Painting Supplies for Every Creative Project ⁽²⁰⁴⁵⁾

Painting supplies are surprisingly easy to overbuy. A beginner rarely needs 24 brushes, six different mediums and an easel large enough to take over the spare room. What matters is finding paint that suits the project, a surface it will behave well on and a few tools you will actually use.

You might be planning a portrait, trying loose florals, setting up a weekend activity for the kids or replacing the burnt sienna finished by your last landscape. Perhaps you are buying for someone who has just discovered watercolours and now talks about paper weight as though it is a personality trait. This guide will help you separate the useful supplies from the things that can wait.

Everything You Need to Start Painting

Our painting range covers everything from the first brushstroke to the final coat of varnish, with paints across every major medium, canvases, papers, boards, brushes, gesso, palettes, easels and the useful extras that make the process less fiddly. You will also find mediums for adjusting texture, drying time and finish, alongside trusted brands such as Mont Marte, Eraldo Di Paolo and Holcroft. For younger artists and family projects, the range includes familiar names such as Tim & Tess, Crayola and Faber-Castell.

New to painting, or shopping for someone who is? All-in-one art sets are the easiest way in. Matched paints, brushes and a surface in one box, so there's no guesswork on day one. Hobbyists, students, parents, teachers and working artists all shop here. The deeper detail on each medium lives in the sub-collections below, so use this page to orient yourself, then click through to the range that fits your project.

Which Paint Suits the Way You Want to Work? 

Your choice of paint affects the surface, brushes, clean-up and amount of working time you will need. The table below covers the practical differences. 

Craft paint and artist paint aren't the same thing (more on that below), so pick based on the result you want, not just price. If you are still deciding, think about where and how you will paint. Acrylic suits most casual home projects because it dries quickly and cleans up with water. Watercolour is easy to carry but less forgiving once a mark is on the page. Oil gives you far more blending time, although it requires more space, ventilation and clean-up. You can compare the available options in the full paint range. 

Surfaces, Brushes and Prep That Set You Up to Succeed

Half the disappointment in a first painting comes from a mismatched surface or a skipped prep step. Get the foundation right and everything else gets easier.

Choosing a Surface

Match the surface to the medium. Stretched canvas and canvas boards suit acrylic and oil. Watercolour works best on paper designed to handle moisture. For beginners, 300gsm cold-pressed paper is a practical starting point because it has a versatile texture and is less likely to buckle under wet washes.

Gouache and ink both work well on heavier drawing paper or illustration board. Our canvas and painting surfaces range includes small boards for studies, stretched canvases for finished pieces and larger surfaces for studio work. 

Choosing Brushes

Synthetic brushes are the everyday workhorse for acrylics, watercolours and inks. Natural bristle brushes suit oils and thick acrylic. Start with three or four shapes (a round, a flat, a filbert and a detail brush) rather than a huge set you won't use.

Priming with Gesso

Raw canvas and untreated wood soak up paint and dull your colours. A couple of coats of gesso creates a smooth, sealed ground so your paint sits on top the way it should. Most pre-stretched canvases come pre-primed, but an extra coat never hurts.

Accessories and Mediums to Expand Your Practice

Once you have paint, brushes and a surface, only a few extras are genuinely useful:

• A palette or old ceramic plate for mixing colour
• Two water jars, one for the first rinse and one for cleaner water
• A palette knife if you want to mix larger amounts or create thick textures
• An easel if you regularly work on pieces larger than A4

You do not need to buy all of these immediately. A ceramic plate and two clean jars will handle most beginner sessions perfectly well.

Mediums are the next step up. These are additives that change how paint behaves. Thinning it for glazes, thickening it for texture, slowing drying time on acrylics, or shifting a finish between gloss and matte. You don't need any of them to start, but they open up a lot of technique down the track. If you are upgrading your kit, start with brushes suited to your medium. A few dependable brushes are usually more useful than a drawer full of accessories. 

Artist Quality, Student Quality or Craft Paint?

