raw materials

Irojiten is the Japanese expression for “color encyclopedia” and these Irojiten Colored Pencil Sets live up to that. These 30-pencil sets are packaged with the look and feel of an encyclopedia, and each set includes a subtle color range of premium quality colored pencils that have an elegant enamel finish. The sets are packaged in unique paper booklets with three editions per set and ten pencils per edition, and the packaging is in Japanese. There are three different sets available and they are 20% off while supplies last.

It is gift giving season again, and Wonton has scoured the store to come up with another dozen gift-giving ideas that he’ll unveil over the next week.

Art Creation Theme Sets are designed for the beginner painter. With step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow, you can create your first masterpiece in minutes. They are available with oil, acrylic, or watercolor paints. The sets have everything you need to get started including paints, brushes, a palette, surfaces to work on (canvas panels for oil and acrylic and watercolor sheets for watercolor), plus project ideas and instructions.

As an added bonus, get a free 11" × 14" Raw Materials canvas with the purchase of every Art Creation oil or acrylic set.

Using colored pencils on black paper can really bring artwork to life making subjects appear more colorful and vibrant. These wire-bound Black Book Sketch Books from Derwent feature 40 sheets of 200gsm black paper. The heavy-weight paper is resilient enough to stand up to multiple layers of colored pencil and can also be used with water-soluble pencils for light washes. The sketch books are also ideal for use as photo albums or for scrapbooking with the black paper acting as the perfect background for treasured images. Available in A4 Portrait, A4 Landscape, and 12" × 12" sizes, these sketch books are 20% off every day.

These new solid pine Heavy-Duty Stretcher Bars from Art Alternatives are kiln-dried and finger-jointed for stronger, straighter, warp-resistant bars. They feature a tongue and groove miter for easy assembly and a slotted back for easy installation of corner and cross braces. The profile of the bar keeps the canvas up and away from the bar, preventing sagging and impressions on the painted surface. The rounded back edge allows for a tight stretch and an even painting surface. Each bar is 2" wide and 1½" deep, and they are available from 12" to 72" long. The bars are 20% off every day.

We have brought in an assortment of the new Touch Twin Markers from ShinHan Art. These markers offer 168 brilliant colors that are ideal for a diverse range of uses from animation to illustration, architectural renderings to interior design sketches, or fashion design to life drawing. With two nibs, a fine point on one end and a broad point on the other, a range of line thicknesses is simple to achieve. The new Touch Twin marker has an improved ink flow to allow for greater accuracy and detail, and the ink is alcohol-based so it doesn’t dissolve ink toner. The ergonimically-designed rectangular marker is roll-resistant on work surfaces and provides a grip that avoids smudges and smears. The safety cap stacks neatly and prevents damage to the nibs. The nibs are replaceable and the ink refillable (although we don’t currently have those in stock).

For a limited time, get a free 9" × 12" pad of the new Illustration Paper from Canson when you buy six or more ShinHan Touch Twin markers.

We saw this one back at the beginning of the summer and couldn’t wait to get it in — and it’s finally here! ArtGraf is an exciting line of water-soluble graphite products. The produts exhibit an extensive scale of graphite grays ranging from the deepest blacks to more subtle, transparent grays. Each can be used dry for sketching and drawing or wet as a watercolor. ArtGraf is erasable once dry and great for adding texture and depth. The deep, rich black carbon pencil is non-water-soluble and works well with an separately from all of the other ArtGraf products. The water-soluble ArtGraf is available in three forms: twin-packs of graphite sticks (about the size of most pastels), a 20g tin, and an extra-large 250g graphite stick (a lump of carbon that you’d be happy to see in your stocking!). There’s also a set that contains one graphite stick, one tin, and a travel brush.

All ArtGraf products are 20% off for a limited time! Come in and ask us to try out the samples so you can see how cool these are.

