Drawing/artist crew v gift help

[Normie]

I know we have a few really good artists (sketch and paint) on OT, so hopefully you can help me pick some gifts. My niece loves to draw, everything I have seen so far is in pencil, but her work is fantastic for a 12 year old. I don't know if pencil is the medium she prefers to work with, or if that's what she has readily available. So for christmas, I am going to buy her a metric ton of art supplies. So far I bought her the following.

Multiple drawing pencils (different types of basic black)
Colored drawing pencils
Different sizes of charcoal pencils with erasers/blenders
Several different sketch books with different paper types/sizes for each media type.
Colored markers (fat and fine tip) in different colors (the Japanese made markers, I guess they make a difference)
Colored pens (ballpoint) some with metallics
Rulers, french curve and different geometric stencils


If you were getting a multitude of "art supplies" as gifts, what else would you want? What am I missing? Only thing I can think of is "storage" but haven't seen anything I think would be good.

 

[FryingPan]

Paper for sure. Some nice heavyweight all-purpose sketch paper, watercolor paper, something along those lines. Strathmore, BFK, etc.

Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pads | BLICK Art Materials

Shop Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pads at Blick. This off-white drawing paper has a uniform surface and is ideal for sketching and most finished work.

www.dickblick.com

Storage and presentation boxes are often overlooked as well.

Presentation Boxes | Portfolio Boxes | B&H Photo

Buy Presentation Boxes & Portfolio Boxes from top brands like Print File, Archival Methods and Cachet. Go to B&H for amazing prices and service.

www.bhphotovideo.com

 

[kwhitelaw]

Dickblick lol

 

[ashzero]

D1 Designer Sketchbook (8.25x11.5)

There's a point in every artist's life where that new, white paper is just terrifying. But once that pen, pencil, marker. . . whatever. . .touches the page, the possibilities are endless. Colors are more vibrant, shadows are deeper, and every sketch looks so polished- it just makes the drawings...

www.cottonwoodarts.com

Blackwing Pencils | BLICK Art Materials

Shop Blackwing Pencils at Blick. These pencils are great for writing, drawing, lettering, or illustrating and come in packs of 12.

www.dickblick.com

https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-Pigma-Micron-Black-Multi-tip/dp/B08KFXJC1S/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=micron&qid=1606924364&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Faber-Castell-9000-Graphite-Sketch-Pencil/dp/B000I5MNC0/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=faber+castell+pencils&qid=1606924691&sr=8-14

https://www.amazon.com/Sharpener-AFMAT-Sketching-Prismacolor-Adjustable/dp/B07MGRF1ML/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=conte+pencils&qid=1606924413&sr=8-4

If you fancy

Classic Leather Journal Featuring Handmade Amalfi Paper

Our exquisite handmade leather journal with pages handcrafted in Amalfi embodies artisanal genius and masterful craftsmanship. Hardcover. Available in 4 sizes.

epica.com

 

[The Great Deceiver]

Definitely a drawing table

 

[ashzero]

 

[popnfresh]

no lie if someone got me a set of Copics, id be pretty damn happy

 

[pixel804]

maybe some instructional books on learning how to draw figures / landscapes ...etc
it'll help with breaking down complex objects into simpler shapes to help figure out how to draw them

 

[wildflower]

One of the daughters is a fantastic artist. I have five or six of her sketches and paintings framed and on the wall. She, however, disparages her own talent and is unsatisfied with whatever she produces.

I bought her some gorgeous paper a few Christmas' in a row, and she's never used them. She mostly draws on lined paper - which pretty much negates the whole idea of putting it on the wall. Oh well.

 

[pixel804]

One of the daughters is a fantastic artist. I have five or six of her sketches and paintings framed and on the wall. She, however, disparages her own talent and is unsatisfied with whatever she produces.

I bought her some gorgeous paper a few Christmas' in a row, and she's never used them. She mostly draws on lined paper - which pretty much negates the whole idea of putting it on the wall. Oh well.

i understand her sentiment about not using the good paper -- she might think she's wasting the good stuff if she doesn't think her art is good enough yet.

 

[wildflower]

i understand her sentiment about not using the good paper -- she might think she's wasting the good stuff if she doesn't think her art is good enough yet.

I think you're absolutely right. But she was unduly hard on herself. She was a fantastic artist.
I made her a proposition once.

