April Paletteful Packs - What an absolute cluster...

 Well.  

The April Paletteful Packs box is here.  I was really hoping since we got very common pens the last two months, that we would get something unique, or in tubes or palettes, you know, something different.  

And then we got this: 

I'm not even going to go through everything or write it out here in much detail.  I made a video of my thoughts and a time-lapse of my artwork here: 

But in case you want the cliffs notes version, here it is: 

• The pens are a great office supply, but not art markers.  
• The copic was upcharged because it's an exclusive "special black," which feels like a big old swindle to me.  It's a BLACK COPIC.  If you own copics, you HAVE a black one.  Honestly.  
• The Signo Gold pen was great - honestly the best thing we got.  
• The brush was nice but unnecessary because the pens are NOT really meant to be used in that way.  But it's a solid brush and I will use it.  
• The bristol paper was excellent when I used it with my alcohol markers, but was awful when using it with the markers they gave us.  The markers tore it to shreds.  But I will use the bristol board for my alcohol markers.  
• The sticker was cute. 

The bottom line, I'm probably cancelling Paletteful Packs.  I might give them one more month, but for the value I feel like Scrawlrbox was 100 times better.   I only canceled Scrawlrbox because the pandemic made getting the boxes difficult for awhile and they were really, REALLY late each month.  But honestly I'm at a point where I'd rather wait and get different things than keep overpaying for boring boxes.  

I'm sorry if that seems harsh, but I feel like even the worst Sketchbox is 4 times better than the best PP box I have gotten to this point.  It seems to be time to move on for now from them.  

At any rate, I made donuts for PP Prompt #3.  It turned out ok, but the piece had a lot of limitations because of the markers.  

Did you get this box?  What did you think of it?  Let me know in the comments below!  

March Paletteful Packs - REDEMPTION! All things POSCA!!!

Ok guys, so I know LAST month I was not too kind about Paletteful Packs... so this month I was really hoping they would deliver in a big way....  

AND. THEY. DID!!!!

I know that's a spoiler - but yes it was SO good!  Here's what was in the box, swatches, and what I thought of everything!  

POSCA Pens - Aqua, Green, Pink and Yellow  

I mean, what could I possibly say about these pens that hasn't already been said?!?!?!  They are just fabulous!  I love their coverage and how easy they are to use.  They are the top tier of paint pens.  I already had all 4 of these colors, so I was happy to set these 4 aside completely wrapped until the ones I have are used up.  This color selection was a great and versatile palette.  But these are such a fun and useful art supply!  

POSCA Pastel Pencils - Red and Green

These were an interesting add to the box.  I have never worked with these pastel pencils before, but they seemed to be wax based and did not blend with water or alcohol.  I do not have gamsol, so I didn't try to break them down in that fashion.  These were a nice texture and added a nice variety to the box!  I would have preferred to get a color other than green as I already had plenty of green in this box, but they were fun to play with and layered well to create texture on my final piece.  

Copic Opaque White Pigment 

This was the MOST exciting thing in the box for me!  I have almost purchased this ink several times for myself, but it's expensive and I already have several opaque white mediums.  I'm SO glad I didn't own it because it was the best surprise in this box!  It's beautifully opaque, and very, very fluid!  It worked well both under and over the posca pens, and under the pastels.  This is a fabulous, high end art supply that I will use over and over again!  Thank you PP for this amazing item!  

Robert Simmons Sapphire Brush - Round #3

This brush is a nice #3 round brush.  It works well and will be a nice addition to my brush collection.  I will say that with an MSRP of $13, I feel like a more affordable brush could have been included in order to add another POSCA product, either pen or pastel.  BUT that's really just splitting hairs over things, literally.  

Crescent Ultra-Black Textured Board 8"x10" - 3 Pack

These are very nice illustration boards!  I liked working on it and felt that it held up really well under the POSCA pens specifically.  I'm not usually one for working on thick boards, so this was a fun and different challenge!  I ended up cutting my boards in half so that my daughter and I could work with smaller picture sizes.  I also tested the supplies on black mixed media paper, and it also held up quite nicely with everything in the box.  

So what did I make?  Well, Paletteful Packs does prompts for their boxes, and I started with Prompt #2: Cactus/Succulent.  Yes, I know, but succulents are my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to draw or paint!  So Here are my perfectly Paletteful POSCA succulents: 

I really liked using the pastel overtop of the marker to create texture and interest.  I also liked using markers and pastels at the bottom to create an almost sandy looking ground.  I also used the copic white to make a starry sky, and I *did* cheat a little and used one of the micron pens from last month's box to add prickles to my succulents.  

