The Best Gifts for Artists that Love Watercolor and Acrylic Paint
It can be hard to know how to choose a gift for the artist in your life. Choosing the best gifts for artists can be challenging, especially if you don’t know much about art supplies. In this guide I’ll share with you some fantastic gifts for artists and how to decide which gift is the best for the artist in your life.
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Choosing the Best Gifts for Artists
Part of choosing the best gifts for the artist in your life is to answer the following questions. This will help identify what type of artist they are and what they might enjoy for a gift.
1. What Type of Art Do They Do?
What type of art does the artist do? Do they love to draw, to paint on canvas, or to create in a journal? Understanding a bit about what they create with will help you narrow down what to purchase and find a gift that is meaningful.
2. How Much Art Experience?
How much art experience does the artist have? Is the person you are buying for new to art? Or have they been creating for a while?
If you are purchasing for someone that is new to art, purchasing student quality supplies would be greatly appreciated. But if you’re purchasing for someone who has been creating for a while, or is a professional artist, it is better to get high quality art supplies. A small but more expensive gift will be more meaningful than a bunch of cheaper supplies.
I’ve been creating for a long time, and I have been gifted cheap supplies that is lesser quality than what I’m already using. I appreciate the thought, but I tend to re-gift these supplies to newer artists because I know that they’ll enjoy the supplies.
3. What is Your Budget?
You don’t necessarily need to spend a large amount of money to get a nice gift for an artist. Stay within your budget. Realize that a smaller but higher quality gift will mean a lot more than many cheap supplies. I know I would prefer getting one really nice brush or a couple professional paints over a bunch of cheap supplies that I wouldn’t use.
If the person has been doing art for a long time, they will value the small size of the gift. They have the understanding to see a small, quality gift that has much thought put into it.
Best Gift Ideas for Artists
Here are a few gift ideas for artists that love watercolor and acrylic paints. I’m providing both the cheap and more expensive option for each item I suggest so that you have a range of options at a variety of price points.
Gifts For Watercolor Artists
There are 3 gifts that I would suggest purchasing for a watercolor artist: watercolor paints, watercolor paper, and watercolor brushes. These are the basic things that every watercolorist uses and will appreciate as a gift.
Watercolor Paint
Watercolor paint is basically ground pigment mixed with a binder. The difference between expensive and cheap watercolor paints is the quality of pigments.
Sets for Beginners
For the beginner watercolorist, I would highly recommend the Sakura Koi Watercolor Sketch Box. This is the set I started with when I first started to watercolor. The quality of the paint is excellent, and it comes with a water brush included in the set.
This set is great for those learning watercolor but is also an excellent travel set. I still use this watercolor set for travel and plein air painting due to the quality of the colors and the portability.
The other option is to get a set of watercolor tubes and a blank palette. I highly recommend Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor paints. They have a balance of being a high quality student paint at an affordable price.
- Quality student-grade range
- 40+ colors, including modern and historic pigments
- Strong tint strength
- Reliable transparency and lightfastness
- Uniform consistency for beginners and students
- Quality student-grade range
- 40+ colors, including modern and historic pigments
- Strong tint strength
- Reliable transparency and lightfastness
- Uniform consistency for beginners and students
- Set of 24 vibrant watercolors
- Lightweight plastic storage case
- 16 Divided mixing areas
- Extra space for storing watercolor tubes
- Compact, travel-ready watercolor pan sets
- Brilliant, smooth, pigmented colors
- Includes refillable Koi water brush and sponges
- Built-in mixing space for easy color blending
- Snap lid doubles as a postcard-sized easel
Sets for Seasoned Artists
If the artist has been working with watercolor for a while, purchase tubes of watercolor paint for them over getting a full set of watercolors. Most artists will move away from a set of colors to buying a blank palette and individual colors. This lets them mix and match using the paints and colors they like the most.
- Professional-quality
- Pure pigments, Kordofan gum arabic, and honey
- Palette inspired by the French Impressionists
- Creamy consistency for vivid even washes
- Crafted in France with over a century of expertise
- Professional quality
- Astonishing collection of 250+ colors
- Maximum pigment loads and pure gum arabic
- Highest possible lightfastness and permanence
- Expertly made in Seattle, Washington
Watercolor Palettes
When purchasing a blank palette, there’s many options out there. I personally like palettes with lids as this keeps dust off the watercolors when not in use. I also love these palettes because of the large mixing areas available. Here are a couple of my favorite watercolor palettes.
