This box was all about watercolors, and the watercolors in the box were some of my favorites! They sent us a palette of travel Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors in SUCH a nice assortment of colors and the cutest little case that definitely reminded me of CD’s in the 90’s! Here’s the swatches, items, and what I thought of each item in the box:
1. Kuretake Gansai Tambi Travel Watercolor Palette
This little palette is really amazing. I loved the colors chosen, and it’s a GREAT
way for people to try the GT paints for the first time! I already know I love these paints, so I’m very excited to use them on the road until the palette is gone! The color selection is great, and the addition of the pearl color is perfect for the holiday season.
2. Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Pencil in 2B
This is, a pencil. It’s not any better or worse than any other pencil in any other art
box. Koh-i-noor always puts out a good product, but I really feel like adding a sketching pencil to an art box is unnecessary. We all have a pencil somewhere to sketch with (I think that’s a fair assumption anyway), and so this just feels like a waste of value. I would have much preferred the addition of another kind of art supply that worked with the rest of them. I DO appreciate a set of graphite pencils if that’s the art challenge - this just wasn’t that.
3. TCW Stencils Color Sparx Powder in Wisteria
These powders are so neat and fun! I didn’t use it as a powder on this piece, but
I really enjoy playing with these with my color burst powders from Ken Oliver. It’s a messy time, but a fun time when I get them out! This was a beautiful, rich purple and I’m always happy to see this type of medium in an art box!
4. Hahnemuhle Toned Watercolor Paper in Gray
This is a solid surface for this box. I enjoyed the toned gray paper, and how it
worked with the white highlight of the pen. This paper isn’t 100% cotton, but it’s very quality cellulose paper. The size is also perfect to create cards or postcards, which I really like to do with my artwork.
5. LePetit Water BrusH20 from Kuretake
This was probably the most disappointing item in the box for me. Maybe I’m just
not meant to use a water brush, because I haven’t found a single one I actually enjoy. This is interesting to me, because I DO enjoy using brush pens filled with in the same manner. I just find them to work much more consistently than any water brush I’ve ever used. This one was small and even though it comes apart for travel it doesn’t fit into the palette given. I ended up using my own brushes on my piece, which I often do and don’t find that to be a violation of the integrity of any art box IMO. But I’d have much preferred a travel size round brush without water for this box, since I know they always try to include a brush with paints.
6. Archer and Olive Acrylograph 0.7mm paint pens in White and Navy
I was SO excited to try these, because I have an Archer and Olive bullet journal
and I’ve been wanting to try them for awhile. These are great paint pens! They seem to be about comparable to a Posca of the same tip, but priced just a little bit higher. I will say that the nib on these seems a little more solid than a posca, and that might be why they are pricier. But I really enjoyed these pens and will definitely use them in mixed media pieces AND in my bullet journal.
My piece turned out really fun and festive:
Overall, I really liked this box! It was easily one of the better boxes I’ve gotten from Sketchbox in the past 6 months, BUT it was still barely a value. I’m not sure what’s going in with Sketchbox right now, but I do feel like I haven’t been getting my money’s worth lately. I’m going to get the December box from them and then take a break for a bit, and maybe try doing some different types of challenges with the supplies that I already have!
Here’s the full video for anyone that wants to see the full process of the art and swatches:
Do you get Sketchbox? What did you think of this box? Let me know in the comments below!
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