I said - stay unemployed for a year. During this time, hone your talents. Draw. Paint. Treat it like a job, where you're doing this every day.
At the end of the year, I'll collect all of the things you've created, we'll hit one of those beach art festivals, and sell them - pencil drawings $25/ a pop, and
paintings on up. I'll take half, for grubstaking you the whole year.

She said nah.

 

[pixel804]

I think you're absolutely right. But she was unduly hard on herself. She was a fantastic artist.
I made her a proposition once.

I said - stay unemployed for a year. During this time, hone your talents. Draw. Paint. Treat it like a job, where you're doing this every day.
At the end of the year, I'll collect all of the things you've created, we'll hit one of those beach art festivals, and sell them - pencil drawings $25/ a pop, and
paintings on up. I'll take half, for grubstaking you the whole year.

She said nah.

Canson makes some good sketch pads in different sizes where the pages that can be detached (so there aren't any holes like in a ringed book) -- they're way better than lined paper but not so premium that you'd care about wasting it. If the drawing / painting / whatever turns out good then great, if not you can just throw it away without any guilt.

Their site has a buncha different types for whatever -- can probably find the same stuff on amazon or local art stores.

Artist Series Universal™ Sketch | Canson

This paper features a fine texture and versatile surface for a variety of dry media. This paper has excellent erasability and is smudge resistant. The pads are constructed with durable double wire, and the sheets are micro perforated and true size.

en.canson.com

 

[fatmoocow]

I don't make much art these days, but I like these japanese water color pen/brushes to fuck around with. It's a brush with ink that is water based. Thus they will mix like water color and you can get a brush that you put water in and blend them. I'd use a slightly finer paper than you'd probably use with water color. They don't push a lot of color, but if you were doing like illustration work, it's pretty fun to fuck around with.

https://amzn.to/3mwxHrX

Examples of some water brushes

https://amzn.to/3lDFrHG

You can also get lots of crazy japanese ink brushes. I don't know which is which but some of these will really lay down ink like a brush.

Amazon.com: Kuretake Zig Bimoji CAMBIO Brush Pen for Illustration, Lettering, Card Making, journaling, Manga dtawing (Black Fine Brush Pen)

Shop Kuretake at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.

amzn.to

Markers

Amazon.com: Kuretake Manga pens 9 Set Black 0.03 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.8 Fine Medium

Shop Kuretake at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.

amzn.to

I do like engineering type shit for myself putting down ideas (not really I just buy ink pens with the idea that I'm going to do this), so I just bought every size and color of these and I really like them. So I have like light gray, dark gray, black, etc all in multiple sizes

Amazon.com : Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen - Sketching Set - Black Ink - 0.03 to 0.8mm - Set of 6 : Office Products

Amazon.com : Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen - Sketching Set - Black Ink - 0.03 to 0.8mm - Set of 6 : Office Products

amzn.to

Amazon.com : Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen - Sketching Set - Black, Dark Gray, Light Gray, Sepia - 0.1/0.5mm - Set of 9 : Office Products

Amazon.com : Uni Pin Fineliner Drawing Pen - Sketching Set - Black, Dark Gray, Light Gray, Sepia - 0.1/0.5mm - Set of 9 : Office Products

amzn.to

I keep my shit organized in 3 ring binders so I use these to store basic pens and brushes

Amazon.com: PRO ART Mesh Vinyl Zipper Bag, 5-inch x 9-inch, 3-Ring Binder Holes, Transluscent

Shop PRO ART at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.

amzn.to

I have these for the zig brushes, but they're too short for a lot of longer markers.

Amazon.com: ArtBin Satchel with Marker Tray Art & Craft Organizer [1] Plastic Storage Case Clear, 15.25 x 8 x 6.25, Translucent

Shop ArtBin at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.

amzn.to

My gf got into a whole black hole of calligraphy ink

https://amzn.to/3ofog0t

What can be really useful is to go find a legit art store. I go to the california art supply here in town and they have the most anal retentive dudes imaginable. They will custom order shit. A couple dudes there really know like every single product and and hone their stock to only the best shit. Silicon valley has all these designers and artists that go through this stuff like it's water and pay top dollar, so we have access to everything that's any good. Their website sucks a big bag of dicks but you could call them and they will tell you everything you'd ever want to know. https://www.calartsupply.com

Other just general ideas, good water color sets are cheap. Get a variety of brushes.

