Ellen’s Tools and Tips

Which are the best things to buy?

For 40 years I’ve been sketching, painting, modeling, building, reading, and learning pretty much non-stop. I’ve found some really great tools and books, and a lot of not-so-great ones that you don’t want to waste your money on. You can see me using some of the great ones in my Learning with Art video courses, and you may want to know what that great pen or colored pencil is.

I’ve put all the best things together here as links to Amazon listings (check back later, as it will take time to find and post them all). It’s convenient for you and provides a small commission to me if you buy something after clicking the link here (which will open Amazon). Thank you—and you’re welcome! Happy sketching, painting, modeling, building, reading, and learning!

IMPORTANT: if you are running an Ad Blocker, these links may be invisible or disabled. You must pause or stop your ad blocker, then reload the page.

Here’s the microscope kids use in my local classes:

Berol Prismacolor pencils are good for all-purpose coloring.

Digital scale, excellent price for middle or high school science:

Laser Infrared Thermometer Gun (great for various science experiments. Kids love them.)

My all-time favorite books about microlife:

Superior hand magnifier (30x, compared to most others at 5-10x) and an unbeatable p.rice. Slow shipping, though.

I like to purchases things throughout the year for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes so I don’t have to buy everything at once.  I do buy things I find on sale at local stores, but I also like to purchase nice quality educational or useful items I find on Amazon as I shop for my classes during the year.  I thought I’d leave these links up just in case you like to buy ahead, also.

(note: if you can’t see the Amazon links, try pausing your ad blocker. Technically, they’re ads.)