The 2026 Foundation Kit: An Art Studio Starter Pack

• Posted on 29 July 2026
• 0

Starting art school is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. One day you're buying supplies, and the next you're wondering why your professor insists you own a pair of pliers, a tape measure, or a clamp light.

Fortunately, if you're a Foundation student, there's no need to stress about buying a mountain of supplies before you arrive. Your 2026 Foundation Kit is included as part of your studio fees and will be distributed during Orientation. Every item has been carefully selected by Foundation faculty to support your first year of studio courses, ensuring that every student begins the semester with the same high-quality tools and materials.

The Foundation Kit is designed to eliminate the guesswork. Instead of trying to hunt down dozens of individual supplies, you'll receive a carefully curated collection of professional-quality materials that you'll use throughout your Foundation year. Many of them will remain useful throughout the rest of your time at KCAI and well into your professional practice.

Some items may seem obvious. Others might make you ask, "Why would an artist need this?" By the end of the year, you'll probably wonder how you ever worked without them.

Let's take a look at every item and why it's part of your kit.

Part 1: Fill Your Tool Bag Friday (Orientation Event)

5-Pocket Polyester & Vinyl Tool Bag

Every artist accumulates tools quickly. This customized, durable bag features zippered main compartments, a zippered front pocket, five side pockets, and an adjustable/detachable shoulder strap. The 16 in. wide mouth with steel reinforcement stays open for loading, keeping knives, pencils, brushes, rulers, tape, and other essentials organized while protecting them during trips between studios, classrooms, and home.

You'll use it for:

Hauling tools and materials

Keeping tools organized

Preventing damage to supplies

Slant Palette

Designed for mixing paint efficiently, the slant palette is an essential tool for maintaining a clean and organized workspace. Its layout allows artists to transition smoothly between different pigments without the risk of muddying their colors.

The angled wells are specifically engineered to help keep individual colors separated, preventing unwanted bleeding between wet media. This design also provides a generous flat surface at the base of the slant for precise blending, allowing you to dial in exact values and hues with confidence.

Ideal for:

Gouache

Ink

Water-based media

Acrylic

Holbein Designers' Gouache Mixing Set

Holbein Designers' Gouache is a professional-quality paint known for its rich pigmentation, vibrant color, and smooth, matte finish. Unlike watercolor, gouache is naturally opaque, allowing lighter colors to cover darker ones and making it ideal for bold shapes, crisp edges, and flat areas of color. It has long been a favorite of illustrators, designers, and fine artists.

Students use it for:

Color theory

Illustration

Design projects

Painting studies

Layered color work

Value and color-mixing practice

One of gouache's defining characteristics is that it reactivates with water, even after it has dried. This allows you to remix paint on your palette, soften edges, and make adjustments throughout the painting process. Unlike acrylic paint, which dries permanently, gouache encourages experimentation while teaching careful color mixing, value relationships, and brush control—skills that transfer to nearly every painting medium.

Heavy Body Acrylic Paint Set

Heavy body acrylics are among the most versatile paints an artist can own. Their thick, buttery consistency holds brushstrokes and palette knife marks, making them ideal for everything from smooth, opaque paintings to richly textured surfaces. As the paint dries, it forms a permanent, water-resistant finish that won't reactivate.

Use them for:

Painting

Mixed media

Collage

Surface experimentation

Texture

Monoprinting and relief printing

Painting on canvas, paper, wood, and other prepared surfaces

Because acrylics dry quickly, they encourage decisive mark-making and allow you to build layers rapidly without waiting long between coats. They can be used straight from the tube for bold texture or thinned with water or acrylic medium for transparent washes. Their versatility makes them one of the most widely used painting materials in contemporary art and an excellent medium for experimentation throughout your Foundation year.

Princeton Snap! Short Handle Brush Set

The Princeton Snap! Short Handle Brush Set is a budget-friendly, three-piece synthetic brush set that includes a Size 4 Round, Size 6 Round, and 3/4-inch Stroke brush. Designed for both watercolor and acrylic painting, these durable brushes provide an excellent introduction to the most common brush shapes you'll encounter in the studio.

