Drawing tools include dry and wet mediums. Pencils, which are the most widely used drawing tools, can be found in a variety of leads from hard to soft, which will alter the quality of the lines being drawn. Charcoal is a softer drawing tool and comes in vine, willow and compressed styles.
Conte crayons are compressed pigments and usually are available in earth colors such as ochre, sienna, burnt sienna and white. They're hard pigment sticks that are excellent for drawing exquisite details. Pastels, which can be hard or soft, come in a variety of colors for portraits or landscapes. They're intended to be used on thick-toothed paper, which can grip the pigment and help hold it in place. Ink pens and markers are also popular drawing tools used often by graphic designers to create stylized and controlled drawings.
Paper is the ground for most drawings and comes in a variety of colors and textures. Tape helps to hold the paper in place or prepare a drawing for framing.
Using a light box will help an artist trace artwork to get an exact copy while using the hand. An opaque projector is also useful for this, especially if there's a complex image that an artist would like to enlarge accurately.
Paint comes in several varieties. Oil paint is pigment mixed with various oils, depending on the brand. Acrylic paint is water-based pigment mixed with a type of plastic base that allows for a quick drying time. Gauche is a water-based paint that dries with a chalky appearance. Water color is pigment mixed with water that's used primarily on paper and gives an illuminated appearance to the final work of art. Tempera paint, poster paint and finger paint are all exceptional art tools for children because they're inexpensive.
Brushes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Ask at an art store which brush will work the best for the paint you're choosing to use. Depending on the type of bristles, brushes can be inexpensive (for student use, with synthetic bristles) or expensive (for oil painters wishing to use sable bristles).
Painting mediums include linseed oil and turpentine. These improve the flow and thickness of oil paint. Palette knives are used for either mixing paints or applying them directly onto a canvas.
Canvas, which comes in several thicknesses and can be cotton or linen, is typically the ground for a painting to be created on. Most canvases are painted with a prime coat of paint such as Gesso, in order to help preserve the painting and the fabric beneath the painting. Some artists still use the old method of priming a canvas using rabbit-skin glue.
With a variety of functions and uses for clay in an artist's studio, there are several tools to choose from. Pottery wheels or banding wheels are important for those making bowls or vases, in order to spin the clay. Hooks to move clay, wires to cut clay and sponges to keep clay wet are also imperative tools for sculptors.
It's likely that artists using clay tools will also utilize fettling knives, sculpting knives, waved knives, trimming tools, ribbon and wire tools, all to manipulate clay from large shapes down to the finest details. Texture scrapers and smoothers are tools that can help artists put the finishing touches on their clay creations.