What to give to the artist?

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

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

So, for a novice, unprofessional artist (artist), you can give a lot of useful things.

• Educational book. A great gift if the book is a bestseller or is a classic textbook. Your loved one will appreciate it for sure! Just make sure that he doesn’t have such a book yet.
• Book on the history of art. There are artists who enjoy the process, and art itself is of little interest to them. But those who leave the world of painting with their heads are many more. Therefore, a book on the history of art will be a great gift.
• A set of quality brushes. Time shows that there are not too many of them. A person who likes to draw, even likes to just touch the brush, look at them, try to work. Therefore, it is unlikely that you will miscalculate with a gift: brushes for a beginner watercolorist are always happiness.
• Certificate for training courses. This is a serious investment in the artistic skills of the person you want to bestow. You give him an education, which in itself is a great value. By the way, for beginners there is a wonderful gift - 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? No need to take the most “sophisticated”, the main thing is that it should be made of quality materials.

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

The first and most important rule is to make sure that there is no such publication in the artist’s collection yet. If you are giving a present to a young artist, create a professional library for him.

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

1. P. Volkova "Lectures on art." Without reading these books, you cannot feel involved in the world of art. It’s the same as Russian literature without Pushkin.
2. D. Burger "Portraits". These are small notes about the great people of world painting. Any person will enjoy reading Berger - he is gifted with a simple, concise, but apt, informative, clean style.
3. K. Paul "Digital Art". The book is for those who appreciate art not only classical. What is neo-art and installations, the author explains more than accessible. 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 aspirated about Cezanne, Magritte, and L. Freud, urgently look for this book.
5. D. Reskin "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. By the way, Wilde and Proust drew knowledge from him. If your artist friend loves to delve into art, find this edition.
6. M. Herman "Impressionism". In order not to confuse Monet and Manet, in order 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 the Biennale is, and how the auction goes, it is very useful for all novice artists. The book does an excellent job of this.

And this is just an approximate list of books that can be presented to the artist.

Photos of artists' studios capture the eyes of people who do not even know how to draw. All this creative atmosphere, the subtlety of the craft, the sensuality of the creation process, really catches. 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.

For the artist’s workshop, you can give a lot of useful things.

• Paints. There are a great many of them - watercolor, acrylic, gouache, oil and so on. There are classic sets that are unlikely to be unclaimed in the workshop. Sold in specialized stores.
• Pencils. Coal, color, 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 signing), and such artistic means will certainly come in handy.
• Canvas on paper. A watercolorist always needs good watercolor paper, and those who write on canvas will certainly not be amiss in his supply.
• Sketchbooks, sketchbooks. In a large selection today, they are relatively inexpensive, it is unlikely that the artist will 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, this is a person of a special mentality. To work, he needs not a schedule, but inspiration. It turns out that this can also be gifted. Both a man and a woman will have an excellent gift for a ticket to an actual exhibition (or maybe a subscription to an art gallery, for example).

Not only books, but also films are also impressions, without a doubt. You can present the artist a voluminous flash drive with a selection of the best films about artists.

Here is just an indicative list of great films.

• "Big eyes". The story of Margaret Keane, who for a long time remained inglorious, because her works delighted the world under a different author's signature.
• Frida. One of Salma Hayek’s best works is a film that I want to watch again and again. Not just a creative and personal biography, but the animated paintings of the great Mexican.
• "Savage". The story of Paul Gauguin about inspiration, his search, the pangs of creativity and women.
• "Van Gogh. With love, Vincent. " The unique painting already made Van Gogh fans cry with delight. Not just a film, but a story in which the main word (and technical too) is provided to the painting itself.
• "Andrei Rublev." Tarkovsky’s masterpiece about the great painter and that difficult time in which Rublev lived and worked.

Often, a novice artist is given paintings by numbers - kits for creativity, little associated with true painting, aimed at the implementation of a certain algorithm. It is impossible to say unequivocally whether such a gift is valuable or not. For a person who knows how to draw, there is little value in it. But if you are a beginner, ready to try everything, for experience such a set can be useful. Such a picture will be drawn by the one who did not hold hands in his 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, the best gift for him will be a personal exhibition. If a child is engaged in a 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 a home exhibition is good, especially if it is a surprise. For example, on the child’s birthday, guests will appreciate the home opening day, and the little artist himself will be happy with such attention.

More ideas on what to give the artist are presented in the next video.