 

[ashzero]

ey dawg how you post dem amazon links like dat?

 

[awp whore]

charcoal pencils (general's, conte b 1710)

 

[ashzero]

 

[fatmoocow]

ey dawg how you post dem amazon links like dat?

I use whatever the affiliate link bar thing is so it's not 11ty characters long and pushes everything down with the fazle links.

 

[Astringent]

If you want to encourage her to expand her media use, you're probably missing a lot.

At 12 years old, she's definitely more than ready enough to expand the use of different media. I would suggest adding, depending on budget:

Chalk pastels
Conte crayons
Oil pastels
Acrylic paint
Canvases
Easel

The easel is particularly important if you are planning on providing paints for her.

 

[ashzero]

I use whatever the affiliate link bar thing is so it's not 11ty characters long and pushes everything down with the fazle links.

wu wu what?

is there like a share link/icon on the amazon page for those smaller links?

 

[Normie]

Paper for sure. Some nice heavyweight all-purpose sketch paper, watercolor paper, something along those lines. Strathmore, BFK, etc.

Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pads | BLICK Art Materials

Shop Strathmore 400 Series Drawing Paper Pads at Blick. This off-white drawing paper has a uniform surface and is ideal for sketching and most finished work.

www.dickblick.com

Storage and presentation boxes are often overlooked as well.

Presentation Boxes | Portfolio Boxes | B&H Photo

Buy Presentation Boxes & Portfolio Boxes from top brands like Print File, Archival Methods and Cachet. Go to B&H for amazing prices and service.

www.bhphotovideo.com

I don't know about presentation/portfolio boxes just yet. But I think she'll need some storage cases for the pencils, markers and pens.

 

[fatmoocow]

wu wu what?

is there like a share link/icon on the amazon page for those smaller links?

Sign up for https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/

I used to build sites specifically targeted to amazon affiliate commissions back in the day. They've lowered the payouts to nothing these days so I don't fuck with it, but it places a toolbar at the top of the page where you can make short links like this with your tracking info embeded. It's actually kind of convenient even ignoring the $.001 commission you might make on some bullshit.

If you use them on OT, you're sort of Fazleing Fazle because it over rides his cookie injection, which I also enjoy the idea of.

Another fun thing if you want to be a retard is you can use them for christmas lists or whatever. Then you can track to see what someone bought from your links, so you know what you're getting.

 

[Normie]

If you want to encourage her to expand her media use, you're probably missing a lot.

At 12 years old, she's definitely more than ready enough to expand the use of different media. I would suggest adding, depending on budget:

Chalk pastels
Conte crayons
Oil pastels
Acrylic paint
Canvases
Easel

The easel is particularly important if you are planning on providing paints for her.

I was considering adding more media and format options, but I actually feel that it would be best to talk to her about where she is wanting to go with her art. So I am currently trying to establish some quality media for what I know she is interested in working with, and partially why I added charcoal, pens and markers. To help her transition into color and shading. as everything currently is line drawing. She specifically mentioned shading, so I wanted to get her into the graphite and charcoal areas so she can work on that.

 

[8legs]

Prisma sticks, kneadable erasers, high quality pencil sharpeners, watercolor pencils, charcoal pencils with peel away sheathing rather than wood (or simply a device that holds the charcoal sticks), oil pencils with peel away, blending sticks, and a "beauty brush" that can be cosmetic or art related - it has a thick shock of bristles that spreads very wide for blending and brushing away dust. I, personally, always appreciate sets of painters rags. High quality masking tapes are great - broad as well as the very thin ones. Interesting circle drawing tools are always fun because people who can draw perfect circles freehand are freaks.

 

[8legs]

Oh, and lightweight drawing boards of varying sizes. The ones with elastic and clips are ok, but they usually deform paper or mar things with the elastic. Personally, I prefer to hold things down with masking tape to avoid that. Has to be good quality tape so it doesn't fuse with the paper.

 

[8legs]

Oh oh oh - spray fixative that is meant for use in paper. It's huge for preserving finished drawings and making sure things don't smear. Partitioning or wrapping with BLANK newsprint paper also helps with preservation.