Each brush serves a different purpose:

Size 4 Round: Fine details, controlled lines, and small shapes 

Size 6 Round: General painting, blending, and expressive brushwork 

3/4-inch Stroke Brush: Broad washes, flat areas of color and crisp edges

Synthetic brushes are durable, easy to clean, and perform well with both acrylic and watercolor, making them ideal for beginning painters. As you gain experience, you'll begin to recognize that every brush leaves a distinctive mark. Learning when to choose a round brush instead of a flat—or a broad stroke instead of a fine line—is part of developing your artistic vocabulary and discovering how tools can shape the character of a painting.

1.5" Factory Brush

This inexpensive utility brush is built for the messy jobs that would quickly wear out your finer brushes—and that's exactly what makes it so valuable. Rather than worrying about damaging an expensive brush, you can use this one confidently for applying adhesives, primers, and other materials that are difficult to clean.

Use it with:

Acrylic paint

Gesso

Glue

Matte medium

Varnish

Cleaning dust from artwork before photographing or framing

The wide, flat bristles make it ideal for covering large surfaces quickly and evenly, whether you're priming a canvas, sealing a project, or applying broad areas of paint. Every studio benefits from having a "workhorse" brush, and sometimes the best brush is the one you aren't afraid to ruin.

Black Permanent Marker

A permanent marker belongs in every artist's toolkit, especially in a collaborative environment. Because the studio is a shared space where many students use identical kits, labeling your supplies is the most effective way to prevent loss, confusion, and accidental mix-ups with others' materials.

Use it for:

Labeling supplies

Writing names on projects

Sketching

Signage

Temporary layouts

Simple—but indispensable.

Kimberly Graphite Drawing Kit

The General's Kimberly Graphite Drawing Kit introduces students to the full range of graphite hardnesses used by artists, from 4H (hard and light) to 8B (soft and dark). Rather than relying on a single pencil, you'll learn how different grades affect line quality, value, texture, and shading.

The kit includes:

10 General's Kimberly Graphite Pencils (4H, 2H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 6B, & 8B)

General's Pencil Sharpener

Factis Vinyl Eraser

Harder pencils (H grades) create light, crisp lines that are excellent for construction drawings and fine detail. Softer pencils (B grades) produce darker, richer marks for shading, expressive drawing, and deep values. The middle grades, such as HB and F, are versatile enough for everyday sketching.

Understanding graphite grades is fundamental to drawing. Learning when to choose a hard pencil instead of a soft one—and how to combine them within a single drawing—will help you create a broader range of values, textures, and visual depth.

General's Charcoal Kit

The General’s “Original” Charcoal Kit provides a professional, handcrafted selection of oil-free and blendable tools for sketching, still life, and portraits.

The kit includes various hardnesses of black charcoal pencils and sticks for rich, intense mark-making, alongside Charcoal White® for creating highlights and adjusting values on dark or colored papers.

The kit includes:

6 Charcoal Pencils (557 & 558 White)

4 Compressed Charcoal Sticks (957, 958 White & 960 Wide)

1 Carbon Sketch™ Pencil (595)

1 Kneaded Eraser & All-Art® Sharpener

Compressed Charcoal

You know what this kit needs? Everyone agreed: more charcoal.

Your Foundation Kit includes a 3-stick variety pack of Pacific Arc Compressed Charcoal, with one Soft, one Medium, and one Hard stick. This allows you to explore how different charcoal hardnesses affect line quality, value, and texture.

Compressed charcoal produces rich, dark blacks and dramatic contrast, making it ideal for:

Expressive drawing

Value studies

Figure drawing

Large-scale work

Building deep shadows and strong contrast

Each stick has a different purpose: Soft is excellent for blending and bold values, Medium offers a balance of control and darkness, and Hard is ideal for finer lines and details.

Unlike vine charcoal, compressed charcoal is more difficult to erase completely, making it better suited for refining and strengthening a drawing once the initial composition has been established.

Vine Charcoal

This 4-piece set of soft vine charcoal is one of the most forgiving and expressive drawing materials you'll use. Made from carefully selected, controlled-burned vines, these lightweight charcoal sticks produce smooth, velvety marks that glide across the paper with minimal grit.

Unlike compressed charcoal, vine charcoal erases easily, making it ideal for experimenting, revising, and developing a drawing before committing to darker values.