- Includes 1 airtight watercolor palette with 18 wells for different paint colors and 2 large mixing areas.
- This paint tray palette has an airtight lid, which is excellent for keeping the paint pans moist and easy to clean. Keep your colors tidy and organized.
- 33 ergonomically slanted wells
- Removable mixing tray for easy cleaning
- Colors appear the same on both the palette and watercolor paper
- Leakproof and airtight palette for watercolor or oil paint keeps colors fresh for weeks
Watercolor Paints
There are two types of watercolor paints in tubes: student grade and professional grade paints. I love and still use the student grade tube watercolors like Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolors. They have vibrant colors, mix well and they are at a good price point.
If the person is proficient in watercolor, I would suggest gifting professional watercolors from Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton, M. Graham & Co. or Holbein. These tubes will be filled with beautifully pigmented, quality watercolors. Based on your budget you may only be able to gift a few of these to an artist, but they will be delighted that you took the time to purchase good quality pigments for them to enjoy.
- Quality student-grade range
- 40+ colors, including modern and historic pigments
- Strong tint strength
- Reliable transparency and lightfastness
- Uniform consistency for beginners and students
- Quality student-grade range
- 40+ colors, including modern and historic pigments
- Strong tint strength
- Reliable transparency and lightfastness
- Uniform consistency for beginners and students
- Set of 10 colors hand-selected by artist Jean Haines
- Finely ground pigments blend beautifully and resist fading
- Includes 10, 5 ml (0.17 oz) tubes of Nickel Azo Yellow, Aussie Red Gold, Opera Pink, Quinacridone Magenta, Imperial Purple, Moonglow, Lunar Blue, Cascade Green, Green Apatite Genuine, and Undersea Green.
- Professional quality
- Individually milled with finest quality pigments
- Kordofan gum arabic
- Exceptional re-wetting properties
• Professional quality
• Pure pigments, gum arabic, and honey
• No artificial humectants or preservatives
• Strong, true colors
• Made in the USA
- Designed to add luster and brilliance to acrylic paintings
- Unique texture similar to fine oils- longer working time -superior covering
- Made in Japan
Watercolor Paper
Watercolor paper is a staple for the watercolor artist. They come in a range of weights, qualities, and styles.
I would suggest purchasing paper that is at least 140 lb (300gsm) for watercolorists. I personally love the Strathmore 200 watercolor paper for practice and Strathmore 400 paper for my final work. For the student artist, I would recommend Canson watercolor paper as it is budget friendly with a 140lb weight.
For the more seasoned watercolorist, I would suggest purchasing Arches paper. Arches paper is 100% cotton which makes it a beautiful paper to work with. It holds up to a lot of water and a variety of techniques. You can get these papers individually, as a tear out sheets in a spiral set, or as a block.
A block is basically watercolor paper that has been glued around the edges to prevent buckling as you use the paper. After the painting is done, the paper can be removed from the block with a palette knife or a craft knife.
Designed to appeal to students, Canson XL pads contain more sheets at a comparable or better price than other value pads in the marketplace.
- Superior quality 100% cotton paper for all wet and dry media
- Archival and free from optical brightening agents
- Gelatin-sized to the core, and air-dried
- Pads are tape-bound on the top
- Mouldmade in France
Setting the world standard for watercolor paper, Arches Watercolor Blocks feature pre-stretched, air-dried paper made from 100% cotton rag.
Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper Pads include acid-free, cold press professional paper that's perfect for lifting and scraping applications. It's popular with watercolorists because of the fine and even washes that can be achieved.
This watercolor paper has a Cold Press surface and is ideal for working in all water-based media, including watercolor, tempera, acrylic, gouache, or poster paint.
Watercolor Brushes
Watercolor brushes fall into 2 categories: natural brushes and synthetic brushes.
Natural Brushes
Natural brushes are often made from squirrel and sable hair. These watercolor brushes hold and absorb more water than synthetic brushes. They also keep their shape better and come back to a point easier. They are also much more expensive than synthetic brushes.
For the professional artist in your life, this is an excellent gift. Even if you can only gift 1 or 2 brushes, a seasoned artist will be so excited to be gifted a quality brush. If money isn’t an issue, one of the most popular natural brushes are the Silver brushes. These are very good quality natural-hair brushes.
