Where to buy art stuff (London) ?

Question

I just started doing GCSE art and we need to buy a load of stuff. I'm down to the last seven (group of) things. I live in central London, so if anyone can tell me a place with decent quality stuff for a good price (i'm not rich...), or somewhere i can buy this stuff on the internet...thanks. =]

stuff in question:

-Acryllic paints, basic colours and flesh colour

-Watercolour paints (like in a tin or something would be good)

-Chalk pastels (are these the same as soft pastels?)

-Ink pens (with selection of nibs)

-Black and coloured ink

-Fixative spray

Answer 1

Yes, I'd go a bit easy on buying all this stuff as well, and maybe wait till you start back at school to see what the school actually has, and the sort of stuff you need to buy and when, and they can give you tips about the right sort for the course.  I'd imagine you'd be starting off with some basic drawing anyway and I assume you have pencils, charcoal, putty rubber etc. for that.  Also that the acrylics would be for your final exam pieces, the school should have poster colours you can start out with.  I also think that the same would apply to the water colours and the inks, it's also vague whether they mean drawing pens or calligraphy pens and drawing ink is really pricey so I'd wait on that one as well.  Chalk pastels range from soft to quite hard so again maybe wait and see what the school has and what sort you like.  You can use hairspray by the way as fixative, we were advised to do this when I did my A Level art a few years ago at a local college.  The other tip was to use greaseproof kitchen paper if we needed tracing paper!

Enjoy.

Answer 2

you can buy the majority of that stuff anywhere. whsmiths comes to mind. homebase. you haven't been looking very hard, darling.

Anyway, don't go too crazy buying all this stuff. The school has their own supply believe it or not, for the students. They're just being cheap. You can't even buy fixative sprays if you're under 16/18 because it's a solvent and considered a dangerous substance.

Answer 3

Cass Arts have several branches in central London. They tend to have everything and they're very reasonable. Check the link below for locations:

http://www.cass-arts.co.uk/shops_01.htm

Fixative tip: use hairspray. Much cheaper, works perfectly.

Answer 4

I'm an art student about to start GCSE art and I live in london! I'm an art scholar so I know lots of good places. There's a place that's perfect in east london but its not far away - it has a car park) Its called Atlantis.  Go ogle it but I think this is there website:

http://www.atlantisart.co.uk/

Happy shopping.

Celeste x