Perfect for:

Gesture drawing

Initial layouts

Composition planning

Figure drawing

Still life

Large-scale drawings

Extra-Large Kneaded Eraser

Unlike standard erasers, a kneaded eraser lifts drawing material from the paper instead of rubbing it away. Because it relies on lifting rather than friction, it's gentler on the paper and leaves little to no eraser debris, making it ideal for charcoal and graphite drawing.

Excellent for:

Charcoal

Graphite

Soft pastels

Creating highlights

Subtle corrections

Lightening values without fully erasing them

The eraser can be stretched, folded, and reshaped with your hands into a broad pad or a fine point for precise work. Instead of completely removing a mark, it gradually lifts pigment, making it perfect for refining edges, softening transitions, and pulling highlights from shaded areas.

White Plastic Eraser

This soft vinyl eraser removes graphite cleanly with minimal smudging and is gentle on most drawing papers. It is less likely to tear or discolor the surface than traditional rubber erasers, making it ideal for both sketches and finished drawings.

Use it for:

Erasing graphite cleanly

Refining line drawings

Correcting technical drawings

Cleaning construction lines

Creating crisp highlights

Preparing drawings for scanning or photography

The eraser sheds small curls during use; gently brush these away to avoid smearing. Use this for precise, complete erasing, and pair it with a kneaded eraser for lifting pigment without disturbing the paper's surface.

Masking Tape

Masking tape is one of the most versatile tools in any artist's studio, but not all tapes perform the same. Instead of standard masking tape or traditional (expensive!) acid-free artist tape, the Foundation Kit includes 3M Scotch 2080 Delicate Surface Masking Tape because it offers clean removal, reliable adhesion, and excellent surface protection.

Use it to:

Hold paper while drawing or painting

Create crisp painted edges

Mask off areas during painting

Label artwork and supplies

Build temporary mock-ups

Protect work surfaces

Its low-to-medium adhesion holds securely but removes cleanly for up to 60 days without leaving residue or damaging most smooth surfaces. It also creates razor-sharp paint lines, making it ideal for color studies, graphic work, and mixed-media projects. Once you start using it, you'll quickly understand why it's a studio favorite.

Glue Stick

The UHU Blue Glue Stick is a clean, acid-free adhesive that's perfect for paper-based projects. Unlike liquid glues, it applies smoothly without soaking through most papers, making it an excellent choice for design work, collage, and book arts where neatness matters.

Use it for:

Paper

Layouts

Bookmaking

Mock-ups

Design projects

Collage

Mounting lightweight materials

The blue adhesive lets you see exactly where you've applied glue, helping ensure even coverage without missed spots or excess adhesive. As it dries, it becomes completely clear, leaving your finished work clean and professional. Because it's repositionable for a short time after application, it also gives you a chance to make small adjustments before the glue sets.

High-Temperature Glue Gun

A hot glue gun is one of the fastest and most versatile construction tools in the studio. This is a regular (full-size) high-temperature glue gun, providing stronger bonds and a larger glue capacity than mini glue guns.

Use it for:

Building prototypes

Sculpture

Installation

Mixed media

Model making

Quick repairs

The high operating temperature creates strong bonds on materials like paper, cardboard, wood, fabric, foam, and many plastics, allowing you to assemble and revise projects in seconds. Just remember—the glue and nozzle get very hot. If you'd like extra protection while working, The Underground carries reusable silicone hot glue finger guards to help prevent burns.

Hot Glue Sticks

These 10-inch all-temperature glue sticks are the consumables used with your full-size glue gun. Their longer length means fewer interruptions to reload, allowing you to work more efficiently on larger projects.

Perfect for:

Models

Temporary construction

Sculptures

Installation work

Rapid prototyping

Mixed-media projects

These versatile glue sticks bond well to paper, cardboard, wood, fabric, foam, and many plastics. Used with the included high-temperature glue gun, they create strong, fast-setting bonds that let you build, test, and revise ideas quickly. While a 20-pack may sound like a lot, many students find it lasts only through their first major three-dimensional project—so don't be surprised if you're back at The Underground for a refill before long.

18" Stainless Steel Ruler

Unlike plastic rulers, this stainless steel ruler won't be damaged by utility or craft knife blades, making it an essential tool for both measuring and cutting. Its non-slip backing helps keep it securely in place while you work and slightly elevates the edge, reducing the chance of ink smearing when drawing with technical pens.

