Random Art Medium Generator

Ways to use this list

• Medium of the month: spin once a month and make three small pieces in it. By the end of the year you know which materials feel like yours.
• Same subject, new medium: draw your mug in pencil, then spin and redo it in the new medium. Comparing the two shows what each material does best.
• Art class carousel: tap For kids, spin five media and set up a table for each, then groups move round the tables every ten minutes.
• Sketchbook challenge for art students: set Winners to 2 and combine both media in one piece, such as ink with watercolour or collage with oil pastel.
• Portfolio experiments: spin when a project needs a fresh direction, then note in your sketchbook how the medium behaved and what you would change.

Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.

The full list (44 entries)

• Graphite pencil – from hard, pale H grades to soft, dark B grades
• Charcoal – deep, smudgy blacks for bold drawings
• Coloured pencils – layered colour with lots of control
• Watercolour pencils – draw dry, then brush with water to blend
• Soft pastels – chalky, bright colour you blend with a finger
• Oil pastels – waxy, rich colour that layers and scratches back
• Wax crayons – bold colour, great for rubbings and wax resist
• Chalk – soft colour for boards, dark paper and pavements
• Watercolour – see-through washes built up from light to dark
• Gouache – opaque watercolour that dries flat and matte
• Acrylic paint – quick-drying, bright and sticks to almost anything
• Oil paint – slow-drying, rich colour that is easy to blend
• Poster paint – thick, bright school paint, often called tempera in the US
• Egg tempera – pigment mixed with egg yolk, the main paint before oils took over
• Ink – brush or dip pen, from crisp black lines to soft grey washes
• Fineliner pens – even, precise lines for detail
• Brush pens – lines that swell and thin with pressure
• Markers – bold, flat colour that layers for depth
• Spray paint – fast, even colour for stencils and murals
• Encaustic – painting with hot, melted wax
• Fresco – painting onto wet plaster, as in many Renaissance wall paintings
• Linocut – carve a lino block, roll on ink and print
• Monoprint – a one-off print pulled from an inked surface
• Collage – cut and glued paper, photos and found images
• Paper cutting – detailed designs cut from a single sheet
• Stamp printing – prints made with sponges, potatoes or carved erasers
• Cyanotype – sun prints in deep Prussian blue
• Air-dry clay – model it and leave it to harden, no kiln needed
• Polymer clay – bright clay that hardens in a home oven
• Ceramic clay – thrown on a wheel or built by hand, then fired in a kiln
• Papier-mâché – paper and paste layered over a shape
• Wire – bend lines into three-dimensional drawings
• Cardboard – cheap and strong for big sculptures
• Wood carving – shaping wood with knives, gouges or chisels
• Soap carving – a soft first carving material for beginners
• Found objects – art made from things you collect
• Embroidery – drawing with a needle and thread
• Felt – wool pressed or needle-felted into shapes
• Mosaic – pictures made from small tiles, glass or paper squares
• Digital painting – a tablet and stylus, with layers and undo
• Photography – light captured with a camera
• 3D modelling – sculpting shapes on a computer
• Stop-motion – objects or clay moved and photographed frame by frame
• Mixed media – two or more media combined in one piece

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