbacher academy, and a little paint actually lasts a long time. For gouache, unfortunately I haven't found any really cheap brands I like. Paper is also worth spending a bit more, try to get 100% cotton, or cotton blends if you want to go cheaper.

Drawing/sketching - The cheapest pencils and paper will do. I go through boxes of cheap mechanical pencils and sale sketchbooks. I like kneaded erasers, so I also go through boxes of the cheapest I can find.

Ink - Not one of my main mediums, so I'm not as familiar, but there's lots of cheap options out there. Just be warned that cheaper ink pens work fine, but run out of ink faster and dry up when you're not looking.

So I've painted with acrylics, gouache, oils and Watercolours and the biggest difference in any art supplies I've found is watercolour paper. As people have said, you can add mediums to cheaper acrylic paints and they will work nicely. Cheap watercolour paper will fuck you up. I was used to not having to really worry about art supplies always being the best quality - yes more expensive paints are better of course. But man using the proper cotton watercolour paper is like the difference between children's cheap poster paints and the best quality acrylic.

Sometimes, a bic pen is enough.

It's not the tool, it's how you use it.

There is but cheap paint can be corrected by adding flow extender and body gel. I use craft paint often. I add liqutex and golden mediums to it.

It's not going to match a premium brand by any means, but it does make it workable if all you have on hand is craft paint.

I prefer the cheap stuff

never craft paint in bottles, but the cheap tubes with the pigments listed

At least 3 or 4 years ago, I spent NZ$5 on a 2-pack of kneaded erasers. I only opened the second one recently to keep one on my desk and one with my travel supplies. I love those things, I think they’d survive the apocalypse.

I soooo disagree with this when it comes to paint, for the most part. There have been some good developments with low-cost high quality gouache, but you cannot cheap out on oil paint, acrylic, or watercolor if you want vibrant and rich color.

Same thing with paper.

Ohuhu is probably the best 'cheap' alcohol markers around!

If there's a dollarama that you could go to, the DecoArt acrylics are not too bad(don't go for their neons)! I've also bought several paint brushes from there (one of them being their flat brushes) but if you're looking for specific ones like liners, Walmart is a good place to start off with. Their individual acrylics are not too bad either. Michael's is another craft store to which they have good packs of acrylic painting brushes that are sold under Artist's Loft.

Tempera paint- cheap by the jug. Black, white, and burnt sienna is all you need for contrast and warm/cool action. Get a big roll of paper and you’re in business.

Charcoal! Dirt cheap and easy to enjoy. You can draw on cardboard or newsprint. You can wander the streets and make street art along the avenues. You can just doodle for fun.

ohuhu alcohol markers are actually great to work with, on canson mixed media paper!

I like using ballpoint pens and highlighters for random doodles. Adding some pops of color can make the doodles a lot more interesting.

The dollar store my beloved

Honestly I love getting old supplies from friends/family and I love going to discount stores and finding whatever unbranded pack of 75 colored pencils they have. The thrift store craft section always has some treasures, and one cannot ignore the humble pen found in a parking lot

I have sakura white gel pens for that little bit of sparkle, all the others I've tried have dried up/got glogged up after first use. I know tricks to get them going again, but it's annoying as hell.

My expensive coloured pencils are derwent studio. Nice, but I was pretty miffed that the 72 pencil set has no pure, solid red. So I got myself a set of staedler noris club and maped color peps. Surprisingly good! At least for my lazy hobby colouring, I'm very happy with them! I use them more than the expensive derwents.

I don't like water based markers, they all streak, but I got myself a cheapass set of alcohol markers off amazon, brand is called tongfushop. Some are a bit dryish, but generally speaking they are good, solid markers. Again, I'm a lazy hobbyist, I don't need splendor and eternally lastin stuff. And I had the options between grand total of two different sets that actually shipped to my country so... 😂

I have no idea where in the world you are and if my suggestions are even an option for you, but I wanted to put it out there that a lot of the "in between" stuff is good. The "not actually cheapest but not going to bankrupt me" category 😄

The pencils from Amazon, "Amazon Basics" is a 72 count set and are good for the price. Also, Temu has a 120 count set that is comparable to Kalour.

People sleep on twistable crayons!! They color so smooth and dont need to be sharpened!

Crayola Premier are a good starter pencil but I think Kalour are the same quality or maybe even a titch better but cheaper. I am still finding out about gel pens and markers.

Affordable coloured pencils: Prismacolor. If you need something more affordable than that, check out Sarah Renae Clark's channel or blog posts for her evaluation of every brand out there. Which ones are affordable will depend on your region, especially lately...

