The Art Gear Guide is your one stop shop for the most recent, up to date, honest reviews on all your favourite art supply products.
Well guys, it is that time of the year again and in true Art Gear Guide and Ann Kullberg Color Magazine tradition, I have come up with some ideas for you this Christmas. Now this guide is exactly just that, a guide, but a special guide, one that can be accidentally on purpose placed in front of your loved ones, with a prominent red circle around it, perhaps the odd spot light, beamed upon the gift you would most like them to get you this Christmas.
It was at this stage of my art journey that I knew YouTube may not cut the mustard and so I started seeking artistic knowledge through the various art books on the market and as a bonus, some of the books are from artists I have long admired and look up to for inspiration and guidance through my art.
This year I have published 5 different lists, a Luxury List, Enthusiasts List, Art Books List, Stocking Filler List and the list you are about to view; The Artists Christmas Gift List. The items I have included in this list are all products for the Artist in your life. Now, we are all artists in our own right, but the people I am referring to in this list are those who absolutely need highly lightfast products, products that can be used on their commission, art gallery exhibits or next competition entry.
Alternatively, if you are fortunate enough to own all you need regarding art supplies, then perhaps the Christmas guides I have provided this year will aid you in your decision making process when it comes to buying for the artist loved one or friend in your life. I am also aware of the fact there are many of my artist friends who do not celebrate Christmas and that is absolutely wonderful for diversity of cultures, religions, ideas and art is what we should all strive for. That being said, everyone is entitled to be spoilt and this guide is good all year round.
I am sure most of you reading this article are what I would refer to as, “Traditional artists”, in other words, artists who use colored pencils, paint, canvas, paper etc. However, with the emergence of the Digital age and how almost all of us walk around with a computer more powerful than the computers that launched Apollo 11 to the moon, in our pockets, art is expanding into that digital forum.
In this review we are going to take a look at the Phoenixcolor Colored Pencils, in my opinion the most gorgeous colored pencils in the world, or at the very least, the most gorgeous colored pencils that I have had the pleasure to review.
In this review we are going to take a look at the Marco Chroma and Marco Manga Colored Pencils. I know that I have reviewed quite a lot of Marco brands recently and although this has most certainly not been a conscious decision on my part, I do apologise if any of you are a little bit fed up of the Marco reviews.
In this review we take a look at the 24 set of Paul Ruben Watercolors, this is a set of traditional colors and we also take a look at the 24 set of Paul Ruben Pearlescent Watercolors. In the review we take a look at the Lightfast ratings of the colors, prices of sets and of course the performance of the paints.
In this review we take a look at the Staedtler Luna Watercolor Pencils, this is a set of pencils I seen an Indian based artist use quite frequently on their social media videos and just really liked the look of the pencils as well as the art the artist was able to create with them.
In this review we take a look at the Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. Ohuhu reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I would like to review their markers, of course I was more than happy to do this. I know that I am very late to the party when it concerns reviewing the Ohuhu Markers, many wonderful reviewers have already reviewed them and so I hope that at this late stage I can add something of value to the Ohuhu Markers.
The Brutfuner 520 Colored Pencils come in two sets, for the purpose of this review we will refer to them as Set A and Set B. Both sets look similar in terms of the gorgeous botanical artwork on them, however, one is slightly darker in appearance and the other lighter and more colourful. Set A in this instance is the darker set and Set B is the lighter more colourful set.
Brutfuner is a popular pencil, certainly from the budget persuasion, they have quite a few different sets, but the set that we are reviewing here is the Brutfuner 120 Set Square Colored Pencils. On the packaging they are referred to as Brutfuner Oily Colored Pencils.
The thing that drew me to the Nyoni Colored Pencils was the barrel, most of the Japanese pencils I have reviewed have been pencils worthy of use and they have all sported a certain barrel type. When I seen the Nyoni Colored Pencils, their barrel reminded me of said Japanese pencils and so that was the initial attraction.
Not that long ago, I completed a review of the Marco Square C820, which are essentially the same pencil that is on review today, however the entire palette of the Marco Square C820 is made up of pastel tones. As I mentioned in that review, the palette is gorgeous, but a palette best used alongside another palette, hence the Marco Square C800.
I am often asked to recommend a colored pencil with the following traits, high quality, excellent pigment levels, lightfast results and reasonably priced, when asked this question I always reply with the Lyra Polycolor and Koh-I-Noor Polycolor, both outstanding pencils. In this review we are going to compare both these pencils
In this review we take a look at the Artify Brush Tip and Chisel Tip markers. I know lately I have been posting quite a lot of marker reviews and I still have more to come, however, there are a lot of marker artists and mixed media artists out there always on the look out for the next best and cheapest markers.
I have wanted to deliver a review of the Slice product range to you for a while now and I have eventually managed to deliver. Before I get into the actual product, I would just like to very briefly talk to you about the ethics of the company and let me just mention, ethics that I had to find myself, nothing that they mentioned to me and I had to ask permission to mention this.
This was the first time that I had completed a full art piece on the Derwent Lightfast Paper and I was incredibly impressed with the over all results of the artwork and the properties of the paper. About two years ago, I was asked by Derwent to take part in one of their focus groups, I was over the moon to have been asked in the first place, but the entire process was eye opening in so much as the level of work that goes on in the back ground to deliver these products to us.
The Marco Tribute Master Collection 80 Box Set comprises of Eight separate book like boxes, each holding Ten Marco Tribute Colored Pencils and they are all held together in an sturdy, sophisticated looking, marble looking box. For the purpose of the review I will refer to each box of pencils as books and when wanting to remove a book from its surround, each has a silk ribbon attached to the base of the book spine.
I was really frustrated and disappointed with these pencils, to me, the company got the hard part right which is the core, I really enjoyed the level of pigment and whilst the core of the Kalour pencil was soft, it wasn’t Prismacolor soft so a point could be held a little bit longer.