- ATELIER: Our Atelier art brushes were designed for acrylic and watercolor media artists. These brushes are very thirsty and have a full belly for absorbing a maximum amount of liquid, limiting reload time. The fibers are also quite flexible.
Synthetic Brushes
Synthetic brushes use man-made materials and there is more variation in the quality of these brushes. These brushes don’t hold as much water and paint, but the price point makes them much more affordable than natural hair watercolor brushes.
I use synthetic brushes in my work and they do work well. They are an affordable gift for those who are beginner or seasoned artists. There is a variety of brands available, but the least expensive option that I can recommend is the Simply Simmons brushes. For the price point, this is an excellent brush.
The watercolor brushes that I enjoy the most are a combination of daVinci Cosmotop Spin and Princeton Aqua Elite brushes. I also have a few quill brushes in my set that are amazing for both large washes and detail work.
I like having a variety of flat and round brushes for my watercolor work. These are ones that I’ve been using in my watercolor work for many years, and I am very happy with the results I get from these brushes.
- Superior synthetic Kolinsky hair
- Maximum water-holding capacity
- Fine points and tapered edges for precise detailing
- Versatile brushes for all media
- Long-lasting synthetic filaments
- Lacquered brush handle
- Made by hand in Germany
Da Vinci Petit Gris Pur Blue Squirrel Brushes are significantly longer and larger than other brands, and are ideal for mop and wash techniques, for priming, and for area work. The majority of the brush shapes in the line are made from pure Blue Squirrel hair.
Other Gifts for Watercolor Lovers
Quality Pencils
Most watercolorists pencil in an initial sketch, so by gifting a good set of quality pencils makes a terrific gift. My favorite is a set of Faber-Castell Pencils that come in a tin. Having a range of pencils lets you decide on how dark you want your sketch. These also can be used for drawing and sketching as they are high quality pencils.
- Highly durable pencils in a range of hardness degrees
- Travel tin offers protective storage while in transit
Includes a metal tin containing six pencils, one each of 8B, 6B, 4B, 2B, B, and HB.
Quality Pens
Quality pens are great for watercolorists that love to use pen and ink in their watercolor drawings. I love the Faber-Castell Pitt Pens because they are waterproof and have a beautiful, vibrant ink. These pens will work on a variety of watercolor papers, making them excellent for watercolor work.
Similar to a technical pen, the Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pens are designed for precise and detailed work. They are ideal for sketching, studying, and inking.
Made with waterproof pigmented India ink, artwork won’t fade or bleed.
Brush Stand
A beautiful brush stand will be appreciated by a watercolor artist. Watercolor brushes are delicate, so having a good brush stand to place your brushes on as you work is a wonderful gift.
- Adorable Design: These are cute cat-shaped brush holders with a shiny finish and great colors. Place on your desk to hold brushes or use them as a cute little decoration on your desk and shelf!
- Material: Made from high-quality handmade porcelain and ceramic, giving excellent firing of the color and a smooth touch. Good weight and so easy to clean.
Best Gift Ideas for Acrylic Painters
If you are looking for the best gift ideas for the acrylic painter in your life, I would suggest purchasing brushes, paint, gesso, and a variety of canvas and board surfaces.
Acrylic Paint
If you are looking to purchase acrylic paint for even a beginner artist, I would suggest purchasing a good quality paint. These range from student grade to professional grade paints. I would avoid craft paint as most craft paints don’t have pigment in them, but are dye-based paint. This means that the color will fade over time and won’t be as vibrant as student or professional artist paints.
If you want to get more details about comparing craft, student, and professional paints, visit this article “Is Craft Paint Really Cheaper? What is the Best Paint?”
Student Grade Paints
If you are purchasing paint for a beginner or more seasoned artist, the student grade paints are a good choice. They are made with good materials and pigments. They are less pigmented than professional paints but come in colors and consistencies similar to professional paints. If or when the artist chooses to move up to nicer paints, the textures and colors will be similar to what they’ve used before.
I can recommend Amsterdam, Pebeo and Liquitex student grade paints as I use them often in my art journals and acrylic pieces. The quantity of paint for the price is excellent and, in some cases cheaper, than designer craft paints. If you want to gift a new artist a large set of colors, try one of the Pebeo or Amsterdam gift sets. This is a good gift choice because of the balance between quantity and price.
