Unusual gift ideas for artists

Hello artists! Since it is the holiday season, I am going heavy on gift guides and Christmas wishlists. And in today’s article, I’m going to be sharing with you, some unusual gift ideas that your artist friends are going to love you for. So let’s get started!

I am personally not much of a picky gift receiver; I love anything useful, thoughtful, and creative. Almost every year, I receive art supplies as gifts, and I am not mad about it. You can simply never have enough art supplies. However, for this post, I am listing things I would personally love to receive and that will be absolutely handy for any art enthusiast or creative.

If you still want to gift art supplies to your friends, check out these articles:

Pencil drawing for beginners: all you need to know

How to know the right Paintbrush to pick as an artist?

Which Art Paint is best? Acrylics, Oils, Encaustic…

This list includes:

• Useful subscriptions
• Art related technology
• DIY kits 
• Art trips

1- Useful subscriptions

If you haven’t seen my article about tools to make your digital art and social media content easier, you should definitely check it out here. In that post, I included my holy grail platform: Canva. Canva is an online graphic design tool. I use it to create collage art and cool pictures like the ones I use on my social media profiles, social media posts, and more. I use Canva Pro, which I pay for myself, and I believe it’s one of the most useful subscriptions ever.

Get your friends a Canva pro subscription

I am the biggest fan of Canva Pro, and here’s a list of all the amazing resources you get with it:

• 100+ million premium stock photos, videos, audio, and graphics
• Unlimited features, folders, and premium content
• 610,000+ premium and free templates with new designs daily
• Establish your brand’s visual identity with logos, colors, and fonts with up to 100 Brand Kits
• Create dedicated folders for specific projects
• Resize designs infinitely with Magic Resize
• Remove image backgrounds instantly with Background Remover
• Schedule social media content to 8 platforms
• Cloud storage (1TB)
• 24/7 customer support

I use Canva to create:

• Social media posts
• Stories
• Blog post pictures
• Moodboards
• Collages
• Color Palettes (I sell these)
• E-books (I sell these)
• Journals (I sell these)
• Presentations and project files 
• Whiteboards
• Website templates
• Videos
• Etc.

Further, I got a Canva Pro account for myself, and I use it for both personal use and for my business as well. Besides, if I got it as a gift, it would be the smartest gift I’ve ever received. I hope my friends are taking notes from this article. 

Get your friends a Skillshare subscription

This will be wonderful if your friends have been talking about wanting to learn a new skill but not knowing where to start. Skillshare is a learning community for creators. Anyone can take an online class, watch video lessons, create projects, and even teach a class themselves. 

1 Month Free Trial

If you use my link, Skillshare is going to offer you a free month of trial, and after the trial ends, Skillshare only costs $2/month and $24/year. Paying a yearly subscription for your friend is going to be such an unusual and creative yet very thoughtful gift. 

Skillshare is one of the platforms I personally use to learn different art and animation techniques online and these are some of my favorite life-changing courses that I highly recommend you try out.

Drawing

Marketing

Illustrated journaling

2- Art related technology

Technology doesn’t have to be that expensive. These gifts are affordable, and they will be someone’s favorite gift of all time.

Get your friend a Wacom Intuos Small Graphics Drawing Tablet

This tablet is a great one for beginners, it’s compatible with Mac, Android, and Windows and is very useful to use with Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Your art friends will love it.

Get your friends a Wacom Cintiq 16 Drawing Tablet with Full HD 

This is a second one that has a display screen and works perfectly for digital art. It is also compatible with Mac, Android, and Windows, and the price point is very good for what the product offers.

Get your friends a Professional Printing 3D Pen

A great creative, unusual gift for both kids and adults who love art and creating. You get to watch your imagination come to life with this professional 3D pen. This kit also comes with 3 colors of ABS plastic filament, an AC adapter, and a slim, ergonomic touch pen with a 1-year limited warranty.

3- DIY kits 

Get your friends a pottery kit they are going to love

This is a fun gift that could make family or friend’s time fun and also helps your creative friend physically practice a skill they’ve been wanting to try for a while. The idea of offering DIY kits for holidays/birthdays is pretty creative if I say so myself.

Gift your friends an embroidery kit for beginners

Last but not least, Art trips.

4- Art trips

This will obviously be something to gift a closer friend or a family member. But I had to include this in this unusual gift guide for artists. 

This list is for those who live in the USA and some European countries as it is where most of my blog visitors are located. 

You can grab your tickets through tiqets.com for the best deals on museum tickets and other art destinations.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York City

This is the biggest museum in the USA, its collection includes some of the catchiest artworks and objects of high value. Art, fashion, Photography and so much more. This would be a great destination for any art lover.

Museum of Modern Art – New York City

If your friend would love to see artworks like van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” Dali’s “Persistence of Memory” or Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair,” this is the museum for them. You can grab your ticket through this link for a discount and gift your art friend something that they haven’t received yet.

Van Gogh’s Museum – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I have had van Gogh’s museum on my bucket list for a year. Last September, I finally traveled to the Netherlands and went to visit it. It was very worth it and I loved the whole collection of the museum. I highly recommend this iconic museum to any art lover. 

Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel – Rome, Italy

This is of course a must-see, not only for artists if you want my opinion, but literally for everyone else. A gift trip to Itlay is probably on everyone’s wishlist and would make an unbeatable gift for the holiday or for someone’s birthday as well.

Conclusion

This was a brief guide of some unusual gift ideas for art lovers that I hope you’d find helpful or help inspire your gift-giving this holiday season. Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter for more art-related content.