Gift Ideas For Artists

Whether it be for a traditional or a digital artist, getting gifts for your artist friend, kid, sibling, or whatever can be a challenge when you don't know much about what they'd like or want. In case you didn't get a list, here are a few gift ideas for artists.

1. Traditional Art Supplies

Depending on what kind of artist they are, this might range from brushes, paint, and canvases to pens, markers, and sketchbooks. It's important to observe what kind of art they actually create before choosing what supplies to get them. 

If you want even better results though, I'd suggest taking a stroll through Michael's and ask a worker to assist you in finding what you might need for the artist you're trying to gift. I suggest Michael's because it's a wonderland of arts and crafts, but if you'd rather go somewhere nearby and a bit more affordable I would suggest the arts and crafts section at Walmart. 

If online shopping is more your speed, amazon has tons of options. Some of my best markers were bought through there for a decent price.

Just to list off a few items in specific:

-Sakura Ink Pens

-Copic Markers (or alternatives such as CaliArt)

-XL Mixed Media Sketchbook

-Bic Mechanical Pencils

Anything relating to painting and watercolor, I'd suggest checking out what is popular in the painting community online or at Michael's.

2. Digital Art Set

Now if the artist isn't already drawing on an tablet or computer, I'd suggest starting small. Digital art supplies do not come cheap but they certainly make a worthwhile gift that keeps giving. There are different ways to do digital art so it just depends if they are able to work with a computer or use something more along the lines of an ipad/tablet. Here are a few things an aspiring digital artist might want:

-Tablet/ipad to draw on

-Pen for tablet (off brand or on brand)

-Digital art drawing glove

-Digital drawing application (Free ones do exist)

-Computer/Laptop (If not using an ipad or doesn't already have one

Some drawing tablets can range from ones with and without a screen. For beginners, one without a screen is suggested and also more affordable. If they already have a tablet that connects to their computer, then the next step up would be one with a screen, however, these are very expensive. Some drawing tablets brands for computers that I might suggest are:

-Wacom (good, but I personally have had some technical difficulties)

-XP-Pen (my favorite and little to no issues)

If you are confused as to what a drawing tablet for PC and what a ipad for drawing is please feel free to google or search on youtube!

3. Room Decorations

Artists are very creative and not all of us get the chance to decorate our bedrooms to match. If you have the chance to, figure out what colors, cartoons, shows and such the artist is into so you can better get things to suit them. To cut straight through the point though, here are some room decoration ideas:

-Carpet

-Posters

-Bookshelf

-Action Figures

-LED Lights

-Christmas Lights

4. Shoes/Clothes

I personally am a shoe fanatic and know other artists who like to be quite stylish. It's just typically another thing artists tend to love and do. This gift idea will have to take a lot of attention to detail in what they like and their style. Clothes are too broad of a gift for me to suggest anything specific besides maybe flannel because artists love flannel for some reason (myself included). However, I can definitely suggest some shoe brands and a store that more than likely has what the artist would love to wear. 

There are all kinds of shoe stores, but my favorite one as an artist is Journeys Shoes. A Few Shoes an artist might like from there would be:

-Vans

-Converse

-Doc Martins

-Nike

Journeys also has a few other cool items there too like socks, backpacks, and shirts.

5. Gift Card

Sometimes, letting the artist pick their own gifts can be the best thing you can do. It can also double as a fun outing or lunch though. Growing up, I loved getting gift cards to stores, internet memberships and such. 

Some artist favorite stores for gift cards might be:

-Hot Topic

-Spencer's

-Michael's

-Starbucks

-Barnes & Noble

- GameStop

Even a vanilla gift card would be good! They can use it in store or online for whatever they want!

Good Luck

I understand that artists can be some of the most confusing and complex kind of people, so it can be hard to pinpoint what kinds of gifts to get them. Hopefully this list helped out and makes your gift a favorite and worthwhile one. Feel free to comment what you ended up getting or what you might suggest that might not have been included in this post. Just know that at the end of the day that you went out of your way to gift an artist and support them and that's amazing! Good luck!