Use it for:

Accurate measuring

Straight cuts

Layout and drafting

Scoring paper

Bookmaking

Tearing paper to create deckled edges

Drawing clean, straight ink lines

Stanley Folding Utility Knife

One of the hardest-working tools in the studio.

Ideal for cutting:

Chipboard

Mat board

Foam board

Paper

Plastic

Cardboard

If you’re nervous about closing the knife for the first time, don’t worry—it’s a common feeling for new students. 

To safely close the knife, simply depress the silver release lock on the back of the handle and fold the blade back into the body until it clicks into place. When you press the release, it will not snap closed over your fingers. The folding design protects you and the blade during transport.

When it’s time to change the blade, press the red release button near the blade housing, pull the old blade out, and slide a new one in until it locks. Change your blades often; a sharp blade is much safer than a dull one because it requires less pressure and is less likely to slip.

Replacement Utility Blades

Change the blade of your utility knife often; a sharp blade is much safer than a dull one because it requires less pressure and is less likely to slip.

Slice Safety Craft Knife

The Slice Safety Craft Knife is designed for precision work using a durable ceramic blade that stays sharp much longer than a traditional steel blade and is less likely to cause serious cuts if it accidentally contacts your skin. Its slim profile gives you excellent control, making it ideal for detailed work where a utility knife would be too large or aggressive.

Use it for:

Precision cutting

Stencils

Fine paper work

Book arts

Delicate trimming

Removing masking film

Cutting mat board and illustration board

Opening packaging without damaging contents

The included safety cap protects both the blade and your other supplies, making it easy to carry safely in your tool bag. While the ceramic blade lasts a long time, always cut on your self-healing mat for the safest and cleanest results.

Bent Handle Scissors

These are Scotch Precision Scissors, featuring high-quality stainless steel blades for a sharp edge and long life. They have a soft comfort grip handle for left or right-handed use. The bent handle provides better control while cutting on flat surfaces.

They are ideal for: 

Paper

Fabric

Collage

Packaging

Trimming materials

Photos

Heavyweight paper

If your pair ever start feeling dull, bring them by The Underground Art Store $4 sharpening.

Long Nose Pliers

Artists build things.

These pliers make it easier to:

Bend and clip wire

Hold small objects

Pull staples

Remove nails

Tighten hardware

Manipulate armatures

Many sculpture, installation, and fabrication projects require them.

Tape Measure

Artists measure far more often than people realize.

You'll use it to:

Build projects

Hang artwork

Measure gallery walls

Size materials

Transfer dimensions accurately

Learning to measure correctly is just as important as learning to draw carefully.

Understanding fractions is essential for accurate measurement. A fraction represents a part of a whole, consisting of a numerator (top number) showing how many parts you have and a denominator (bottom number) showing how many equal parts make up the whole. In the studio, you will most often work with halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths of an inch.

Decimal to Fraction Cheat Sheet:

32GB SD Card

Documenting your work is just as important as creating it. Throughout your time at KCAI, you'll photograph finished projects, works in progress, installations, and exhibitions. Good documentation is essential for critiques, portfolio reviews, scholarship and residency applications, exhibition submissions, internships, and building a professional website or social media presence.

Use the SD card in compatible digital cameras to:

Photograph finished artwork

Document works in progress

Record installations and exhibitions

Capture reference photos

Create videos and time-lapse recordings

Archive your work throughout the semester

While your phone is convenient, many assignments benefit from the image quality and manual controls of a dedicated camera. If you don't own one, KCAI's Media Center has cameras available for students to borrow. The included SD card provides reliable storage and helps you build the habit of maintaining an organized digital archive from the very beginning of your artistic practice.

Hardbound Sketchbook

The Simply Sketch Hardbound Sketchbook features 110 sheets of 65lb, 8.5" x 11" acid-free paper. Perhaps the most important item in the entire kit, its durable hardbound cover ensures it remains a permanent record of your growth as an artist. A sketchbook is more than a notebook—it becomes a record of your observations, experiments, ideas, failures, and discoveries.

Use it for:

Drawing

Writing

Research

Visual journaling

Critique notes

Planning projects

Be sure to break in your sketchbook properly before use.

To break in your sketchbook, start from the center and gently bend the covers and pages back 360 degrees. Repeat this process through each signature and page spread. This reveals more paper in the gutter, making it significantly easier to work across two-page spreads.

