Art supplies

[Soubriquet]

Dd (11) has asked for art supplies for Christmas. She likes to draw and colour. Anyone got any good recommendations. I’m not gonna get one of those sets where the markers dry after two uses and the pencils snap like spaghetti

Ooo how exciting! I would be tempted to branch out a bit and get her some paints.
So you could get some good quality painting paper. Some brushes. Acrylic paints. Medium. And a set of graphite pencils to draw before painting and to sketch, too.
It's possible this sounds a bit too ambitious?

Cass art do reliably good paper at reasonable prices, their own brands.
If you want to go down the acrylics route I can recommend some brands/sets.

Nothing like buying arts supplies! Bliss.

My daughter has seen a wooden case of art supplies in the Smyths Christmas book. It is £35. We are going to have to buy it her as she asks for one every year and she never gets one apparently 😆🤦🏽‍♀️

Posca pens are amazing to use on glass etc.

Thank you! I’ll check it all out. I have heard of pocsa pens and I do know they are on the pricier side but for a Christmas present it could be possible

@Starlight40 I’m guessing this is the one you mean? It looks nice and not like the shitty ones we had as kids

link

Faber-Castell is a really good brand for coloured pencils and they do sets to meet all budgets. If your DD stays interested in art, try to save all the half-used pencils and/or gifts from friends & family... my DD is now at art-school and is still working through that stockpile!

i am an artist. i second what @heldinadream said and or/perhaps a set of good quality colouring pencils. Caran d'ache are good. Some good quality paper or sketchbooks.

Thank you for your advice

The works are actually pretty good for reasonably priced art supplies.

Subscribe to the Cass Art mailing list and keep your eyes peeled for offers. They often have good deals.

Posca pens and some multi-media paper might go down well.

These Japanese paints are delicious if they're in your budget (scroll down for the £25 sets) and make a special gift.

choosingkeeping.com/collections/painting

My daughter's have loved acrylic paint pens, charcoal and chalk, watercolours and oil pastels, and a variety of paper, watercolor paper, canvases etc Could also extend into air dry clay?

Not supplies but what about frames for framing her work? There's ones that open so you can easily change the picture without taking off the wall so she can swap it easily herself.

Adding a link to more Japanese sets, there are a few here in the £15 range. My reasons being that they are very good quality, lay down lovely strong colour but mostly that you’re DD might enjoy the kudos of having Japanese paints! My friends’ arty kids (11-16) are all over mine when they visit, they think they are the most sophisticated things 😆

https://www.jacksonsart.com/brands/kuretake

Staedtler pencils are good

Seconding that, also The Range is good too. And I always take a spin past the art supplies shelf in TK Maxx when I’m passing, have found some nice surprises there occasionally.

Yes bought a few good things at The Works!

Yes, this is the one.x

Try B&M for marker pens. We found they were really good value for money. 😊

We recently got DD some Hobbycraft watercolour pencils and they weren't very expensive, but impressed with the quality.

I've recently bought this set for each of my dds (age 11 and 13). We've always been happy with the quality of hobbycraft supplies.
https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/black-mixed-media-art-set-126-pieces/6656461000.html

Oh that looks perfect. Thanks

Last year my 11yo daughter got this set for Christmas...

Art easel set

The box can be used as a desk top easel. It's a beautiful set for her to experiment with and the quality of the products is lovely for her.

She has also had Posca pens and a basket of blanks and black art paper as a gift. She absolutely loved that.

If the above is the perfect answer, then also join Hobbycraft's club and get 15% off your first purchases and a £5 voucher on your birthday as well as lots of other things. 🙂