Cruelty Free Art supplies

I've been a vegetarian for a very very long time now and for the most part I make an effort to buy animal free and cruelty free products, however there is a great lack of information on cruelty free products for artists.
I'm going to try to debunk some myths and bring some of my research together here.

There is the obvious - animal hair brushes - No they do not sit and give the weasels a trim then let them romp in fields of clover. Its FUR.. It's part of the FUR industry. Sable brushes are essentially a small mink coat on a stick. You'd be hard pressed to find a brush made from an animal that isn't dead - it's not profitable to cuddle them and love them. They are tormented, then killed, skinned and their fur moves along to it's various applications. Yes, to a manufacturer it does make sense to kill them, not shave or brush them. It all comes down to the dollar. Sable Brushes - not so lovely.

In some cases the brushes are the left overs of other industries (fur and food), and in some cases it is actually brushed off animals like camels and then sold, and put through a sorting machine etc... but this isn't usually the case. Be leary of animal brushes.

Myth: Synthetic brushes are inferior to animal hair brushes. Whoever told you that is a damn fool. Back in the day, when synthetics were new, yes of course they had some major flaws but as synthetics grow in popularity they have some major advantages over the natural hair brushes. For example, synthetic watercolour brushes have superior spring in them over a sable. Synthetics are manufactured with hollows along the shaft of the bristle to simulate the natural hair and increasing the water holding capacity of the brushes.

Solvents will break down any brush, buying natural hair brushes doesn't make you immune to the  damage of a solvent. The key word is the product - it is a solvent... 

Your best bet is to do away with solvents in your paint all together. It's safer for you, safer for your painting, and safer for the earth. Thin with oil, clean with soap.


As a side note, I use all synthetics in my oil paint, when i used to use solvents, and now when I don't. I've never lost a brush to solvents.

Any brush you buy will last as long as you allow it through proper care and storage.

Pigments are another area for concern for some people. There are some pigments you should avoid.

Bone black and/or Ivory black (can be labelled either way) is made from charred animal bones. avoid. If you're looking on the back, the bone/ivory black pigment code is PBk9. You'd be surprised which paints have black in it (Golden has a list on their website). There is another pigment called Cochineal is a scarlet dye made from ground up female cochineal insects, However, I've not seen this pigment anywhere on any pigments lists so it's possible it's no longer used.
If you need some information on pigments this website has some awesome information on pigments specifically used in watercolours, but in general it applies to oil, acrylic and other paints as well.


Myth: Most watercolours have an ox gall binder


Not so! Most companies have switched to using Gum Arabic as a binder, which is a tree based product. Ox gall is a product that is harvested from ox galls (no kidding?!). By the way, Gall is bile. It's pretty gross to think of it in your paint, so I don't know why anyone would use it, but it is still available to purchase, and some companies may still use it or include it as a binder in their paint. Just look on the label.


Some papers, and canvas use animal product sizing. Rabbit skin glue is a traditional sizing for canvas, and is sometimes used in Gesso. Gelatin is often used as a paper sizing. There are alternatives to these of course, as there always is. Polyvinyl acetate or PVA glue is a better sizing because it won't yellow or crack with age.
In many (if not all, actually) cases the animal products are going to yellow or crack with age where the synthetic equivalent will not. So it's best to avoid anyway.


In many cases the term "traditional" when applied to gesso, or grounds will mean animal products.


What you can do to find out more information about your products.
Find the website for the brand you like - the actual manufacturers website.
Often times they will have moderate information on the products, but usually a way of contacting them for asking questions. the good companies will get back to you. 
Most importantly, if you are contacting them, asking questions about the environmental and humane aspects of the products they manufacture, they will know that people are out there paying attention, caring and thinking about where they spend their money. They will make more efforts to provide this information publicly and to be concious of where they get their ingredients. when leaders of the industry do it, other will follow suit.


Read the labels on your products. Be aware of what you are purchasing and be aware of what those things are. If you don't know what something is on your label Google it! If google gives you half answers email the company directly, download their literature. There's always answers.
Here are some websites for some brands I could think of off the top of my head... why not ask them some tough questions ;)


Golden paints
Gamblin
winsor newton
Holbein
Grumbacher
Georgian Paint
Daniel Smith




Useful links
Cruelty free art supplies
Vegans list of art supplies
Vegan and Vegetarian artists group on Facebook

Airbrush Paint Review & information

(Cross posted from Animated Guru)

I've also been changing up my airbrush paint so here are some reviews of Airbrush paint I've used:

Golden Airbrush paint sucks... It claims to be useful for paper and illustration but I did light coats and it seemed like it was just way too watery. It seemed like it took too many layers to get even a moderate colour covereage, even of the opaque colours! I do not recommend it even for paper.

Com*art and Medea is what came with my airbrush. It's good. I wouldn't rave about it, but for what Golden should have been able to do, these ones actually do it.

Createx is a great one. I find I have to thin it a little since its quite thick, but I painted Metal with it and its a dream. They also have decent mediums, top coats and stuff. Recommended for painting with sculpture and metal!

Now, Having said all that, I don't think I'll be using any of those much any more with the exception of Createx for some things because I discovered something far better to all of them.

