What to give to the artist?

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

For an amateur, almost everything that can be offered to you in stores for creativity is necessary and valuable. He still does not clearly distinguish between high-quality products and just good ones; he cannot always tell what the difference is between two seemingly identical types of watercolor paper. And you are your gift in the power to 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 bestseller or is a classic tutorial. Your loved one will appreciate it for sure! Just make sure that he does not 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 go into the world of painting headlong, a lot more. Because the book on the history of art will be a chic gift.
• A set of high-quality brushes. Time shows that they too do not happen much. A person who likes to draw, like even just touch the brush, look at them, try to work. Therefore, it is unlikely you will lose with a gift: brushes for the novice watercolor painter 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 education, which in itself is of great value. By the way, for beginners there is a wonderful gift - a certificate in the style of "Write your own painting in 3 hours." Three hours in a creative setting, and the first picture is ready! And it is worth such a gift is quite adequate.
• Easel. What kind of artist without an easel? No need to take the most "tricked", the main thing is that it is made of high quality materials.

Encourage the desire of your loved ones to draw, and it does not matter to whom you give a gift - to a man, a woman, whether 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 make a gift to a young artist, you create a professional library for him.

Top 7 books on art history, which will bring happiness to the artist.

1. P. Volkov "Lectures on art." Without reading these books, you can not feel involved in the world of art history. It is like Russian literature without Pushkin.
2. D. Berger "Portraits". These are small notes about big people of world painting. Any person will be pleased to read Berger - he is endowed with a style simple, concise, but accurate, informative, clean.
3. K. Paul "Digital Art". The book is for those who appreciate art not only classic. What is neo-art and installations, the author explains more than affordable. 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, from the text, indeed, it is difficult to break away.If your artist friend aspirated talked about Cezanne, Magritte and L. Freud, search this book urgently.
5. D. Reskin "Theory of Beauty". This is also a collection, but a collection of essays. And the author of them - the most influential art critic of his time. By the way, he gained knowledge of Wilde and Proust. If your artist friend loves to delve into art, find this edition.
6. M. Herman “Impressionism”. In order not to confuse Monet and Mane, to learn the secrets of writing world masterpieces and understand what fed the Impressionists, and why they changed the world a little bit, read this book.
7. S. Thornton "Seven days in art." Immerse yourself in contemporary art, understand what the Biennale is, and how the auction is going on, is very useful for all novice artists. The book copes with it perfectly.

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

Photos of artists' workshops chained the views of people who do not even know how to draw. All this is a creative atmosphere, the subtlety of the craft, the sensuality of the process of creation, really touches. And if your close artist has such a workshop or is close to creating it (even if in the most modest form), contribute your bit to this process.

For the artist's workshop you can donate 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.
• The pencils. Coal, color, graphite and so on. Drawing with colored pencils is especially popular today, because a professional set will please the artist.
• Fountain pens, professional markers and markers. An artist can be a calligrapher, engage in lettering (the art of beautiful signing), and such artistic tools will definitely come in handy for him.
• Paper, canvas. The watercolorist always needs a good watercolor paper, and those who write on the canvas will definitely not be in excess of his supply.
• Sketchbooks, sketchbooks. In today's large selection, 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. For work, he needs not a schedule, but inspiration. It turns out that you can give it too. Both men and women will be a great gift ticket to the current exhibition (and perhaps a subscription to an art gallery, for example).

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

Here are just an indicative list of great movies.

• "Big eyes". The story of Margaret Keane, who remained infamous for a long time, because her work 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 again and again. Not just a creative and personal biography, but animated paintings of the great Mexican.
• "Savage". The story of Paul Gauguin about inspiration, his search, the torments of creativity and women.
• "Van Gogh. With love, Vincent. The unique picture has 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 particular algorithm. It is impossible to say for sure whether such a gift is valuable or not. For a person who can draw, there is little value in it. But if you are a beginner who is ready to try everything, such a set may be useful for experience. Such a picture will be drawn by the one who did not hold a brush in his hands - the main thing is patience and accuracy.

But such sets will not teach to draw. It does not explain the principle of composition, work with color and so on.

And if in your family there is a small artist, the personal exhibition will be the best gift for him. If the child is engaged 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 respond with delight to this idea. But the home exhibition is good, especially if it is a surprise. For example, on the birthday of the child, guests will appreciate the home opening day, and the little artist himself will be overjoyed with such attention.

More ideas of what to donate to the artist are presented in the next video.