The Vegan Art Studio Checklist

A vegan art studio comes down to a short list of swap points: the black on your palette, a few historic pigments, your brushes, the primer and sizing on your surfaces, your paper, and the finish you apply at the end. Almost everything else in a typical painting practice is already plant-based or synthetic. This checklist works through each category, item by item, drawing on the makers' own published information. It is written for artists, and it doubles as a fast way to answer collectors: buyers at VanArtHub ask about materials, we put those questions to the artist before the sale, and an artist with a ready answer earns trust immediately.

Key takeaways

• Most animal ingredients enter a studio at five points: black pigment, primer and sizing, paper, varnish or ink, and brushes.
• Carbon black (PBk7) and Mars black (PBk11) are the non-animal replacements for bone black (PBk9), which Golden states is made from carbonized cattle bones.
• Modern acrylic gesso and acrylic sizing are synthetic; traditional gesso and canvas sizing use rabbit-skin glue, per Golden.
• Many fine watercolour papers are gelatin-sized; Arches states its watercolour paper is gelatin-sized to the core.
• Formulations change, so confirm items with each maker, and trust the pigment code on the tube over the colour's name.

Paint

• Acrylics: the binder is a synthetic polymer, so the binder itself is animal-free. Check individual colours for animal pigments, mainly PBk9 blacks and the mixed colours that contain them.
• Watercolour: the usual binder, gum arabic, is sap from acacia trees, plant-based. The item to watch is ox gall, a wetting agent made from cattle bile that appears in many traditional watercolours. Golden's QoR line uses a synthetic ox gall substitute the maker describes as vegan.
• Oils: linseed oil, the binder, is pressed from flax seed, plant-based. Additives vary by maker: Williamsburg oil colours contain small amounts of beeswax as a stabilizer, by the maker's own account.
• Skip if you are strict: egg tempera, which binds with egg yolk, and casein paint, which binds with milk protein.
• Brand statements to reconfirm yourself: Faber-Castell states its products are vegan except its beeswax crayons. Vegan-art trackers publishing Winsor and Newton's customer-service replies report that Cotman watercolours are vegan except Viridian Hue, Raw Umber, and Ivory Black. Derwent's information, as reported by retailers, lists Coloursoft, Inktense, Metallic, and Lightfast pencils as vegan-friendly. Treat all of these as the makers' own accounts and confirm before buying, because formulations change.

Pigments to check by code

• PBk9 (bone black, ivory black): made from charred animal bones. Golden states its bone black pigment comes from carbonized cattle bones and lists it inside Bone Black, Jenkins Green, several Neutral Grays, Prussian Blue Hue, and Terre Verte Hue, so mixed colours can hide it.
• Carmine: a red dye extracted from the dried bodies of cochineal insects.
• Sepia: historically made from cuttlefish ink; read the code on a modern tube rather than assuming either way.
• Indian yellow: historical accounts say it was made from the urine of cows fed mango leaves, though historians debate the details. Treat the history as debated and check what a modern tube actually contains.
• The working rule: the pigment code identifies the ingredient; the colour name does not.

Brushes

• Animal hair: sable, kolinsky (hair of the Siberian weasel), squirrel, and hog bristle.
• Animal-free: synthetic fibres, nylon and polyester, often sold as taklon. Synthetics have improved greatly for both watercolour and oils.
• Budget note: replace animal-hair brushes as they wear out rather than all at once, so the swap spreads its cost over months.

Surfaces: canvas and paper

• Canvas cloth: cotton and linen are plant fibres.
• Pre-primed canvas: ask whether the primer is acrylic or glue-based before buying.
• Paper: many fine watercolour papers are sized with gelatin, an animal product; Arches states its watercolour paper is gelatin-sized to the core. Ask the mill what sizing a paper uses before building your practice on it.

Sizing and gesso

• Avoid, if strict: traditional gesso and traditional canvas sizing, which use rabbit-skin glue; Golden describes the glue as refined rabbit collagen.
• Use instead: modern acrylic gesso, which is synthetic, and acrylic sizing; Golden's GAC 400, for example, works as a fabric stiffener by the maker's account.

Varnish, ink, charcoal, and accessories

• Varnish and finishes: shellac is a resin secreted by the lac insect; choose acrylic or other synthetic varnishes and check labels for shellac.
• Ink: shellac also appears as the binder in many India inks, so check the label there too.
• Charcoal: willow and vine charcoal are charred wood or grapevine, plant-based. Bone char is animal-derived. Compressed charcoal usually uses a plant gum binder, but binders vary by maker, so confirm.
• Encaustic: the traditional recipe is beeswax plus damar, a plant tree resin. Some makers use plant waxes instead: soy, carnauba, or candelilla.

Animal ingredient	Where it appears	Animal-free swap
Bone black (PBk9)	Black paints and some mixed colours	Carbon black (PBk7) or Mars black (PBk11)
Rabbit-skin glue	Traditional gesso and canvas sizing	Acrylic gesso and acrylic sizing
Gelatin	Sizing in many fine watercolour papers	Papers with non-animal sizing (confirm with the mill)
Ox gall	Wetting agent in traditional watercolours	Synthetic ox gall substitute (used in QoR, per Golden)
Shellac	Many India inks and some finishes	Acrylic and other synthetic varnishes and inks
Animal hair	Sable, squirrel, and hog brushes	Synthetic fibres such as taklon

Common questions

What is the easiest first step toward a vegan art studio?

Swap the black. Replace bone black or ivory black (PBk9) with carbon black (PBk7) or Mars black (PBk11), then replace animal-hair brushes with synthetics as they wear out. Those two changes cover the most common animal inputs in a painting practice.

Is willow charcoal vegan?

Yes. Willow and vine charcoal are charred wood or grapevine, both plant materials. Bone char is animal-derived, and the binders in compressed charcoal vary by maker, so check compressed sticks before relying on them.

Are synthetic brushes good enough for professional work?

Synthetic brushes made of nylon or polyester, often sold as taklon, have improved greatly for both watercolour and oils. Try one range in your own medium before switching the whole studio over.

How do I confirm that a specific colour is animal-free?

Note the pigment code printed on the tube, then ask the manufacturer directly. Formulations change, so a current answer from the maker is worth more than an older list published elsewhere.

Is acrylic gesso vegan?

Acrylic gesso uses a synthetic binder, and Golden describes modern acrylic gesso and acrylic sizing as synthetic, unlike traditional gesso made with rabbit-skin glue. Confirm the specific product with its maker if you need complete certainty.

Once the studio list is settled, the medium pages answer the deeper questions: Is Acrylic Paint Vegan?, Is Watercolor Paint Vegan?, and Is Oil Paint Vegan?. A vegan studio also pairs naturally with a low-waste one; see the low-waste art studio. For the full topic, return to the vegan art hub, and to see how VanArtHub artists actually work, visit watch art being made.