Art Witch Starter Kit
A while back on Bluesky, I answered a question about witchy starter kits with some ideas for an art witch starter kit. It was completely off the top of my head and not thought out, so I wanted to go back and elaborate.
It makes a difference whether the recipient is a new artist, a new witch, or both.
For new witches, I recommend reading lots of myths and folklore. Pick the ones that call to you; if you’re not sure which ones those are, get a variety from your local library. You can put down the ones that don’t speak to you and get more of the ones that do.
I also recommend Courting the Wild Twin by Martin Shaw, and maybe that should be the first thing to read, because it (somewhat) explains why the stories matter and that will hopefully give you an idea of what to look for in everything else you’re reading.
An actual teacher is great but not always an option. I don’t have suggestions for books that teach how to do witchcraft, unfortunately - I haven’t found “the” beginner book I’d recommend.
I don’t use a lot of witchy tools on a regular basis; I like my drum (but would like it more if I had someone in the house to play it for me) and I like my cauldron. The drum is useful for journey work; I use the cauldron to burn herbs for various intentions or paper on which I’ve written things I want to release. I’ve bought a lot of other tools over the years but almost never use them or feel a need to use them. I felt like if I had them, I’d use them, but didn’t think about the fact that I was doing everything without tools already.
For new artists, it’s going to depend on the medium. Crafts, sigils, and mixed media abstracts are some of the possibilities I’ve found relatively easy to start with.
I mentioned yarn in my initial answer and I stand by it; you can do knot magic, glue it down in shapes to make a sigil, knit or crochet magic into a garment, punch holes in pages and “bind” them with just loops of yarn…it’s versatile. Perhaps look for a kit with small skeins in several colors, like for a scarf, so that you have whatever color you need without having to buy tons of yarn.
For the crafty route, I like Art Magic and Rainbow Magick by Molly Roberts, who also has a YouTube channel with occasional lessons and pieces of advice. There are a bunch of projects in both books and the latter also teaches the basics of color magic. (Although I would add to go with your own feelings about what each color means, even if it contradicts other sources. I have a post on color symbolism in the works, I promise.)
I basically use Laura Tempest Zakroff’s method for creating sigils; it’s outlined in Sigil Witchery, expanded upon in Visual Alchemy, and she has the Sigil Witchery Oracle to provide a kit with cards that you can use as symbol prompts. Start with Sigil Witchery and get the oracle if you’re having difficulty matching symbols to meanings.
I like to use different colors in my finished sigils. Pigma Micron pens are one inexpensive, archival option with a lot of colors. Acrylic markers are even better because they come in a variety of widths that suit different sizes of sigils. Some of the brands I like are Posca, Molotow, Montana, DecoColor, and Pebeo. You can also get empty acrylic markers from Montana or Daler-Rowney and fill them with acrylic ink, and acrylic inks are mixable to create unique colors. Don’t get the cheap acrylic markers, though; they’re more likely to leak while you’re working and ruin the piece.
If you’re going the mixed media route, I recommend starting with the Spread Your Artistic Wings through Intuitive Art class at abyssimoartschool.com . After you do the exercises that are just doodling aimlessly on paper to find the shapes and marks that your intuition likes, try doing them again with your subtle intuition guiding you. See if whatever forces or spirits you open yourself up to have their own opinions about what you should be drawing in the moment. Abyssimo’s Ancient Gold class is also good if you’re interested in sculpture.
Willowing.org also has some good classes; I took the Life Book classes for several years before they ended. The facilitator, Tam, has made her lessons from past years of Life Book available to purchase. Note that these are heavy on portraits. I’m currently working through the Expressive Soul Portraits class because I want to get better at portraits and it includes some lessons on intuitive mark making that were a lovely bonus.
I’m going to echo a Tam suggestion for art supplies and say that you only need to buy a few of whatever it is you want to try out. Pick three or four colors that you like and that you think look good together - for me, it’s usually pink, blue, and purple, possibly with a light green - either pastel shades of all four or magenta, bright blues and purples, and apple green. I might only buy two colors in some media because magenta and blue mix to make some very nice purples.
If I have these colors in a few different media, perhaps with an additional color in one of the media to create some variety, I can make an abstract with just that and some good paper, then decide which of the media I want to invest in. You can start with just pens or just acrylics, too, and let the marks speak for themselves. I like to buy higher quality materials in limited palettes and artist quality paper (Canson, Blick, or Stonehenge, most often).
My other suggestion is to look for information online, if you can avoid the AI crap. I’ve occasionally had questions about what media can be used over the top of others (watercolor over acrylics is not going to stay unless you use watercolor grounds on the acrylic surface) or how to preserve an artwork in a given medium. The internet has generally provided good answers.