You may have seen the samples of the fantastic Fine Art Panels from Duho Studios that we’ve had around for a while, but we finally brought in an assortment of panels in various woods and sizes. Made in Southern California by a family-owned business, these panels are made using a 100% archival, acid-free, pH-neutral, water-borne glue for a unique seamless look. The “green” panels are made using domestically-sourced maple, cherry, and walnut.

For a limited time, all of the Duho Studios fine art panels that we have in stock are 20% off. And if we don’t have the size you want in stock, we can order it for you and have it within a couple of weeks. Ask us to see the sample sheet of the different surfaces available — the zebra wood and bloodwood are stunners, as are the metal surfaces.

Canson has introduced several new art pads that we now have in stock at the store. For a limited time, they are all 50% off!

Illustration Pads have smooth, heavy-weight 150 lb. paper that allows application of ink and colors without feathering, bleeding and damaging the paper surface. These are specifically designed for markers, colored pencils, pen and ink. Each wire-bound pad contains 15 sheets.

Artist Series Mixed Media Pads feature French heavy-weight 138 lb. paper perfect for final drawings. Each sheet offers excellent erasability and two textures in one sheet – one side has a fine texture and the other is medium textured. These are ideal for dry media, wet mix media techniques, markers, pens and collage. Each wire-bound pad contains 20 sheets.

Mi-Teintes Pastel Pads now come in new flavors: Earth Colors and Gray Tones. The 65% rag paper in these pads is ideal for hard and soft pastel, pencil, charcoal, colored pencil and gouache work. There are twenty-four colored sheets per pad.

Black Canvas from Art Alternatives is the newest variety of pre-stretched canvas to hit our shelves. We have these for 50% off every day, just like all of our other canvas from Art Alternatives, and you can also special order cases at 60% off. Sure, you could buy a white canvas and put on a coat (or two) of black gesso yourself, but sometimes you just don’t want to deal with that and get to painting. Here you go!

At the beginning of the summer, we started looking into how we could expand our selection of canvas. We looked at almost all of the brands out there (such as Winsor & Newton, Masterpiece, and Fredrix) and while they all make fine canvases, we didn’t find any compelling reasons for us to bring those in alongside the Studio and Gallery canvases from Art Alternatives that we’ve carried since we opened.

What we found, along with some local companies that were importing pre-made canvases, is a local manufacturer that assembles them right here in Southern California. And that really piqued our interest — we are huge fans of local business (obviously!) and being able to offer a quality stretched canvas that is made locally couldn’t make us happier. So happy, in fact, we are putting our own name on them:

Raw Materials Stretched Canvas is assembled right here in Southern California using bars made from sustainably-harvested Douglas Fir from Western US sources and 7oz 100% cotton canvas from India*, double-primed with acid-free acrylic gesso (so ready for use with oils or acrylics), wrapped with seamless corners and staple-free edges.

The canvases come with four different types of stretcher bars: the Slim bars are ¾" deep, the Thick are 1½" deep (but lightweight, like the Slim bars on their edge), the Chunky are 1½" deep (and broad), and the Epic are 2½" deep.

We consider these a premium canvas, but they won’t cost you an arm or a leg. The prices are very competitive with Art Alternatives and the other made-elsewhere canvases. They are a fantastic deal if you compare them with the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price” of most of the other brands, but we don’t know anybody that sells them for those prices. When we say the prices are competitive, we mean they are competitive with the “every day discount” prices of those other brands. Check out the list of available sizes and prices.

In addition to all of the stretched canvas we have in the store — and we’re still tweaking which sizes we’ll be carrying regularly — you can order custom-stretched canvas in any of the four varieties. You can also upgrade to a heavier or smoother canvas. Pricing for custom canvases using the standard canvas is on the price sheet. Contact us for a quote with the different canvas types, or for larger quantities.

Don’t worry, the Art Alternatives canvas won’t be going anywhere. In fact, we’ll have information about pre-ordering for our annual Art Alternatives canvas sale out in a few weeks, and there’s another new canvas product from Art Alternatives that you’ll see in the store very soon.

* Yeah, we wish the canvas was from a more local source, too.