What to give to an artist?

If your loved one is an artist (professional, amateur, beginner, and so on), birthday and New Year gifts often come down to just art supplies. And for many lovers of painting, graphics and other types of art related to this, the best gift is, indeed, new brushes, pencils, books on art history. The materials of the article will help you choose a good present if you yourself are an amateur in this.

For the hobbyist, almost everything that creative stores can offer you is necessary and valuable. He still does not clearly distinguish high-quality products from just good ones, he cannot always say what the difference is between two seemingly identical types of watercolor paper. And with your gift you can help him improve his artistic skills.

So, a beginner, non-professional artist (artist) can give a lot of useful things.

• Educational book. A great gift if the book is a bestseller or a classic textbook. Your loved one will appreciate it for sure! Just make sure he doesn't have such a book yet.
• Book on the history of art. There are artists who enjoy the process, but the art itself is of little interest to them. But there are many more who go into the world of painting. Therefore, an art history book will be a gorgeous gift.
• A set of quality brushes. Time shows that there are not many of them either. A person who loves to paint even likes to touch the brushes, look at them, and try them at work. Therefore, you are unlikely to go wrong with a gift: brushes for a novice watercolorist are always happiness.
• Certificate for training courses. This is a serious investment in the artistic skill of the person you want to gift. You give him education, which in itself is a great value. By the way, there is a wonderful gift for beginners - a certificate in the style of "Write your picture in 3 hours." Three hours in a creative setting, and the first picture is ready! And such a gift is worth it quite adequately.
• Easel. What is an artist without an easel? There is no need to take the most "sophisticated" one, the main thing is that it is made of high quality materials.

Encourage the desire of loved ones to draw, and it does not matter to whom you are giving a gift - whether it is a man, a woman, it is intended for a friend or for a grandmother.

The first and foremost rule is to make sure that there is no such publication in the artist's collection yet. If you give a gift to a young artist, create a professional library for him.

Top 7 books on art history that will make an artist happy.

1. P. Volkova "Lectures on Art". Without reading these books, one cannot feel involved in the world of art history. It's like Russian literature without Pushkin.
2. D. Burger "Portraits"... These are small notes about the great people of world painting. Anyone will enjoy reading Berger - he is gifted with a simple, concise, but accurate, meaningful, clean style.
3. K. Paul "Digital Art". A book for those who appreciate not only classical art. The author explains more than easily what neo-art and installations are. After reading this book, you will no longer feel like a neophyte.
4. D. Barnes "Open Your Eyes"... The writer takes notes on art history, it is really difficult to tear yourself away from the text. If your artist friend breathed about Cezanne, Magritte and L. Freud, look for this book urgently.
5. D. Ruskin "Theory of beauty". This is also a collection, but a collection of essays. Moreover, their author is the most influential art critic of his time. From him, by the way, Wilde and Proust drew knowledge. If your artist friend loves to delve into art, find this edition.
6. M. German "Impressionism". In order not to confuse Monet and Manet, to learn the secrets of writing world masterpieces and understand what fed the Impressionists, and why they changed the world a little, read this book.
7. S. Thornton "Seven Days in Art". Immerse yourself in contemporary art, understand what a biennale is, and how an auction is held, is very useful for all novice artists. The book does a great job with this.

And this is just a rough list of books that can be donated to an artist.

Photos of artists' studios catch the eyes of people who can't even draw. All this creative atmosphere, the subtlety of the craft, the sensuality of the creation process is really catchy. And if your close artist has such a workshop or is close to creating it (even in the most modest form), make your contribution to this process.

A lot of useful things can be donated to an artist's studio.

• Paints. There are a great many of them - watercolors, acrylics, gouache, oil and so on. There are classic sets that are unlikely to be unclaimed in the workshop. Sold in specialized stores.
• Pencils. Coal, colored, graphite and so on. Drawing with colored pencils is especially popular today, therefore a professional set will delight the artist.
• Fountain pens, professional markers and felt-tip pens. An artist can be a calligrapher, engage in lettering (the art of beautiful signature), and such artistic means will definitely come in handy.
• Paper, canvas. A watercolourist always needs good watercolor paper, and those who write on canvas will definitely not be superfluous with its supply.
• Sketchbooks, sketchbooks... In a large selection today, they are relatively inexpensive, the artist is unlikely to refuse such a replenishment.

If you are afraid to make a mistake with the choice of tools, remember that a real artist is not a craftsman, he is a person of a special mindset. To work, he does not need a schedule, but inspiration. It turns out that this can also be gifted. For both men and women, a ticket to an up-to-date exhibition (and maybe a subscription to an art gallery, for example) will be an excellent gift.

Not only books, but films as well - these are also impressions, no doubt about it. You can present to the artist a voluminous flash drive with a selection of the best films about artists.

Here is just a rough list of great films.

• "Big eyes". The story of Margaret Keane, which for a long time remained inglorious, because her works delighted the world under a different author's signature.
• "Frida"... One of the best works of Salma Hayek, a film that you want to watch over and over again. Not just a creative and personal biography, but revived pictures of the great Mexican woman.
• "Savage"... Paul Gauguin's story is about inspiration, its search, the torment of creativity and women.
• "Van Gogh. Love, Vincent. " The unique picture has already made Van Gogh's fans cry with delight. Not just a film, but a story in which the main word (and technical too) is provided by the painting itself.
• "Andrey Rublev". Tarkovsky's masterpiece about the great painter and the difficult time in which Rublev lived and worked.

Often, a novice artist is presented with paintings by numbers - kits for creativity, little related to true painting, aimed at performing a certain algorithm. It is impossible to say unequivocally whether such a gift is valuable or not. For a person who can draw, there is little value in him. But if you have a beginner in front of you, ready to try everything, such a set can be useful for the experience. Such a picture will be painted by those who did not hold a brush in their hands - the main thing is patience and accuracy.

But such sets will not teach you how to draw. It does not explain the very principle of building a composition, working with color, and so on.

And if your family has a small artist, a personal exhibition will be the best gift for him. If the child is studying in the studio, and his work is already serious for his age, you can organize an exhibition at school or in the garden - as a rule, educational institutions enthusiastically respond to such an idea. But the home exhibition is also good, especially if it's a surprise. For example, on a child's birthday, guests will appreciate the home opening day, and the little artist himself will be blessed with such attention.

Even more ideas for what to give to the artist are presented in the next video.