The 2022 Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Artists
2022 Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Artists
Need help figuring out what to gift your artist friend? I’m here to help!
Friends and foes the holidays are upon us!
Do you have an artist on your gift list this year? Not sure what to get them? I’m here for you. For this episode I’ve come up with a list of items artists of all skills will appreciate. What say’s “I’m rooting for your art career” the most? A thoughtful gift for your artist friend.
Before we get into what items I’d recommend, first are some questions to ask yourself about your giftee:
Are they a hobbiest or professional?
Do they have their own studio space?
What kind of art do they primarily make? (Paintings, Drawings, sculptures, photos, costumes, etc.)
Do they sell their work?
Do they have art shows?
Do they rent a studio or have a desk in their home or something else?
Do they have any studio partners?
Who are their favorite artists?
Do you know their favorite art supply store?
Go answer those questions to the best of your ability and then read on.
Please note that some of the links are affiliate links and I get a tiny percentage of the revenue if you choose to buy from them. It supports my art career and my creative spirit! :D
Paint
Watercolorist -
There are these magical travel brushes that come in these metal bullet type of cases. They are great for taking on the go and are a luxury product. I recommend getting them in a few different sizes, 2,4,6, and beyond. Even if you just got one that would be a delightful gift. Usually runs around $20 per brush.
This set has 4 synthetic bristles brushes and a case is included
Easy storage and easy to travel with!
4 brushes in various shapes
Less expensive, good quality
My second recommendation is anything from this store: Case For Making is in San Francisco and the make incredible colors. Their hand thrown pallets are a work of art in itself and the pans of colors they make are next level. Even picking out a single pan of bright color from them would be well liked. Their colors can be expensive, but will last a long time. Be sure to check out their pre made color sets, if they are in stock.
(I hear they are having a Cyber Monday Sale next week so make sure to subscribe to their mailing list if you are interested in their products!)
Case For Making Watercolor sets
The colors are so delightful I want them alllll
Oil painter
Rosemary and Co makes amazing paint brushes. The company is small and very rarely seen in stores. Getting a bundle of oil painting brushes from them would be a wonderful gift. I recommend getting a set of 3-5 of them. The one linked below is $39
Rosemary and co has excellent brushes!
Check out there sets, like this one. Keep in mind that animal hair brushes cannot currently be imported into the US. Go for synthetic ones!
It can be overwhelming to pick out brushes when you aren’t an artist. For a gift like this a variety is best. Get a flat, a filbert, a point (wtf do you call this) and a big bushy brush. Getting a premade set is always a safe bet.
Acrylic painter
A set of palette knives. As an acrylic painter, paint builds up on our mixing palette’s very quickly. And if your acrylic artist friend is anything like mine are, you don’t replace these pallet knives often enough. I like a dowel shape in short and long sizes. One with a point and another with a rounded end. Getting a set of 2 is ideal.
A set of 6 palette knives gives them a lot of variety
A great pallet knife can be found for under $10, this set is a bargain!
A Heavy Body Acrylic paint set from Liquitex
More pigment means brighter colors. If your acrylic artist friend is a beginner, this is an excellent upgrade for their artwork.
For every kind of painter:
Masters Brush Restorer and Cleaner is a wonderful soap that’s designed for artist’s brushes. You can use it with any medium brush and the bristles will come out in pristine condition. Get a 4 oz tin of this and it will last them for half a year’s work of painting, at least.
Illustrate
An illustrator is someone who draws and usually paints, but with a wide variety of tools. Illustration is a style of making art that is both drawing and paintings, with the added benefit of narration.
For the illustrator I’d get anything from the watercolor section, plus:
Sumi ink. There are many great inks out there, but sumi is the king of blacks. Illustrators go through this ink like mad.
The best of the black inks
This stuff is awesome
Sometimes you can find sumi ink at cheaper prices here: https://www.dickblick.com/items/yasutomo-liquid-sumi-ink-12-oz-waterproof/ It depends on the day. Same product. Make sure you are hunting around!
A beautiful calligraphy pen is also a great pick. Something glass or anything with a nib. These two brands have been recommended to me many times and I think you’ll be happy with them!
LAMY pens can be found at art supply stores, amazon, and on their website: LAMY
LAMY makes a brilliant pen and this one comes with 5 extra ink Cartridges.
I like yellow, but get your artist their favorite color.
Make it stand out
7x5 cartridges (35 in total) containing Black, Blue, Blue black, Violet, Red, Green, Turquoise
TWSBI is another great brand for pens. This one is a little more eco friendly and has a refillable container for ink. There website is here: TWSBI
TWSBI pens are so elegant!