Was this box worth it?  Well, Paletteful Packs values this box at $58.15.  I went through and was able to value this box for $51.73, so about $6.50 less than what they valued the box at.  I used prices from Blick and Amazon.  This price included valuing the pastels by dividing a 24 pack up, so I do not believe I would be able to test the pastels by themselves easily without a box like this.  All things considered, I would ABSOLUTELY say that this box was worth the $40 that I paid for it!  I will use everything in the box, especially the pens and the Copic ink.  I am glad that I had a chance to test the pastels, I would probably not purchase a whole set of them BUT I'm glad to have tried them.  I also enjoyed getting to paint on the illustration boards, that is not something that I have done before and so it was really fun! So THANK YOU Paletteful Packs, I'm really glad I stuck around for another month, and I'm excited to see what we get in April!  

What do you think of this box?  Do you love POSCA pens as much as me?  Let me know in the comments below!!!  

Paletteful Packs February - Micron and Brush Pens

 I know I said no more subscription boxes (maybe I only said it to myself... but I did say it!), BUT after I watched other people online opening the last two Paletteful boxes, I KNEW I had to give it a try!  I mean, first they got Golden acrylics and THEN they got Daniel Smith watercolors?!?!?  The value in these boxes was INSANE, so I had to try it.  

Well.  I have to say that this box was.... underwhelming at best.  Let me be clear, the items in the box are good items, but the value was just not there for me.  Let me go through each item and explain in further detail.  

Here's the items and the swatch card, and then explanations of each item and my feelings.  

Swatches

Back of Swatch Page

Tombow Dual Brush Markers - 3 Green Shades

I love Tombow brush markers.  These were the best part of the box for me.  We got three different green shades and while that was nice, 2 of them were greens I already have and I only own like 15 Tombow brush markers.  That isn't Paletteful's fault but it would have been nice to get something I didn't already have.  I also would have enjoyed at least 2 more Tombow brush pens, maybe a neutral brown or gray and a complementary color like Pink or Orange.  

Denik Sketchbook

This sketchbook was, just ok.  The artwork is beautiful, and I do really like that it was customized by Alice, whose artwork is always fantastic.  The paper wasn't great.  It was thin, and did not hold up very well to the brush markers.  Brush markers are water-based, and so when I tested them with water the paper didn't hold up at all.  There was pilling and warping and bleeding through.  This isn't that big of a deal, but I would have preferred them to use Mixed Media paper that held up to the wet brush pens a bit better. I know this is pricier, but they *could* have done that if they hadn't blown all their money on the final item in the box.  I also feel that at $11.99 this book is overpriced.  I have an Artists Loft sketchbook that is hardbound that I paid $7 for with paper that held up better than this sketchbook.  

Sakura Micron Pens - Exclusive 100th Anniversary Set of 10

Before I go on my rant here, I want to start by saying that I LOVE Micron Pens.  I love them and own a ton of them.  THAT BEING SAID.... 

1. A 10 pack of the same black fineliners, simply in different sizes, is too many.  At most, 5 of the varied nibs will allow you to make a beautiful and richly lined pen piece in my opinion.  

2. These were an *exclusive* item, and the MSRP given was $35.99.  Now, they are pretty.  But they are the same EXACT fineliners that I can get in a normal barrel on Amazon for $17.  For something that performs the exact same way as something half the price, this mark-up of "expected value" is ridiculous.  I do NOT pay for an art subscription to get a fancy looking version of something much cheaper that does the EXACT same thing.  

3. The high MSRP on these *exclusive* pens prevented the box from having other colors of Tombow brush pens, or a pencil (more on that later), or any kind of highlight/white medium.  

4. The petite box, which is cheaper, recieved a BLACKWING PENCIL.  This actually made me upset.  I paid for the bigger box and my assumption was that I would get all that the smaller box had to offer and more.  The petite box got a smaller sketchbook, the same three Tombow pens, only 5 Microns, and a blackwing pencil.  I would have paid $35 for those supplies and honestly felt way better about it than what I did get.  

The bottom line, will I use these pens?  Of course, but I'm pretty ticked that this is the bulk of what I paid for this month.  Getting an art supply that I don't normally use or that is different is totally fine and never disappointing, but paying money because someone slapped an "exclusive anniversary" label on a set of pens is very frustrating.  Especially for something as common as fineliners, which most people that buy art boxes get ALL the time.  This was a huge let down for me.  

Ok onto the art: When I saw the cover of the notebook, I knew I was probably going to draw succulents.  You guys know I'm a sucker for succulents.... hahahaha.  The paper did ok on this drawing but I definitely had to watch for pilling.  I also only used 5 micron pens to prove the point that 5 is the most you would need.  

I still ended up making a nice piece of art with the products in the box. As I said before, I will definitely use all of these art supplies, but if I had bought them on my own I would have paid closer to $32, and this box actually cost me more than that.  I know a lot of people did really like this box, but for me the point of an art subscription box is to get new, fun things to try in new ways.  These were very basic items that were given a huge markup for being exclusives, which is not at all what I'm about.  

All of that being said, I'm going to stick with Paletteful Packs for another month.  I know they normally jam pack their boxes full of fun and value, so I'm going to give them another chance.  

Did you get this box? If so, what were your thoughts?  What are your thoughts on exclusive items?