Proudly crafted in the Netherlands, these acrylic paints are value priced and easy to use, making them an excellent choice for the beginning or intermediate artist.
Pebeo High Viscosity Studio Acrylic Paints are the ultimate mixed media acrylic! Vivid, deep, and richly pigmented, it offers very good lightfastness and permanence.
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colors were developed for students and artists who require dependable quality at an economical price. Each color is uniquely formulated to bring out the maximum brilliance and clarity of the individual pigment.
Professional Paints
Professional paints have beautiful, vibrant pigments and the difference between the student and professional acrylics is that you’re paying for quality of pigments and binders. I would suggest this paint for a seasoned or professional artist.
I use professional artist paints for canvas paintings, but also for mixing with acrylic mediums. These super pigmented paints work very well and for a seasoned painter, would make an amazing gift! I use a variety of professional paints with my favorites being Holbein, Winsor & Newton, Golden Acrylics, and Liquitex.
- Designed to add luster and brilliance to acrylic paintings
- Unique texture similar to fine oils- longer working time -superior covering
- Made in Japan
- Renowned professional quality
- Pure pigments in high concentrations
- 100% acrylic emulsion; no fillers, dyes, or opacifiers
- Highly lightfast and permanent
- Made in the USA
• Great quality at an affordable price
• Ideal for artists of all levels
• High pigment loads for quick, vibrant coverage
• Durable, water-resistant finish
- Professional quality
- 116 rich, brilliant colors
- High pigment concentrations
- 100% acrylic binder—minimal color shift
- Thick texture retains knife and brush marks
- Made in France
Gesso
Gesso is a great gift for any acrylic artist as it is used in most acrylic paintings. Acrylic gesso is applied to boards, canvas or an art journal before paint is added. This creates tooth to the surface so that the paint sticks better. By coating the surface with gesso, you will use less paint. Gesso ranges from inexpensive student varieties to professional acrylic gesso. For a seasoned professional artist, I would suggest Golden gesso. For a beginner artist, Liquitex Basics Gesso works very well and is reasonably priced.
Liquitex Basics Acrylic Gesso is formulated to produce a smooth, absorbent, finely textured ground for painting on most porous surfaces, including canvas, paper, fabric, wood, or plaster.
Golden Acrylic Gesso is a ready-to-use liquid ground formulated for the use of acrylics on any commonly used painting surface. It’s flexible and can be applied in thin layers to conform to a variety of textured surfaces without cracking.
Acrylic Surfaces
For acrylic painters, having a good surface to apply paint can make or break a project. I use 3 main groups of surfaces when painting: an art journal, canvas, or boards.
Art Journal
An art journal is a great place for practice and experimentation. Purchasing a good quality art journal gives you so many surfaces that you can work and practice on. One of my favorite surfaces is a mixed media journal because not only does it take acrylic paint, but you can also use this surface for watercolor as well.
For a student art journal, I would suggest the Strathmore Visual Journal with Mixed media paper. This is a 90lb paper which is heavyweight enough for a variety of projects. It’s a good choice for someone who is starting out. Until you work on a surface for a while, it takes time to figure out the weight and type of paper that you really like to work on.
One of my favorite mixed media journals is the Pentalic Nature Sketch Book, this has a heavier, 130lb mixed media paper. You can add quite a bit of water to this paper without it buckling. This makes it perfect not only for acrylic painting but for watercolor. For the seasoned or professional acrylic painter, this is a great choice for an art journal.
If you’re looking for a unique, one-of-a-king journal, I have a selection of handmade journals available in my shop. These ones include my favorite paper and journal sizes that I regularly use in my creative practice.
For a more comprehensive list of art journals and what to look for, check out this article “Choosing an Art Journal for Your Creative Practice.”
Flexible and lightweight, this journal holds 48 pages of acid-free, 140 lb (300 gsm) paper. Ideal for use with watercolors, gouache, and acrylics, Strathmore 400 Series watercolor paper has a natural white color and traditional cold press surface that allows for fine and even washes, as well as lifting and scraping techniques.
Strathmore Bristol Visual Journals are designed to meet the intense demands of the artist's creative process. Each journal contains either smooth or vellum surface 100 lb (260 gsm), acid-free bristol paper, with heavy-duty covers and a spiral wire binding that is thicker and stronger than traditional bindings.
