Hello Donna, We don't recommend substituting other media for this course. To maximize your success in taking this course and for optimal results in your artwork, we strongly recommend investing in the Golden Fluid Acrylics, in the colors listed. Once you've mastered Jane's techniques in fluid acrylics for this course, you could find ways to adapt them to the range of capabilities of your preferred medium, if not acrylics. 1. Highly recommended paint Golden Artist Colors Fluid Acrylics You will need thirteen 0.5 oz–1 oz (15–30 ml) colors at the fluid acrylic consistency (instead of high flow, heavy body, or open consistency). Your instructor, Jane, chose these colors to help you depict the birds you’ll paint in this course, as well as any birds you’d like to paint in the future, using the techniques taught in the course. Keep in mind that your results may be significantly different if you use other paints, even other acrylic paints, because of the variation in color and consistency among paint brands. COLORS USED IN THIS COURSE: Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium Pyrrole Red Quinacridone Magenta Ultramarine Blue Phthalo Blue (Green Shade) Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) Yellow Oxide Burnt Sienna Carbon Black Titanium White Titan Buff Van Dyke Brown Hue Pyrrole Orange 2. Recommended brushes, paper, and palette Water Brushes Jane’s preferred water brushes, Pentel Aquash, are available in a set of four, which includes one flat brush and three round brushes in small, medium, and large. If you want to use another brand of water brush, you should have at least two brushes: a small round brush and a larger flat, or round, brush. Painting Paper A thick, high-quality painting paper, like Legion Stonehenge Hot Press, is best. You can use thinner, less expensive paper, but we’ve found you’ll have the most success with a hot-press (smooth) paper that’s at least 140 lb. weight and approximately 9×12 inches (about the size of A4 paper). Palette and Accessories You’ll need a palette like Masterson Art’s Sta-Wet Handy Palette, which comes with a sponge and a several sheets of disposable palette paper. Your acrylic paints will dry too quickly, even in one painting session, if you don’t have a wet palette. You can buy additional palette paper separately if you need more. 3. Additional supplies Sketchpad paper 8×10 or 9×12 inches; Bachmore and Strathmore both make good sketch paper Tracing paper; Bachmore’s Artist Tracing Paper is the one we found easiest to see through Artist tape Number 2 pencil traditional or mechanical pencil with a 0.5–0.7mm lead Kneaded eraser Eraser stick, such as Factis(R) BM2, or another soft eraser Graphite transfer paper, such as Craftsmart Graphite Paper Ball-point or gel pen in any color except black (we liked red); having a second color can also be handy Rags (cotton works best) and/or paper towels Spray bottle Although you can certainly take the course without these items, they can be quite useful: A hair dryer that can operate on a cold setting to dry paint more quickly A printer and/or photocopier; color versions of reference photos are particularly useful