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If You’re Afraid to Use Your Art Supplies, Watch This

Kate Miles Art

191,733 views

Hi friends! If you’re afraid to use your art supplies because they feel too expensive, too special, or too easy to waste, this video is for you. I’m sharing 7 practical tips to help you stop saving your materials for “someday” and start creating with what you already have, even if you’re scared of messing up or running out. We’ll talk about cheap vs. professional supplies, discontinued favorites, buying used, packaging, cost per use, letting go of materials that don’t work for you, and why unused supplies are often the real waste. You don’t need perfect tools or permission to make art, just the willingness to begin. Thanks for watching!

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My website (free downloads, reviews, and other goodies): https://katemilesart.com

Free downloads on my website: https://katemilesart.com/my-free-reso...

Some of my favorite supplies (including what I used in this video):

Watercolors & Gouache I Love: https://amzn.to/3LDgnmB
Acrylic Paints, Mediums, & Inks I Love: https://amzn.to/4hPZ6mh
Favorite Pens, Markers, Crayons, Paint Sticks, Pencils: https://amzn.to/4qQI9w0
Tools and Brushes I love: https://amzn.to/49KcBBV
Watercolor Paper: https://amzn.to/4nK6TDm
Other Paper and Sketchbooks: https://amzn.to/4nK7PHS
Glues & Adhesives: https://amzn.to/494jEoO

I participate in the Amazon affiliate program. If you purchase anything through these links, I will earn a small commission from each purchase, but your price won't change. This helps support my channel and keeps me making videos! I regularly use these items and enjoy them. I have not been paid for reviewing any of these products, nor have I received them for free in exchange for a review.

20 Comments

@KateMilesArt Creator 8 months ago (edited) Pinned

*Edited to add: Golden is a great company! My call out was in a teasing way because the manufacturer of the pigment (not Golden) discontinued it. However, I received a few comments with questions, so I want to make sure I clarify this.

Original Message: I CANNOT believe this video is taking off like this! I am humbled by the comments, support, and feedback on this small channel with little art process videos. It is amazing to see how many people share this same issue and heartening to know that my video has been helpful in some way. If you also have trouble using up your art supplies, I'd love to hear from you! Thank you so much, you're all incredible people! 💜

@patriciaborley 7 months ago

And remember. There is no refund for unused joy

@smo9020 7 months ago

"Supplies that are used, even on bad art, are fullfilling their purpose" DAMN. That is some truth right here.

@waltersanchez2623 7 months ago

I almost died in 2024 from anaphylaxis to peanuts. After that very real experience, I don’t keep anything anymore. Even the jewellery I was saving - I’m talking precious Heirlooms - I started wearing them casually every day. Things are just things, and the value we assign to them can be the biggest barrier to enjoy them

@MoonSpinners 7 months ago

This really resonates with me. I’ve made art all of my life, same as my mum, but, like my mum, I’ve hoarded supplies and have been inexplicably scared of using “the good stuff” my mum has now passed away, and looking through her art supplies, she’s kept things for over 30 years, all there, untouched. Paper, canvases, paint etc. she created beautiful art with all her cheaper supplies. I’m now using all the stuff I’ve hoarded, and when it’s gone, I’ll use my mums too.

@Irrlichtwinter 7 months ago

A realisation I've had is that if I am too precious to use my art supplies for experimenting and learning, then I will never actually improve with that particular art supply to the point where I can create the art I dream of creating. Growth is achieved by doing, not by dreaming - and to do, we have to use those art supplies (and have fun doing so!) 😸

@lunacouer 7 months ago (edited)

The heartbreak I felt when I finally went to use my discontinued Golden Quinacridone Gold heavy body, only to find it had dried out. Taught me a powerful lesson though - use it or lose it. Treating supplies that preciously just causes regret. It's much more painful to lose a discontinued supply due to not using it than to run out from joyfully playing with it.

@suev4143 8 months ago

Just a reminder, some supplies "go bad". Watercolour paper sizing dries and it loses its quality, acrylic paints dry out, even wax and oil pastels start to dry out and separate. Supplies are only wasted if you don't use them.

@WeblightDreamsArtStudio 7 months ago

After doing a buying freeze for 4 years due to having a art supplies hoarding problem I learned that using up your supplies give you an even greater feeling than when buying new art supplies.

@jenroroy 7 months ago

I am an art supply fanatic, but I’m doing a no-buy year. My goal is to shop my home and enjoy what I have!

That means making art with what I have — and I feel so lucky that I get to create art!

Brilliant video, beautifully said!

@GertiePants 7 months ago

"You do not have to earn the right to use your materials, and you don't have to be good enough to open them." Wow! I needed to hear this. Thank you.

@craiglist483 7 months ago

The #1 supply that’s not replenish-able is your time and that moment or urge to create! Thanks for this nudge!

@JS392 7 months ago

I was thinking I was the only one who is afraid of using art supplies

@mixedmedialife7916 8 months ago (edited)

This is the first video of yours I've ever seen. And may I just say you freaking nailed this! This is the best video on this topic I have ever scene. So many valuable and encouraging ideas and all under 12 minutes. Thank you🎉 Going to check out your other videos now.

PS. The piece of advice that really sticks in my mind from your video is the idea that if a medium feels precious, to make sure I have a backup supply. So the medium will become a tool and not a precious commodity.🎯

RIP Quin Gold 😭

@BROUBoomer 7 months ago

You're right. It was supposed to be a wedding present for a friend, bought the canvas, the acrylics, some acrylic/watercolor paper to practice on before the canvas. Some sketch paper to draw out the proportions first. Then I sat there looking at how much I spent, and that big blank canvas... And said I should have just gotten a toaster. I was so paralyzed by fear of wasting supplies, what was I thinking, I haven't painted in years. Who am I kidding I can't do this. So, they really liked the toaster... Then a disaster happened and I lost everything I own, all of those brand new art supplies. Everything just gone. And I sit here realizing even if it was bad, my friend probably would have loved it just because I care about them enough to make something just for them. I got a new pan of watercolors just to get started. I think I'll finally open them up. I gotta start somewhere. Saving things for a rainy day, doesn't work if a disaster can take them away in moments. Thank you for the video, and encouragement. 🧓☮️🤍🖖🎨🖌️

@colleenbrownart 7 months ago

Omg I feel so seen. Collecting art supplies is a hobby in itself!! 😂

@jeannegow2144 7 months ago

Wow...use your supplies "even badly, even awkwardly...you are allowed to make marks today".... I love that....yes, our supplies are to use..sometimes just for ourselves....to play, to create, to blend ourselves into those colours and sometimes to even be healed by them❤❤thank you for doing this video❤

@charleholst3881 7 months ago

I ran into this problem a while back, letting my supplies become so “ precious “ I was reluctant to use them. The cure? I ought a big drawing pad of the cheapest newsprint I could find, and a 48-color box of Crayolas. I could work out my ideas on cheap materials, then take the good ones onto canvas.

@shellbellm.4712 7 months ago

Last year my neighbor was getting ready to move and offered me all her art supplies, she was an art teacher. I love the stuff she gave me, books, paints, canvases etc.