- Nature sketch drawing book
- Made in the USA
- Can be used for wet or dry media
- Acid free with 25-percent cotton sheets
When you need somewhere to create and preserve your artwork, look no further than this Dylusions Classics Journal from Ranger Ink, designed by Dyan Reaveley. This journal includes 52 double-sided pages, 28 mixed media, 12 black and 12 Kraft pages, all waiting for your inspiration.
The Dina Wakley Media Ledger Journal is a faithful reproduction of a 1920's hardware store ledger, perfect for mixed media artists.
Canvas
A stretched canvas is the traditional surface for acrylic painting. You can get stretched canvas in small to very large sizes. For any artist this is a great option as the stretched canvas has bounce (a little bit of give) which makes it fun to paint on.
If you’d like to paint on canvas but want a slightly cheaper option, try canvas sheets. I often use canvas sheets for practice. Use masking tape to tape it to a board and paint on it. If you end up loving the painting, it can always be stretched onto a canvas later.
- Super value of 10 pre-stretched canvas boards, 2pcs of each size.
- 100% cotton painting canvas has a medium grain and holds the paint without absorbing it.
- Poly/cotton canvas with medium texture
- 7 oz primed weight
- Triple-primed with acrylic gesso
- Acid-free
Boards
If you want a slightly cheaper option than canvas, you can get canvas boards. These are canvas pieces that have been stretched and glued to a board. This is a cheaper option that can also be added to a standard frame to give the piece a completed look.
You can also use MDF or solid wood boards for painting. These will need to be prepared with gesso before paint is added, but they are a good choice, especially for beginner artists.
I also like using acrylic paper. This very stiff and thick paper takes paint beautifully and is an inexpensive way to get quality surfaces for painting.
Canvas boards are great for making small works of art. This 5" x 7" size is easy to frame, acid-free, pre-gessoed, and created with canvas made from cotton.
MDF boards are a great choice if you are looking for a product thicker than chipboard. This MDF Board pack has 8 pieces measuring 11 inches wide by 14 inches long by 1/4 inch thick.
Both sides have machined, smooth unfinished surfaces with precision-cut straight, sanded edges. Each board is sturdy and has some weight to it
Canson Montval Acrylic Pads contain heavyweight sheets that can accept thick applications of acrylic and oil paint. The cold pressed textured surface is gelatin sized and perfect for washes and wet techniques.
Acrylic Brushes
There is a variety of very cheap to very expensive acrylic brushes. I tend not to spend too much money on acrylic brushes because they do wear out or can stiffen up if not washed properly. I generally use flat brushes and have some smaller round brushes for detail work.
For inexpensive acrylic brushes, I again recommend the Simply Simmons brushes. These apply paint beautifully and I don’t have issues with them stiffening up after washing. Be aware that the Simply Simmons watercolor brushes and acrylic brushes are made with different materials.
You generally don’t use watercolor brushes for acrylic painting as the acrylic paint is very hard on watercolor brushes. The watercolor brushes are designed to hold a lot of water, while acrylic brushes are meant to hold heavy mediums and paint.
For more expensive acrylic brushes, I have a variety of Princeton Dakota and Catalyst brushes that work very well for my acrylic projects. These I can highly recommend for professional and seasoned artists.
This angled paint brushes set includes 9 sizes (0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16) for achieving optimal painting results. Crafted for durability, these acrylic paint brushes deliver smooth strokes and precise color control. The resilient filaments hold paint effectively and release it evenly for seamless application.
Simmons brushes include a mixture of handmade brushes with natural bristles in an interlocking construction and synthetic brushes with larger diameter filaments to provide stronger spring and snap.
Princeton Dakota Series 6300 Synthetic Hair Brushes have long handles for maximum control, and synthetic bristles with excellent stiffness, snap, and shape retention. Easier to clean than natural bristle brushes, they are recommended for use with heavier paints.
• For oil and acrylic paints
• Super stiff synthetic bristles
• Long and short varnished wood handles
• Flat, seamless, matte-black ferrules
Choosing the Right Gift
If you’re not sure about what to gift an artist, you can always get a gift card. Even a $25 gift card for an artist is enough for them to get themselves a few beautiful things for their artistic practice.
Any Questions?
Any questions about choosing the best gift for artists? I would love to answer your questions. Leave a comment below and I’d love to start a conversation with you!
I have tried a lot of different brands and different materials over the years. These are my favorites that I hope that you’ll enjoy as well!
