The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 6 letter word OIL COLOUR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
O
I
L
C
O
L
O
U
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "what artist needs" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case what artist needs = oil colour.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.