Markers: Ohuhu. They bleed like any alcohol marker, though. With markers, you're stuck choosing between bleeding (alcohol) or streaking (water-based). Again, if you need cheaper, Sarah Renae Clark has evaluated most brands.

Gel Pens: I second the Sakura recommendation. They are smooth and fun to use. They aren't that cheap, but you don't need a big variety of them.

If in US https://www.dickblick.com/ They get them to you pretty fast, largest supply you’ll find anywhere too.

I asked this same question and got downvoted to hell o.o from this same reddit too.

Art has been essential for my work and I've been unable to locate anything -- but I have resorted to Amazon. I've been waiting at least a week for my stuff. I currently have 20 canvases (they would not let me buy 1, they made me buy in bulk which is kinda strange) so I had to do that but dickblick.com seems to be my go to.

Lone European here in case you’re not in the States �� Cassart and Jackson’s art supplies are great and deliver internationally ☺️

There's also Jerry's Artarama and Cheap Joe's. Jerry's is out of NC when they ship. I'm in MN, and all three seem to take about the same amount of time to get to me.

​

Edit to add by all three I mean Blick's as the third one

One reason (valid or not I leave to the reader to decide) is that a lot of folks would like to see shipping focused on absolutely needed supplies. That group would see anything art related as non-essential and therefore would ask it not be shipped for the time being (and possibly downvote people looking for delivery of art supplies.) That being said, if you need supplies to work from home, you need supplies to work from home!

Dick Blick and Jerry's are my go-to's. Please don't support Hobby Lobby.

Occasionally Craigslist will sell art supplies for a song (not really a song, but maybe lol.)

Honestly, Walmart will have decent brands for cheaper prices than Michaels. Or try Amazon, if you don't want to go in to a store.

I've heard lots of good things about Arteza! They have an online store and they sell pretty much any art supply you can think of. Haven't tried it personally yet but from reviews it seems very reputable.

By far the best glue, imo, is Planatol. The price is decent, quality is high. For cover material, I like dry oilskin backed with rice paper, or marbled Italian paper. Paper depends on your project. For notebooks, I like Clairefontaine 120g or Clairefontaine 60g. Both work well with fountain pens. To print a book, regular 80g printer paper, or 60g Clairefontaine.

I have tried only a few different types of glue. Of the ones I have tried, I really like Lineco Books By Hand pH neutral PVA. Of the ones I tried, it dries the most flexible.

As far as paste goes, I have used methyl cellulose, and it does great for making paste papers and made end papers, but I have not had the best success with it for much else. For casing in, I prefer corn starch paste. Of all the starch pastes I find it to be the easiest to make. And it holds paper to boards very well. Where I'm from we call it corn starch, but some places call it corn flour.

I buy a great deal of my short grain paper from Churchpaper.com. Their prices are fair and the shipping is fast. But I'm looking for a good supplier of short grain A4 or long grain A3 paper now. Churchpaper.com does not do A3 or A4.

Depends where you are based but also for paper it depends what types of books you are trying to bind. Are you looking for paper that's good for writing for blank notebooks or for printed novels?

For US-based: Talas, Hollanders, and Colophon Book Arts. You will only find high-quality items at any of these!

Hi, it would be helpful if you let us know where in the world you were located as what is accessible often varies by region. It would also be helpful to let us know what the use case is (eg. sketchbook binding? photo album? fan fiction?)

A lot of home bookbinding can be done with cheap materials. If you want to spend on quality, I would suggest upgrading to an Olfa Knife (affiliated link). I agree with the posters below who suggested Talas, Hollanders, and Colophon Book Arts. John Neal Books and Bookcraft Supply Co. are also great resources. In general, avoid the cheap kits on Amazon, or if you get one throw out the thread.

If you are interested in binding fan fiction, I made an affordable starter pack with quality materials that you can find here.

Format - aber der Laden ist absolut megateuer.

Ich empfehle einen Besuch bei Bösner in Frankfurt - Riesenladen, haben alles und sind günstiger.

Format Heidelberger Landstraße ist zu empfehlen

Falls du an der LiWi studierst, gibt es noch den Papierladen in der ULB, der einiges für Studienzwecke verkauft (technisches Zeichnen, Modellbau etc.)

Definitiv Format in der Heidelberger Straße, direkt an der Haltestelle „Prinz-Emil-Garten“

Weiss nicht ob die alles haben was du suchst, aber Karl-Gieselberg Schreibwaren ( http://gieselberg-schreibwaren.de/ ) beim Luisenplatz haben meine ich im zweiten Stock einiges an Kunstbedarf. Zumindest Leinwände habe ich da schon mal gekauft.

Und zumindest für Stifte/Papier könnte das Format in der Heidelberger Straße 63 die gewünschte Auswahl bieten.