December Sketchbox

 December 2021 Sketchbox!  

Well everyone, this is a sad day because it is my final Sketchbox for awhile.  I think anyways?  I might get the January one, but I’m not sure when the subscription actually ends.  BUT - if this is the last one we are certainly going out with a bang!  

I also would like to say that I love Sketchbox and think they are one of the best art subscription boxes out there - I am just swimming in supplies.  I also think that I know what I like at this point, and so I want to try to do some different types of art challenges for the next few months, including some “No Box Art Box” challenges!  

But let’s get back to this Sketchbox!  Right after I got 3 amazing Copic Sketch markers from Scrawlrbox, I turn around and get 3 MORE COPIC SKETCH markers from Sketchbox!  And they were 3 new colors to me AGAIN - which is awesome!  Here’s the entire contents of the box:  

•  Copic Sketch Blending Set #4

What can I say, they are copic markers and they were put into this palette to blend!!!  These are a fabulous addition to the sketchbox.  The colors blend together nicely, and work beautifully.  They are refillable and the nibs are superior.  So yes, I’m super glad to get these copics in this box!  

• Tombox ABTPro Alcohol Marker - Poppy Red

I have quite a few of these alcohol markers, and while they aren’t as perfect as a Copic sketch I do really like them too!  I don’t have a red one, and it did well on the blend test with the darkest copic marker to make a nice orange color.  It will also work well with the red and white pencils in the box!  

• RendR Drawing Pad, 4”x7”, 24 pages (48 using both sides!)

I’ve wanted to try one of these for a good while, but hadn’t yet ordered it because I have a LOT of unused marker paper!  This. stuff. is. bananas.  I can’t believe there’s NO ghosting and beautiful blending.  I’m more than obsessed and definitely want a sketchbook like this to use with my markers exclusively.  I’ve tried several different paper pads for markers, and this one is definitely the best I’ve used at LEAST for the purpose of a sketchbook!  Thank you Sketchbox for giving me a chance to try this!  

• Derwent Chromaflow Pencils, Scarlet and White

I’m already a huge fan of the Derwent Chromaflow Pencils, and so I was excited to get two more in this box!  They are a wonderful addition to my set of desk pencils which is mainly prismacolors.  This white is a solid white that holds up overtop of the other colors, not as good as a prismacolor white BUT pretty darn well.  My only complaint here is that my red pencil had a broken core, and so I had to sharpen it down a bunch to get it to work.  This happens sometimes, but I’m sad to ever waste product.  The red pencil did lay nicely under the alcohol marker to melt together and change the look and tone of that marker as well. 

• Kuretake Fude Pen with a Black and Gray Tip

This is a really nice fude pen!  I wasn’t thrilled at first when I saw it in the box, but it did grow on me!  It does layer under the alcohol markers (it has to be COMPLETELY dry though) and it has a great brush nib for lots of line work options.  I’m looking forward to using this and seeing if I can use it for other applications as well!!!   

I had a blast drawing these bells!  I knew right away that I wanted to try and use these markers to make the metal bells.  I’m not an alcohol marker artist by any stretch, but I definitely wanted to try my hand at this!  I’m really happy with how it turned out!  

So, the value for this box was ok.  I couldn’t find the Kuretake pen anywhere, but I’d say the $5 pricetag seems comparable to similar items.  I also think the RendR pad is a bit over-valued, I can get a similar product at a much larger size for about the same price.  I LOVED this RendR pad - I’m only talking about the way it was valued from Skechbox.  I will say the box was very well curated, better than most other boxes I’ve gotten this year.  (November was well curated too, Sketchbox has been doing a much better job at the end of the year on this front!)  I’d say if you want to try alcohol markers, this is a great box to try and gives you an idea of how you might like the medium!  I’d argue that a colorless blender could have replaced the red pencil and would have been great if this is someone’s first experience with alcohol markers, but overall this was a solid box.  

If you wanna see the swatches and full video, feel free to check it out here!  

Did you get this box?  What art subscription box should I try next?  Let me know in the comments below!  

Quick and Easy Holiday Cards #1

 One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to turn my art into holiday cards! We do have a LOT of family, and so I like to do cards that are pretty quick and simple but look handmade and beautiful! These cards allowed me to do a relaxing, easy paint and then to turn a larger piece into 2 quick cards. You can watch the full video of the time lapse painting here: 

I also want to take a quick moment to shout out two really great businesses that I featured in this video! The palettes I’m using today are from an Etsy shop called “Arts to Embers.” They have amazing, customizable travel sized palettes that are sleek and beautiful and practical! Here’s a link to their shop in case you are interested: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtstoEmbers

The paints that I used for this piece are assorted metallic paints from KMS Watercolor. KMS Watercolor is a handmade watercolor paint shop with amazing, high quality pigments! She offers so many unique combinations and these small sample sizes are perfect for a small travel palette! You can check out her shop here: https://kmswatercolor.com/

I did not receive any products for free from either company and will not get a commission if you click my links! I just really like both of these businesses and wanted to give them a friendly shout out for being awesome!