You’ll need to buy fountain pen ink for this pen. See below
Waterman inks from Paris are a treat!
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Get them a heavy paper weight sketchbook. Something with artist quality drawing paper. Maybe it has a beautiful cover or is small enough to carry on an airplane. Go for paper weight 60 LBS or higher. The Strathmore 400 series sketchbooks are usually easy to find and sell for about $14 for a 9x12 inch book.
Most artist I know tend to prefer a specific kind of sketchbook, so if you can look at the sketchbook of your illustrator friend and figure out the brand of it, that’s a great place to start.
Draw
This is going to seem funny, but get them a knife. Every artist I know that primarily works with charcoal or graphite manually sharpens their pencils with a knife and sandpaper. Some of them use pencil sharpeners but most want a custom edge to their pencils. Getting your artist friend a small, pretty knife that can hold an edge well and fold up is a creative gift they wont expect.
A variety of shapes and multiple handles
X-acto has been serving makers for ages and their quality is excellent.
A folding knife that is small is a great idea!
I keep a small folding knife with my traveling pencil kit along with some sandpaper.
Artist pencils. Colored, graphite, water soluble, there are so many kinds out there and the last forever. Here are some of my favorites:
You friend who draws will never need kits or erasers or bags to hold their pencils. They probably have gotten a million of these from other people. Instead, go deeper and pick out high quality graphite pencils in 2b, 4b, 6b, 2h, 4h, 6h and 8h hardness. One of each does well. Tombow is my favorite brand.
Tombow Mono drawing Pencils.
A premade set for $16, usually $2.50 per pencil. A great deal.
Color pencils are a dream to have! I love these brands and use them in my daily practice.
Faber-Castell has brilliant color and a huge range of pigments.
A pack of 12 will be $19
A pack of 120 will be $165
Caran d'Ache Classic Neocolor II Water-Soluble Pastels, 15 Colors
Water soluble colors for a drawing and painting combo.
A sketchbook is also great for the person who draws. Get something with thick paper that wont bleed if they use ink int. As a rule: If the sketchbook you are interested in buying is under $10, it’s probably not great quality of paper. See above for my favorite Scrathmore sketchbook or go here: https://amzn.to/3TZ3Ybc
Sculpt
Sculptors are hard to buy for. A gift card to the art supply store of their choice is going to be your best option. Their tools are specific and change a lot based on what kind of clay they throw and the scale of what they make.
These are my favorite art stores online:
Artist & Craftsman Supply
Seattle Employee Owned Art Store that ships globally!
Dick Blick Art Materials
Bigger Variety and hard to find items. You can find stores to go to all around the US and shop online.
A cheeky gift for the sculptor might be a tshirt that says “This is my sculpting shirt” or something like that. Sculpting is a MESSY business and I bet your friend has gone through a lot of clothing that they’ve accidentally ruined ha! The rule is if you get them something like this you MUST send me a photo!!
A funny t shirt they wont be afraid to ruin~
I’d Rather Be Sculpting is so dorky and I love it.
Photograph
Get them a sexy coffee table book. Something with stunning to you visuals and is semi relevant to their interests. Get it from an independent book store and keep the receipt in case they already have it. These are a few of my favorites:
Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography
This book is BEAUTIFUL and features one of my favorite photographers, Bill Cunningham
Stunning photographs and a beautiful hardback book
A new one comes out each year!
Second recommendation is a Samsung external SSD memory drive. You can get these for $90 and they are slim. Having these is exceptionally useful as your photographer friend is probably constantly editing photos and needing to back them up in storage.
A gift card to B&H photo would be well loved too. It’s like a little heaven for photographers. Based out of NYC and they are a magical company with everything you could need for photos, videos, and much more.
B&H Photo Gift Card
Get the right amount for your budget!
If your friend is a beginner in this field, getting them a subscription to Light Room is a great gift! It helps them edit photos and will accelerate their art career. A year subscription is $120
Textile
Ok first what you are going to do is sneak into their sewing room, find out what brand of sewing machine they’ve got and what kind of needles they are using. Take pictures if you have to and bring it to a Joanne’s fabric or something similar. Buy them a bunch of these needles (they are constantly breaking and are always in need of repair)
Alternatively, buy them pretty fabric. My friend Natasha loves silk and often will buy many yards of silk in various colors in bulk. If you made your textile friend a bouquet of pretty fabrics, they would lose their minds. Get more than 2 yards of each, as a rule.
