Acrylic Paint

Acrylic paint contains color pigment + a polymer emulsion.
each individual pigment (see below) might not be vegan.

Varnishes

Damar Varnish: from damar resin, the sap of the damar pine. The sap is collected, distilled, and separated into turpentine and the resin. The resulting crystals usually also contain embedded bugs, dried leaves, and bark (wikipedia).

Pigments

Ivory Black/ Bone Black: charred animal bones.
Lampblack: is pure carbon and not from animals
Cochineal: a scarlet dye made from ground up female cochineal beetles.



Other commonly vegan pigments: ochre, raw umber, burnt umber, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow, zinc oxide, gamboge, indigo, madder, cobalt blue, naphthol crimson and diozine.

If a pigment reads "Cobalt (Hue)", for instance, that means that it is not real cobalt, and could be made from an unknown ingredient.

Here's a link to one helpful Watercolor Color ingredient chart

Watercolor + Gouche

Watercolor is primarily made of color pigment + Gum Arabic: The natural secretion of the acacia tree which is used as a binding agent in many liquid media. It improves the bonding properties of the ingredients in inks and watercolors, enabling them to stick to paper, and it helps to maintain a stable dispersion of pigment particles in water as the film of wash dries.
+ Ox gall: obtained from cows, used as the wetting agent, synthetic wetting agents are also available.

Gouche is watercolor pigment + opaque white pigment(often chalk) + a watercolor binder (made with gum arabic) + plasticizer(glycerin and/or dextrin) + preservative

Chalk: soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite.

Ink + Charocoal

Sepia: substance traditionally derived from squid and cuttlefish.
India Ink or Chinese Ink: carbon or lampblack pigment + shellac binder.
Shellac: insect secretions

Charcoal is normally made from vines and willow but can also be bone char
Graphite: mineral.
Conte Crayon: iron oxides, carbon black, titanium dioxide, clay (kaolin) and a binder (cellulose ether).

Copic Markers and Pens claim to be vegan: http://copicmarker.com/faq/#nogo

Paper

Sizing: Sizing is applied to paper in the papermaking process to make sheets less porous. Without sizing, paper would react to moisture like a blotter. The type and amount of sizing applied to paper varies with each type based on the desired working properties. Drawing paper is sized for surface strength, helping protect the surface for erasing. Watercolor paper is sized to help produce a consistent wash as well as help the scrubbing and layering of colors.

"Strathmore does NOT use any animal products as part of the sizing process. The use plant-based and synthetic sizing"


and Yupo Paper: 100% polypropylene, suitable for watercolor and drawing.

Traditionally, vellum was made from the skin of calves, goats and lambs. Vellum has come to describe a high rag (cotton) paper, usually with a creamy white color and smooth surface comparable to traditional vellum. Today the term vellum is often describes a very clear translucent paper with a smooth surface.

Oil Paint

Rabbit Skin Glue: This sizing glue is used as a ground for oil painting, generally applied to linen canvas to shrink it around the stretcher. There is no synthetic alternative. Polyvinyl acetate can be used as a ground for oil painting (should be applied to both sided of the canvas), but does not shrink canvas tight as it dries.