Back to the cards - so after I made the metallic floral background, I trimmed it down and matted it on silver glitter cardstock and then a black card base! I used Gina K Connect glue to hold everything together! Then, I added holiday sentiments to each one and the cards were done! The holiday sentiment strips are from CZ Designs and I got them from Simon Says Stamp. 

These cards are simple, but the metallic artwork stands for itself as the centerpiece. They are flat and mail-friendly, and I’m super pleased with how they turned out!

My goal is to put out at least 3 quick and easy holiday card ideas this month! This is #1, so stay tuned for #2 and #3! Do any of you have go to ideas for holiday cards? Do you prefer to paint cards or stamp cards (or something else entirely?) Let me know in the comments below!

October (yes, October) Scrawlrbox - COPICS!

I can’t believe it’s December and I’m just NOW getting around to talking about the October Scrawlrbox!  But I was sick for most of November, and the footage from that video was… not good!  So, let’s take a look at what was in the box AND if it was worth it: 

Box Contents and Swatches: 

• Copic Sketch Markers x3, Aqua, Canary Yellow and Strong Red

• UniPin 0.3mm fine liner

• Faber Castell Grip 2B Pencil

• Faber Castell Kneaded Eraser

• Scrawlrbox exclusive marker paper, A5, 10 sheets, 75 gsm

I’m going to talk about this box as a whole since I didn’t get around to doing a piece of art with only the contents of the box.  First of all, getting 3 Copic Sketch markers was SUCH a joy!  AND they were 3 colors I don’t already have BUT primaries that worked together beautifully - so WELL DONE Scrawlrbox!  That alone basically pays for the box itself!  The marker paper is also excellent and I’m a bit sad that we don’t know what company made the paper.  It is the type of marker paper I prefer (it ghosts badly but doesn’t bleed at all, and blends beautifully.)  It reminds me of a Layout Bloc I got from Hahnemuhle in a Sketchbox, BUT I’m definitely not sure.  I do really like the paper and it will most definitely get used with my alcohol marker projects!  

The pencil and eraser were just that, a pencil and an eraser.  I never need a pencil in a non-graphite box, and I only need an eraser if the whole box is pencil oriented.  These items felt like throw-aways, and I think a white highlight OR a cheaper brand gray marker/blender would have been a much better value add here.  BUT this box was well worth the price so I’m only nit-picking at this point.  

The fineliner is also pretty great - I’ve never had a UniPin liner before and so getting this one was great to try!  The next time I need to purchase a fine liner, I’m definitely going with UniPin over Micron at this point.  I liked the UniPin nib better for some reason.  

Here’s the value breakdown for the box.  If you are in the UK, this box was a SMASH of a deal.  We have access to Copics here a little easier, and so it wasn’t quite as big of a value BUT I still think it was a solid valued box that was well curated.  

I’m hoping to get my November Scrawlrbox soon here so that I can have a quick turn around on that video and blog post for you!  

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

November 2021 Sketchbox!

Hi there everyone! It’s November Sketchbox time again, and I’m SO very excited to go ahead and talk about this box!

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!

Holiday Sketchbox 2021

It’s here it’s HERE! The Sketchbox Holiday Box for 2021 is HERE!!! Oh MAN I’m excited for this box and to play with it! Let’s go through what we got inside the box, what I think of the supplies, and how I see myself using them all! At the end we will talk about value and if this box was worth it:  

Box Price is $89.00 USD and was $10 shipping, for a total of $99 USD. 

To see the unboxing, check out my video here below: 

Contents: 

1. Hahnemuhle Watercolor Postcards, set of 30

I’m VERY excited to get these in a box! They are a high quality for a cellulose paper, and even though they are thin, I think they work really well. I’m planning to use inks with them because if you are going to mail postcards, you definitely want to make sure they aren’t going to be ruined if they get wet! THAT is probably my biggest complaint with the items in this box, but we shall get there later on. I was absolutely pleased with the addition of these watercolor postcards to this box!

2. Kuretake Gold Mica Ink

This stuff is LIQUID GOLD. Honestly, this was the best thing in the box. I liked a LOT of this box, but this was my favorite thing. If you can’t get this box, just go online and get this ink. It was beautiful on black and white paper! And it’s ink, so it won’t get ruined or lift! I’m really looking forward to using this in the future and in my metallic gold/silver roundup!

3. Sketchbox Round 6 Brush

I was surprised that I enjoyed this brush so much! This brush is softer than the brushes I’m used to getting in an artbox, much more like a traditional watercolor brush. It reminds me of a creative mark Mimik brush - and I’m in love with it. It’s definitely going to be in my brush rotation going forward!