If your friend knits or does quilting, feel free to do the same thing, but with the item of their craft. Like this Marino Wool!
TEHETE Merino wool is dreamily soft and beautiful to work with.
Fabulous for Knit and crochet projects
Digital Art
Again: Samsung external SSD memory drive. You can get these for $90 and they are slim. Backing up digital art is a must and having an external hard drive never fails
A mug warmer! These digital artists are always forgetting their tea while making art and it gets cold fast. Having a mug warmer will keep that coffee warm even if they forget about it for 30 min. Also, it doubles as a candle warmer, win-win
This one is highly rated and comes in a few colors
I like that they automatically shut off so there isn’t any fire hazard.
Hobbyist
If your friend considers themselves a hobbyist, there is probably something in their creative practice that could use an upgrade. Are they using student grade paints? Get them some in the next price point up. Are they using packs of canvas that is very cheap? Get them a heavy weight studio canvas. Are they using Crayola crayons? Get them an artist grade set. Just take a look at their materials and see what could use a level up. When you are looking for things, make sure you are typing up “Artist grade” or “Professional grade” to see more quality items.
Alternatively a really fun gift would be to take them on an art store date. They get to choose the store and pick out a few items as your gift. Or you give them a budget of $50. You’ll get to learn about their craft, have a fun day, and they get to pick out things they want to play with.
Professional
If your giftee is a professional who’s been doing this for a long time, they probably have some staples that they use in the studio. You might see a half dozen tubes of warm white on their painting table. They might have a million rags laying around.
If this is the case, you could get something that they clearly use all the time. For an oil painter like me, that means white paint, linseed oil, and anything from this list:
If you want to get even more creative than simply resupplying things they already have: I recommend this list!
Art Museum year pass. You could go together! It will be spending time together! Amazing.
If you are in Seattle, the Seattle Art Museum is a great place to visit!
A individual year membership is $79
An apron with their brand name on it. Or logo. Or your name. Ha!
This is a quality apron with pockets!
Look for something sturdy and machine washable.
A really great Bluetooth speaker for their studio.
Harman Kardon Onyx Studio 7 Bluetooth Wireless Portable Speaker - 8 hours Music play time - Black
Get it for $155
A neon sign with their logo on it
The coolest artist gift of all time
Can someone get my logo in neon for me??
An hour of coaching from an art business expert (like Brittany Torres)
1:1 coaching from Brittany Torres
The most fun you’ll have upgrading your art business!
Art Teacher
This giftee works hard and could probably use a break. Get the a gift card to a spa or massage.
Alternately, ask them if their art classroom has an amazon wish list- get the a bunch of things for that!
They show their work
Fun clothing. I bet your artist teacher friend has a personal brand or look. Find them funky fresh clothes that match their brand. A gift card to a mid to higher end clothing brand is a great idea. Think Nordstroms or Aritzia.
They Have A Studio
Maybe they need a super cool light to help them get more daylight hours in the space. Or maybe their sound system is less than steller. Get them a speaker that will amp up their sound experience for when they are listening to art podcasts and music.
Nanoleaf lights
These lights are so pretty and you can make them into lots of different shapes :D
VILTROX L116T Key Light LED Video Light Panel,3300K-5600K Vlog Lighting
This light is exceptionally useful for the dark winter hours and you need a daylight bulb. About $50
Give them the gift of oxygen
Having plants in the studio makes things better
They have or need an active social media presence:
You ever see those cell phone holders, the ones with really cool moveable parts that let you record videos well lit and ajustables. These things attach to a desk and are invaluable for making great videos.
This is on my christmas list!
Viozon Extendable Selfie Stand 360° Rotation with Phone Holder, Rechargeable Wireless Foldable 7 Brightness LED Light
They have kids that have access to the studio-
A sign that says come in or do not enter unless death! My friend Tai made a sign like this for her studio and told her kids that if it was green they could come in and chat, but if it was red they couldn’t bother her unless someone was dying. A no, your brother stealing your crayons is not a reason to bother me. ha!
This is an example, you could make your own!
The more colorful it is the better~
I hope you’ve found this gift guide handy! Let me know if you got anything for a friend by commenting here or sending me a message on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/stephaniescott.art/
Happy holidays!
Host and artist Stephanie Scott breaks down the practicality of the art career with topics including: sustainable creative practices, social media skills, and the mindsets that keep it all together. New episodes every Tuesday!
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Podcast Cover photo by Maryna Blumqvist https://instagram.com/picturemaryna