Painting

For painters, the most expensive one-off investment is the painting easel, which varies in price and quality. Ongoing expenses include:

• Canvas
• Paints (acrylic, oil, watercolor or pastel)
• Pencils and crayons
• Sketchbooks

Photography

Photography is an expensive hobby, unfortunately. It has become considerably cheaper thanks to the digital revolution, but even today the camera alone will cost you anywhere from several hundred to thousands of dollars. Other expenses include:

• Lenses
• Filters
• Lights, flash and bounce cards
• Tripod
• Digital darkroom
• Photo-editing software

Film

In terms of costs and learning curve, filmmaking can be even worse than photography. However, you might have some of the necessary equipment already, and basic versions of all the essentials are available in electronics stores at reasonable prices. To get started you will need:

• Video camera
• Microphones (some cameras will have a decent built-in mic)
• Video-editing software and connection cables (try and get this along with the camera so you can be sure it will all work together on your computer!)

Sculpting

The up-front costs are very manageable for sculptors, however, the running expenses are through the roof. You'll need a few tools, and after that it's up to you what material you carve your artwork out of, for example:

• Stone
• Marble
• Wood

Other tools you may need:

• Mallets
• Hammers
• Chisels
• Modeling tools