4. Dynasty Black Gold Brush - Whale Tail 1⁄2”

This brush is... interesting! It’s fun for the novelty of it, but I never would have spent money on something like this. I’m going to play with it over time and see if I think it was a worthwhile addition or not. It says it’s to make ribbons, but like is painting the end of a ribbon really that difficult? I’m not sure the $12.50 pricetag for this was worth it though, but I’m going to play with it and see.

5. Stonehenge Co Metallic Watercolors - Gold, Pearl and Red

 Oh MAN these are wonderful! I have a stonehenge metallic blue paint already, and so I already knew this was great paint. My biggest thing here would be that I think it would have been nice to get a red AND a green instead of a gold since we already had gotten the gold ink, but they are all wonderful. I’ve definitely already purchased a green to make a set here because I like these so much! This is great paint and definitely worth the value! They did perform WAY better on black paper than on the white paper though, so I’m much more likely to use them on my black watercolor and mixed media papers.

6. Cretacolor 24 set of Artist Studio Watercolor Pencils

I really feel like calling these “Artist Studio” pencils was so misleading. These are very VERY student grade pencils in my opinion. The color payout is weak, and they lift like crazy. I was super excited when I originally got these, but they are not a good product for this box. Also, because we were given watercolor postcards, I feel like the fact that these pencils lifted so badly was even worse! If these postcards were to get wet in the mail, they would DEFINITELY get ruined! I think with the postcards it would have been better to include a set with fewer colors that was going to be harder to lift like that cretacolor aqua monolith woodless watercolors, OR something that is more permanent altogether like the Derwent Inktense blocks or pencils. A smaller selection of these would definitely have been better in my opinion!

7. Nicholson’s Peerless watercolor Sheets - Portrait Set

These are right in line with the pencils above. They are pretty much the same

thing as the Viviva colorsheets, and they lift just as much as Viviva. Again, this seems like a bad medium if you are using postcards. If we had been given a regular watercolor paper pad I wouldn’t be complaining near as much, but these will definitely need sealed somehow if they are to be used on these postcards. I’d have traded these and the pencils for a decent set of watercolor pencils or inktense pencils/blocks/pan paints. That would have been a pretty incredible deal actually!

8. Daniel Smith Masking Fluid

This is solid masking fluid! I love good masking fluid, and this stuff is really high quality. I’m not sure how much I will use it on these postcards, BUT this will be a great addition to my overall collection of watercolor supplies!

My overall initial impressions are that this box fell a bit flat. The supplies feel disjointed. The metallic supplies are REALLY high quality, but they shine most when used on black paper. The box didn’t come with black paper, so that’s kind of a bummer. The postcards are really nice, but they need to be used with a media that is going to either be sealed OR be more permanent from the beginning. The only permanent item in the box is the gold ink, and so I would have much preferred some type of permanent/inky medium with the watercolor postcards. OR give us regular watercolor paper, but I still think the pencils were a huge let down. I never value quantity over quality in boxes like these. Ultimately I would have traded both the watercolor sheets and the pencils for one set of 12 half pans of inktense OR another similar watercolor brand and something to seal the final postcards. And I would have traded the strange brush for a quality flat or mop brush and maybe a permanent brush ink pen for line work or something like that! 

But separately, some of these products are going to be great! Have you tried any of these products before? What is your favorite type of holiday picture to do? Let me know in the comments below! 

September 2021 Scrawlrbox - Dramatic Landscapes, Charcoal and Graphite!

 It’s that time of the month again!  Time for another Scrawlrbox!  

I guess I should update you here on the blog - since I quit Paletteful Packs (that last box with the markers was just too undervalued) - I went back to Scrawlrbox!  And truthfully, I’m so glad I did.  They take a little longer to get to me, but they are absolutely so well curated and always a great value.  Here’s what came inside the September 2021 box and my thoughts on each item: 

1. Derwent Charcoal and Graphite Sticks

As soon as I saw these, I got excited.  I have a set of Inktense blocks that I got from Scrawlrbox some time ago, and my IMMEDIATE thought was… can I wet these down?  I love it when I can add water to something to play with it, and so I was SO excited when they reactivated with water!  The different sizes and shades have different values too!  I’m excited to be able to use these blocks two different ways to get different effects on my piece.  

2. ArtGraf Water Soluable White Tailor’s Chalk

ArtGraf is one of those companies I’m always excited to see in an artbox!  Their products are always high quality and unique, at least to me!  This tailor’s chalk didn’t disappoint!  It’s very opaque and is so easy to use with a paintbrush.  If I was one for messy fingers, I’d probably break this guy up to try using it to get different textures on my piece (I still might try this if I’m brave, haha!)  But this is exactly the kind of fun and interesting product I would never have purchased myself but will use often!  

