Tag: sketchbox

My Recommendation – Sketchbox

My Recommendation – Sketchbox

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As all of you lovely readers know, I hit a bit of a wall at the start of the year. I have been doing everything that I can to get the creative juices flowing. One of the suggestions that other artists have for getting things going again is mini challenges. There are so many out there. There are Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest daily prompt accounts. There are “Draw this in your style” challenges, which I am going to look at next. There are challenges where you limit yourself somehow, either through time, number of colours, supplies you can use etc. One “tool” that I really enjoyed on this line last year was Sketchbox.

I fell down a crazy subscription box rabbit hole last fall. I quickly subscribed to a couple and immediately cut myself off haha. One of my favourites was Sketchbox. There are multiple ways to subscribe, one month, three months, six months, and there are basic and premium boxes available depending on your level of interest. There are also unboxing videos for each box which will show you all of the contents if you can’t wait for your box to arrive, but will also go through different ways to use the tools in your box. So, if you get something that you have never used before, be not afraid, there is guidance to show you how to start using everything.

When I signed up I bought three of the past boxes, and signed up for the six month subscription. Each box had a different medium collection in it. One was marker based (my favourite), chalk based, water colour based, mixed media. All kinds! I really like this because a lot of my art is mixed media, I rarely do something start to finish in just marker, or just digital, or just pencil crayon. I am always mixing something in and the more I have at my disposal, the more opportunities I have at my finger tips.

This is a great subscription box for anyone who is looking to learn a few new mediums, looking to expand their knowledge on mediums they are familiar with, and challenge their way of working. It has also been a great way to try tools I have been interested in, but didn’t want to commit to a full set of just yet, in case the tool wasn’t for me. Each box suggests that you create a piece using only the contents of the box. You can obviously do whatever you would like, but I tried that with my first few boxes and I came up with some really interesting projects.

Some of the great tools that I discovered with this subscription are:

  • TCW Watercolour Sparx Powder
  • Kuretake Zig Ink stick
  • Edding Soft White Patel Pen
  • Ecoline Watercolour Brush Pens
  • Higgins India Ink Softliner Brush Pen
  • Irodori Kobako Kit
  • Molotow Liquid Chrome marker

I have all of my boxes now from my first round of the subscription. I did put my subscription on hold, but only because when I was in that creative rut earlier I didn’t create with the boxes, and they were starting to overwhelm me. Now that I have a clearer vision forward, I am going to pop each one open, one at a time, and start creating. Once I am caught up I will start my subscription again.

My next box is focused on ink, I am very excited for this one. Please keep an eye out for the finished piece on my Instagram and my Facebook pages.

End of November?

End of November?

by ehueston ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

How did this happen? Almost at the end of 2020 already? Or finally here? It depends on the day haha.

November has been busy. It is that time of the year where I need to find sneaky ways to show that I am doing work without showing the work that I am doing. Holiday season usually has me busy working away on things that need to be kept secret for a little while longer. That’s ok, the new year will keep the holidays going a little further while I share all of the updates.

One thing that November brought me, probably the most dangerous thing of all, was the awareness of subscription boxes. Now, I have seen these out in the world before, in all shapes and sizes. I had been on email lists that offered them with little challenges to encourage me. But before, when I wasn’t creating as much I felt that they might be wasted. Now, I am creating so much more!

Right after MAX, I received an email from Marker Universe. I have been on this email thread so long that I don’t even remember how I got on it. They sent a reminder that their November boxes were still in stock. They send out their boxes with a challenge to create something using just the contents of the box. Normally a stressy proposition for when I was out of practice, but now that I was on a roll, this sounded a little more appealing. So I bought the box.

Now we all know how this works, show interest in a thing on the internet, have every similar things offered to you through Facebook, searches, Instas, etc. So I was naturally flooded with all kinds of art subscription boxes. The Marker Universe November box would take some time (it was in a new shipping location in CANADA a couple of times), so I took some time to see what else was out there. I found Sketchbox next. What I liked about this was the variety that was offered. It’s not just markers (although I do love my markers), but each box would have a colour coordinated style or theme of some sort (watercolour, ink, marker). I like this a lot. I am a sucker for a new art supply, and I think that this is a more realistic way to try things out, rather than buy a whole set of somethings that you don’t like using in the end.

Sketchbox had a few past boxes available for sale. At this point I had a few weeks before any orders came in, so I bought three past boxes to see what they were like. By the time I had those opened and used, I would have the Marker Universe and my first mystery Sketchbox in hand. As I should have known with shipping in 2020, it didn’t work out that way. I had all three boxes that I would open one week at a time, then my Marker Universe showed up one week into that, that’s four now. Now my December box will be on its way, and I have a holiday Sketchbox under the tree (I am trying to open it closer to the holidays), and I am almost overloaded haha. Not a bad problem to have haha. This is exciting!

I am trying to take my time though. I don’t want to open a new one until I have created my piece from my last opened one. I want to give the tools their time. It’s been great. There are a few tools I have received so far that I have been meaning to try, like watercolour markers and Chameleon markers. This is a great way to get introduced to them and see how they fit into, or can improve, my style.

The challenges prove to be, well… a challenge. Limitations are great, and force creativity, but I always want to pull back to what I have been doing. Also, breaking into new tools, although fun can be a unique experience, am I using it right? Luckily, Sketchbox has a pile of videos to accompany the boxes to show the tools in action if you need a hand. And the internet is full of helpful things. It’s great though because I can learn so much more, apply my style in so many different ways, and more importantly challenge my style through these little pieces.

I think that the combination of these boxes and the Inktober weekly prompts will really help to keep me going well into the new year. I would definitely recommend these kinds of boxes for anyone who is looking to expand their hobby or even learn a new hobby. There’s boxes for everything! You just need to find the right one for you.