Golden Fluid Acrylics + Golden Airbrush Medium = WIN

Right now Golden has a promo going on that is if you by 6 1oz or 3 4oz bottles of Golden Fluid Acrylics you get a 4oz bottle of Titanium White for free.
 I got mine! got to any Opus Framing Location in B.C., they're participating and also have the Fluids on sale for the month of March. The Price is definitely right! (Friends of mine, I can pick up some for you if you cant get to an Opus, Let me know!)

Okay so this Golden Airbrush Medium is mixed with the Fluid acrylics in a 1:1 Ratio. and I've put them in mixing bottles.

That website I just linked is a great resource with 2 videos on how to use the Fluid Acrylics for airbrush!

I really love this fluid acrylics! I never liked painting with acrylics because it was difficult to get a thin even coverage coat without brush strokes or that sort of globby look, and as mentioned I had trouble with the other paints applying to sculpture before. These are beautiful!

I'm doing a demo on March 17th 2-3pm at Opus framing and Art 120 lonsdale ave in North vancouver on my painting technique for my previous airbrush painting


Noplan by `guruubii on deviantART

and I'll be going over my tools and the techniques. I've been preparing some samples :)
see my work station:

There are 3 panels there, the green one being worked on is drying from gold leafing :)
In the picture:
on the box is my airbrush matte topcoat, the box for my airbrush, Opus acrylic polymer medium, a couple of my mix bottles of colour, airbrush cleaner, and my table cleaning station with my airbrush shoved in it. there are also 2 pieces of broken Sculpey wing and a frisket film cut out.
beside the box is a bag with the bits of my Abade sculpture in it XD
on the board I was painting on is my heat gun (my best friend), the green painting has gold leaf on it, and beside that is a package of gold leaf (imitation), up against the back is the 2 other paintings I had going.
all for my demo.

Hope that was interesting to you airbrushers :>
I might try to do an online or video demo of my techniques in the future if there is any interest for it.
Next month I will be doing a Sculpey Demo as well, so stay tuned for some sculpey information soon :)

Plein-Air wet canvas Carrier (tutorial)

So, We went painting in Stanley Park last weekend and I needed a way to carry my paintings to and from the park while they were still wet (oil paint). This posed an interesting problem for me. I could buy a 10$ wet canvas carrier, that only carried 2 stretched canvases of equal size, or make something else. I prefer painting on a rigid surface, so my friend Maria mentioned a book she had that had made a box to carry them taped or mounted on boards. Well not being a carpenter or good with a ruler, I modified this idea.

My wet canvas carrier is extremely inexpensive. Each board is only 2-3$ and the spacers are only 5 cents each. here is what you need:

Masonite, or hard boards cut into the sizes you paint on giving a generous space around the edges. Example.: My canvases were around 10x10 on a 12x16 board size.

Rubber Framing bumpers. they have to be the dense rubber kind, not the foam or felt. They need to provide enough space for the canvas, and the paint with some air flow.

a strap and box (optional) the strap holds it all together, and a box to carry it in wouldn't hurt, but I didn't have one, I just slipped it in my backpack.

Okay, Here is what you do!

Step 1

Take your Masonite, and put about 6 bumpers on it. One on each corner, and one on each side of the long side (seen in the figure to the left). Save one Masonite board that you don't put bumpers on.

As you can see I've also taped on a piece of Primed linen canvas as well.I'd recommend more tape, but whatever works for you. Just keep in mind, the space is limited so the flatter the better.
The Linen I bought in a large roll, and cut into the desired pieces. It's 7 oz, clear primed. I got it at Opus Framing and art. Regular price at the time of purchase was a steal at $215 for 5ft by 10 metres. I got it on sale, and split it, and the cost with a friend. I had 5 meters for $75 and it will last a LONG time! LOL!

Anyways, add the bumpers to as many boards as you think you can carry comfortably. each board will hold one canvas, unless you put one on the back of each as well, but if you do an impasto technique, you might find yourself wanting more space, or having paintings rub and transfer. It's best to leave enough space for the slight bowing that accidental pressure will cause.

Step 2

Once you have all your boards done, you just have to stack them together (see above photo) as you can see it leaves just enough space for the painting in there. but the top is exposed. Good thing you saved that piece of extra Masonite. it becomes your lid. you just lay it on top of the top boards bumpers, sealing everything in.
Now I experimented, because I ran out of Masonite and I wanted more paintings, and so I tried Chloroplast... No go... It's not rigid enough to properly protect the paintings. so Pretend in all these photos that the white board is actually Masonite!
This is the result of using Masonite.. .don't worry. I had put a bad painting there to test, it didn't ruin anything wonderful haha.

So anyways, heres the final bundle. (except the top would be Masonite). Everything is safe, now you just need either cord, or belts to strap it together. I used a belt, and cinched it around the 2 edges. Just make sure you wrap the belts or straps across where the bumpers are. If you don't you are creating pressure where there is no support. you will cause bowing and put pressure on your wet paint!
It's that easy! Granted this is a rather rudamentary thing, but for hardcore plein-air painters you could probably invest in a box or some kind, and get some grooves cut to slide your boards in, but for people with limited budgets and time, this would be perfect. I use it and its grande.

Hope this was useful!

If you want to make panel carrying boxes, I found a couple tutorials on that as well:

Wooden box

Foamcore box.