3. Faber Castell GoldFaber White Pencil

I’m always interested to see if a white pencil will hold up to my gold standard for white pencils - prismacolor.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this Goldfaber pencil!  It definitely performed WAY better than expected and much better than a lot of other white pencils I’ve gotten in boxes.  The paper is also really great to work on dry, so this was a great addition to the box!  

4. Faber Castell Pitt Matt Graphite Pencils in 6b and 14b

These were probably my least favorite item in the box, but that’s kind of unfair because they are very quality pencils!  I just think the 6b was a bit repetitive with the derwent graphite sticks, but the 14b was really useful.  I imagine if you used this box with less wet media techniques that you would have found more use for these pencils - so I’m still thinking they were worth it.  

5. Clairefontaine Paint-On Mixed Media Paper Pad, 5x7 in Denim, 12 sheets

Clairefontaine continues to produce quality, versatile, and affordable paper.  I love their Paint-On mixed media paper. It was super fun to get some more toned paper of this type!  The blue tone added another color and dimension to this box, and the paper took wet media QUITE well. It also isn’t totally smooth so it does pick up pencils and the sticks well too! Again, a solid surface that really makes it feel like I’m getting my money’s worth!  

6. Derwent Blending Stump

Not much to say about this except that it did the job well!  I don’t have a blending stump, so I’m definitely glad to have one to try out with my colored pencils!  Derwent is tried and true and always puts out quality products! 

I decided, since the Scrawlrbox Prompt this month was “Dramatic Landscapes.”  I knew immediately after swatching this box that I wanted to try a big moon with mountains!  I had a lot of fun making this piece!  The moon didn’t granulate and move in the same way that it would with granulating paints/watercolor paper/salt and salt water, BUT it still did a pretty good job overall! I also had a blast trying to shade the mountains!  

So, was it worth it?  Overall, Scrawlrbox values this box at $35.79 USD.  I paid $33.10 for this box, and the value was $38.44.  This is a little over $5 more than I paid for the box, but I have to say I think it was a pretty good value.  I’d have loved one less of the Faber Castell Pitt Matt pencils (the 6b probably) and to add a Derwent Graphitint blue pencil to give us one more blue/indigo value within the set!  BUT this is really splitting hairs!  Once again, Scrawlrbox continues to give us great art boxes with super cool supplies!  If you'd like to watch the whole unboxing and process, it's below on YouTube:

Did you get this box, what did you think of it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below! 

Inktober and Linktober 2021!

WOW - it’s been a hot minute since I wrote in the blog! Let’s start with a little bit of catch up!

First of all, I started streaming!! That’s been REALLY fun, though with me being back at work these days I haven’t been doing it as much as before! I’ve been streaming lots of fun things, including art, various Zelda games, and art about Zelda games!!! If you are interested in checking out streams, you can find me here: http://twitch.tv/kbsmith34

Next, I’ve been working on turning a LOT of what I do here into videos on YouTube! When I started that I kind of let the blog fall away, but to be honest I think I want to try to keep the blog going along with the YouTube videos! Sometimes a blog post can be longer and a bit more thorough than a YT video - and so I’m going to *try* to get back to balancing both things.

So, we are currently in the middle of inktober and linktober. I’ve been trying to manage both things, and we are on day 18 and I’ve kept it up so far! Linktober gets my main attention for longer pieces, and I do feel like my work this year is much better than 2020. I will say that in 2020 my main goal was just to draw with a reference as closely as possible because I was so new to so much of it! This year I’ve done some of that (for instance, all of my little LttP scenes are pretty heavily referenced) BUT one of my main goals has been to try to make things in my own style with less referencing and more feelings. So far, I think it’s been going really well. It shows growth for me I wasn’t confident about before this challenge, which makes me really happy and proud.

Inktober was something I really wanted to try this year but with specific constraints so I could actually do it and not get too “in my head” about two art pieces every day. I decided that from beginning to end, each inktober piece would be 10 minutes or less. This is from initial sketch to final product! I chose reasonably sized paper for this, and a pencil that dissolves under wet media. I also am using simple watercolor washes and a permanent ink brush pen to do line work. I feel REALLY good about this journey also - and think this has definitely increased my skills at basic drawing and line work!

I recently made a YouTube video showing off most of my challenge art to this point, and talking about the official inktober products that I purchased to use for inktober. I will say I’m in LOVE with the Viviva Colorsheets! I bought the inktober set and the metallic set because I wanted to try the metallics. They are a wonderful “on the go” option for my sketchbook! I’m really glad I took this opportunity to try them! The full thoughts are up on YT here: 

Thanks for reading along and catching up with me today! I’m looking forward to getting back to longer and more detailed reviews of products here on the blog. Check out my Instagram and YouTube pages for more inspiration! Bye for now!