This is one of the most common questions we get, and the honest answer matters.

Artist quality paint has a high pigment load, strong lightfastness (meaning your work won't fade), and rich colour that stays true as it dries. It costs more because there's more actual pigment in the tube.

Student quality paint uses less pigment and more filler, which keeps the price accessible while still being genuinely good to paint with. If you're learning, working on studies, or getting through a lot of material, student quality is the right choice. There's no shame in it, and plenty of finished work sells straight off a student-grade palette.

Craft paint is a different product altogether. It's made for décor, DIY, school projects and kids' crafts on wood, terracotta, papier-mâché and card. It doesn't have the pigment strength or archival qualities of artist paint, but on the right project it's brilliant. For anything with children, weekend making, or homewares, craft paints for kids and DIY projects are exactly what you want.

Painting Questions, Answered

What supplies do I need to start painting?

At the bare minimum you need paint, a surface that suits it, and a small set of brushes. For acrylic that's a starter set of tubes, a stretched canvas or canvas board, three or four synthetic brushes in different shapes, a palette and a water jar. For watercolour, swap the canvas for watercolour paper and the acrylics for a pan or tube set. A boxed art set is often the cheapest and easiest way to cover all of this in one go, especially if you're buying a gift or trying painting for the first time.

What's the difference between acrylic, watercolour and oil paint?

Short version: acrylic is water-based, dries fast and is the most forgiving all-round starter. Watercolour is transparent, water-based and expressive, but you work light to dark and mistakes are harder to hide. Oil is rich, slow-drying and blends beautifully, but it needs solvents for clean-up and better ventilation. For a full breakdown by best-use, drying time, clean-up and skill level, see the comparison table above.

Do I need to prime a canvas before painting?

Most stretched canvases you buy today come pre-primed with gesso, so you can paint straight on. If you're painting on raw canvas, board or wood, priming is essential. It stops the surface soaking up your paint and gives you a smoother, brighter result. An extra coat of gesso on a pre-primed canvas is also a good habit if you want a finer finish. Have a look at our gesso and surface prep options to match your surface.

Can kids use artist-quality paint, or is craft paint better?

For most kids' projects, craft paint is the better choice. It's affordable, washable, works on the materials children usually paint on (wood, terracotta, cardboard, papier-mâché) and there's no worry about wasting expensive tubes. Save artist-quality paint for older children or teens who are getting serious about painting on canvas and want colour that holds up over time. Boxed kids' art sets are a great middle ground and take all the guesswork out.

What brushes should a beginner start with?

Four brushes will get you through almost any beginner project. A medium round for detail and outlines. A flat for blocking in large areas. A filbert for soft edges and blending. A small detail brush for fine work. Choose synthetic bristles for acrylic, watercolour and ink. Choose natural bristles for oil and heavy-body acrylic. Look after them. Rinse thoroughly during a session and never leave them standing on their bristles in water.

Do you offer shipping across Australia?

Yes. Shop online and have your order shipped Australia-wide. If you're stuck between two options, our team is happy to help before you commit.

Why Australian Artists Shop With Riot

We've been supplying Australian creatives for more than 40 years. In that time we've helped thousands of people paint their first canvas, and thousands more restock for their hundredth. Our painting range spans every major medium and every skill level, with trusted brands including Mont Marte, Eraldo Di Paolo, Holcroft, Crayola and Faber-Castell all on one site. Shop online and get your order delivered Australia-wide. And if you're not sure where to start, ask us. We paint too, and we'd rather help you get it right the first time than sell you something you won't use.

Keep Exploring the Painting Range

Ready to go deeper? Browse painting mediums for texture and finish when you're ready to change how your paint behaves, or shop painting accessories for palettes, easels, knives and the small extras that make a session smoother. If bold linework, illustration or airbrush work is more your speed, our inks range covers acrylic inks, drawing inks and high-flow options. Wherever you land, we're here to help you turn the idea in your head into something you'll be proud to hang on the wall.