Creative Gifts for Artists That Are Sure to Inspire

Gifts for Artists_cover

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Gifts for Artists_cover

Art for All

Whether their work hangs in a downtown gallery or on the family refrigerator, we all know someone who is artistic, crafty, and imaginative. Next holiday, birthday, or special occasion, give them a gift that will spark imagination, inspire new creations, and reflect their unique personalities.


Prices and availability are subject to change.


Related: The Best Gifts for Writers (And Not One Pen — We Promise)

An Artsy Minifigure
Etsy

An Artsy Minifigure

$17 and up from Etsy
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Give that Lego lover (ahem, plastic building blocks) a minifig in the shape of their favorite artist. Personalities include artists Claude Monet and Leonardo DaVinci, as well as historical figures and pop stars like Dolly Parton, John F. Kennedy, Agatha Christie, William Shakespeare, and more than 100 others.

Related: Need Unique Gifts? Here Are Our Favorite Stores for Holiday Shopping

An Online Art Class
Craftsy

An Online Art Class

$8 per month from Craftsy
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You’re never too old to learn a new skill, whether it’s knitting, baking, drawing, woodworking, or any of the more than 1,300 online classes Craftsy offers. Choose a monthly or annual membership, or pay for classes on an a la carte basis (courses range from $5 for a single-session tutorial to $70 for multi-lesson workshops).


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Custom Pet Canvas
Crown & Paw

Custom Pet Canvas

$60 and up from Crown & Paw
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If your artist pal has a furry friend they're fond of, get 'em a custom pet portrait in a character that suits that pet's personality. Custom canvas prints come in three sizes, but Crown & Paw also does less expensive posters and phone cases.


Related: The Best Gifts for Cat Lovers That Are the You-Know-Who's Pajamas

Spirograph Design Tin Set
Amazon
A Creative Coffee Mug
The Met Store

A Creative Coffee Mug

$25 from The Met Store
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Coffee, tea, pens, brushes … whatever. These 12-ounce porcelain mugs can hold just about anything, plus they’re dishwasher- and microwave-safe. Choose from Salvador Dalí, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Andy Warhol.


Related: Perk 'Em Up with These Great Gifts for Coffee Lovers

Flair to Wear (or Pin to a Bag)
MoMA Design Store

Flair to Wear (or Pin to a Bag)

$10 from MoMA Design Store
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Give 'em one of these enameled pins and they can flaunt their artistic flair (and favorite artist) for all to see. Choose from Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, Roy Lichtenstein, and 10 other artists.


Related: Gifts for Teenage Girls (That They'll Actually Like)

MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art
MoMA Design Store

MoMA Highlights: 375 Works From The Museum of Modern Art

$25 from MoMA Design Store
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If they can’t get to New York City to visit the Museum of Modern Art, then bring the museum to them. This paperback focuses on 375 iconic works in MoMA’s permanent collection by artists including Frida Kahlo, Willem de Kooning, Meret Oppenheim, Man Ray, and others. Available in 12 languages.


Related: Clever and Creative Gifts for Book Lovers

Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour Field Box
Amazon

Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour Field Box

$76 and up from Amazon
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This collection of 12 watercolors (“water colour” if you’re British) is designed with plein air painters (that’s painting out of doors, for you non-artists) in mind. This compact field box contains a dozen pigments, plus two mixing palettes, water bottle, folding brush, and sponge. Best of all, the folded case is just 5.2 inches tall and 1.5 inches wide, making it super portable.

Coffee Subscription Box
Trade Coffee

Coffee Subscription Box

$15 and up from Trade Coffee
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A coffee snob loves nothing better than discovering local roasters and sampling their beans. Traveling across the country isn't terribly practical these days, so why not let the roasters come to him? Trade Coffee subscription service works with 50 noteworthy roasters like Cuvee Coffee in Austin, Caffe Vita in Seattle, and PT's Coffee Roasting Co. in Topeka, Kansas.

Sketching and Drawing Pencils Set
Amazon

Sketching and Drawing Pencils Set

$20 from Amazon
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This 37-piece set includes a dozen graphite pencils ranging from 8B (soft and dark) to 5H (hard and light), as well as charcoal pencils, graphite and charcoal sticks, blending sticks, erasers, and more. It all comes bundled in a zippered travel case.

Utrecht Artists' Oil Paint Sets
Blick Art Materials

Utrecht Artists' Oil Paint Sets

$31 and up from Blick Art Materials
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This basic set of oil paints includes 1.25-ounce tubes of titanium white, cadmium yellow hue, cadmium red hue, brilliant blue, brilliant green, and ivory black. More expansive sets — one of which also includes a folding easel and two blank canvases — are also available.

Sunprint Kit
Amazon

Sunprint Kit

$20 from Amazon
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Here’s a gift for photographers who are looking for a new way of making images or youngsters who may not yet be old enough to work a camera. Create photograms (sort of like silhouettes) by placing objects on the photosensitive Sunprint paper and then exposing it to sunlight.


Related: The Best Gifts for Photographers from Newbies to Pros

The Original Buddha Board
Amazon

The Original Buddha Board

$38 from Amazon
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Think of the Buddha Board as a Zen version of an Etch-a-Sketch. Dip the bamboo brush in water, then trace your design onto the 12-by-9-inch “canvas.” After a few minutes, the design will evaporate, and you can begin again.


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Color Inspirations
Amazon

Color Inspirations

$35 from Amazon
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A basic understanding of color theory — the harmonious use of hue in art and design — is essential for artists and designers. This reference book contains more than 3,200 color palette samples, as well as their CMYK, RGB, and HEX values for accurate digital color reproduction.

Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint Set
Amazon

Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paint Set

$12 and up from Amazon
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This set of six primary colors would make a great stocking stuffer for a budding young artist who wants to explore painting with acrylics. Painters say the pigments are bright, their textures creamy, and easy to blend or thin. Larger sets of up to 48 paints are also available, including metallic and fluorescent hues.

Oblique Strategies B0000EEZG9
Amazon

Oblique Strategies Cards

$65 from Amazon
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Musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt developed these cards, each of which contains a question or a statement intended to provoke thought, creativity, and outside-the-box thinking. They're also great for getting un-stuck when your creativity isn't flowing.

Keith Haring Tee
Uniqlo

A Keith Haring Tee

$10 and up from Uniqlo
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Japanese clothier Uniqlo has long made it a tradition to partner with artists and artist estates to produce limited-run lines of T-shirts. In addition to Keith Haring, you can find tees featuring the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Takashi Murakami, and others.

LACMA
LACMA

An Artful Face Mask

$5 and up from LACMA
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By this point, wearing face masks has become a part of ordinary life for us all. That doesn't mean your face covering needs to be ordinary, too. Choose from colorful cloth masks designed by artists like Shinique Smith and Jim Eisermann.


Related: The Funniest Face Masks You Can Buy

The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron 0143129252
Amazon

The Artist's Way

$14 from Amazon
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Julia Cameron's text has been inspiring creatives for more than 25 years. She outlines a 12-week program that outlines how to establish a safe and inspiring space to work, developing your sense of self, and finding positive ways of channeling your creative energy into new enveavors.



Wacom Intuos
Amazon

Wacom Intuos Wireless Graphics Drawing Tablet

$200 and up from Amazon
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A mouse is fine for pointing and clicking your way around a website, but try using one for digital illustration and you’re bound to drive yourself batty. A Bluetooth drawing tablet like this one allows you to write, draw, animate, edit photos, and more. Available in two sizes.

Lifetime Leather Co.
Lifetime Leather Co.

Field Notes Wallet

$80 from Lifetime Leather Co.
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A pocket-sized notebook can come in handy for impromptu sketches, jotting down ideas, and writing notes. This leather wallet has room for paper bills, credit cards, a pen, and field notebook. Available in four colors.

Clever T-Shirt
Etsy

A Clever T-Shirt

$10 and up from Etsy
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Images speak louder than words, right? This cotton tee is available in eight colors and in sizes from extra-small to 4XL. Not the T-shirt type? This eye-catching design is also available on tanks, V-neck and long-sleeve tees, hoodies, and youth sizes.

A Place for All Their Stuff
Draplin Design

A Place for All Their Stuff

$22 from Draplin Design
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As George Carlin liked to point out, everyone needs a place for their stuff. This cotton canvas tote bag measures 14 inches square and can swallow a stack of books, an armload of groceries, or oodles of supplies from the art store.

Personalized Gift Wrap
Gift Wrap My Face

Personalized Gift Wrap

$19 and up from Gift Wrap My Face
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No matter what gift you’re giving, it’s not complete without wrapping paper. But why be boring with your gift wrap when you can make it as personal as the gift you’re giving? Put their face on one of dozens of gift-wrap designs, including holiday and birthday themes.


Related: Unusual Gifts They'll Never See Coming

Creative Mark Pro Stroke Premium White Bristle Brush Set
Jerry’s Artarama

Creative Mark Pro Stroke Premium White Bristle Brush Set

$38 from Jerry’s Artarama
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You can never, ever have too many paint brushes. This set of 15 brushes, made of Chungking hog bristle, are ideal for heavy-bodied oil or acrylic paints. Most users say they hold plenty of paint, maintain sharp edges, and are easy to clean.

Met Campus Long-Sleeve T-shirt
The Met Store

Met Campus Long-Sleeve T-shirt

$32 from The Met Store
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This unisex cotton T-shirt is available in sizes from small to XXL. It’s the perfect gift for anyone who has whiled away the hours at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (or longs to do so someday).

A Collectible Fine-Art Print
eBay

A Collectible Fine-Art Print

Varies from eBay
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You can find all sorts of art on eBay, including signed, numbered lithographs, silkscreens, engravings, and more. A recent search turned up works by Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Peter Max, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others. Prices range from less than $10 for mass-produced digital prints to more than $100,000 for original-edition, signed works.

Leatherman Multitools
Amazon
Fresh flowers
The Bouqs Co.

The Bouqs Co. Flower Subscription

$36/month and up from The Bouqs Co.
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A bouquet of flowers makes the perfect subject for a still life, so why not send your artist friend a gift of inspiration on a regular basis? Each month you can have flower arrangements from one of four collections: farmer's market, classics, roses, or seasonal.


Related: The Best Gifts for Plant Lovers and Green Thumbs

Amazon Gift Card
Amazon

A Gift Card to Their Favorite Store

Varies from Amazon
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Let’s be honest. Creative types are impossible to please. So give ‘em what they really want, no matter what they’re into: the freedom to choose for themselves.


Related: 70 Hottest Holiday Gifts From Amazon

Kidrobot-Andy-Warhol-Box-Collector-Crate-14_2000x2000.jpg

Andy Warhol Pop Art Collection Dunny Box One

$65 from Kidrobot

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This limited edition gift box was put together by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and would thrill any pop art lover or historian. It includes a Warhol self portrait T-shirt, a Warhol-art-emblazoned Dunny figurine, magnets, pins, and a mystery figurine.