Part 2: The Cumbersome Stuff We’ll Deliver to Your New Studio

Newsprint Pad

The Canson XL Newsprint Paper Pad is an essential 18" x 24" studio staple containing 50 sheets of lightweight paper. Newsprint is inexpensive by design, which is a good thing for any artist starting their journey.

It encourages experimentation without the worry of wasting expensive paper, allowing you to focus entirely on the process of making marks. The large surface area provides ample room for broad, expressive movements during gesture drawing and is ideal for quick warm-up sketches before diving into more detailed projects.

Perfect for:

Gesture drawing

Warm-up sketches

Thumbnail compositions

Practicing techniques

Brainstorming ideas

Canson XL Mixed Media Pad

The Canson XL Mixed Media 30 sheet pad is a super versatile paper. Its heavy-weight construction and fine-texture surface make it an excellent choice for experiments across a wide range of wet and dry techniques. It’s 18" x 24" size may feel intimidating initially, but it’s actually the perfect size.

Suitable for:

Pencil

Charcoal

Ink

Gouache

Acrylic washes

Marker

Collage

Self-Healing Artist Cutting Mats

A cutting mat protects both your blades and your table. The Pacific Arc professional-grade mat features a multi-layer, self-healing surface that is 3mm thick, providing a durable and reliable base for all your studio projects.

The surface automatically closes after cuts, extending the life of your blades and maintaining a smooth work area. It also includes a printed grid with inch markings and angle guides to help with accurate layouts and square cuts. The 18”x24” size is the perfect choice for your new workspace.

Perfect for:

• Utility knife work
• Craft knife cutting
• Trimming paper
• Bookmaking
• Model construction

Clamp Light

One of the most surprisingly useful tools in the kit.

The clamp allows you to attach the light almost anywhere—a table, easel, shelf, or sawhorse.

You'll use it for:

• Drawing from observation
• Creating dramatic shadows
• Photographing finished work
• Lighting workspaces with poor overhead lighting

Learning to control light is part of learning to see.

PAR38 LED Lamp

Good lighting changes everything.

This high-output LED lamp fits into the clamp light included in the kit and provides bright, neutral illumination that's excellent for both making and evaluating artwork.

Uses include:

• Lighting still-life arrangements
• Illuminating sculptures
• Photographing artwork
• General studio lighting

Unlike household bulbs, its color temperature produces more natural-looking colors.

Part 3: Available to You in Central Shop (because you’ll leave them there anyway)

N95 Respirator Mask

Making art should never come at the expense of your health. The included 3M N95 Respirator is a NIOSH-approved mask that filters at least 95% of non-oil airborne particles, helping protect you from many common studio dusts.

Wear an N95 whenever working around:

• Charcoal dust
• Sanding dust
• Fiberglass
• Certain dry pigments
• Other fine particulates

The adjustable nose clip helps create a secure fit while reducing the fogging of glasses. An N95 is an essential part of a safe studio practice whenever dust is present.

Important: An N95 filters particles—not chemical vapors. It is not appropriate for solvents, spray paint fumes, or other hazardous gases. Those applications require a properly fitted respirator with the correct cartridges. Working on something that requires a bit more protection? Visit The Underground.

Safety Glasses

Professional artists protect their eyes. These lightweight safety glasses feature clear, impact-resistant polycarbonate lenses and integrated side shields that help protect against flying debris while maintaining a wide field of vision. Their universal fit makes them comfortable enough for extended studio use.

Wear safety glasses whenever using:

• Utility knives
• Power tools
• Wire
• Hot glue
• Sanding equipment
• Any process that creates flying debris or dust

These glasses are designed to protect against impact hazards, not chemical splashes. When working with acids, solvents, or other hazardous liquids, wear sealed chemical splash goggles instead, as they protect your eyes from liquid entering around the sides or underneath the lenses. Safety begins with choosing the right eye protection for the task. Stop by The Underground if you need the upgrade or an extra pair to stash somewhere else.

More Than Just Supplies

Some of these materials will disappear quickly and need to be replaced—newsprint, tape, charcoal, glue sticks. Others, like your ruler, tape measure, pliers, tool bag, and sketchbook, may stay with you for a lifetime.

We hope mastering these everyday tools gives you the confidence to experiment, adapt, and focus on what matters most: developing your creative voice.