Give Great Gifts: Writers and Artists

What do you get for someone who likes to write or draw?

If you’re anything like us, gift giving is stressful. Whether it’s for a birthday, the holidays, or a special occasion, finding the right gift is hard. That’s why we’ve put together guides to help out based on the type of person you have in mind. These gifts can be used for your partner, parents, friends, kids, or anyone who you want to thank.

To come up with this list, we first talked to the people who fit the mold. In some cases, these are personal recommendations, since the area is one we are interested in. In other cases, we started with a broad list of items, then used numerous online and in-person reviews to zero in on the product being recommended. All of the items can be found on Amazon, and links to their product page will included.

Pen & Paper

This section has a personal touch, as we are pen fanatics. Whether it’s to write down thoughts, sketch out ideas, or just doodle while passing the time, we love our pens. We especially love our fountain pens. And they are great gifts.

You’ve probably heard of Pilot pens. They make reliable pens that are used in offices and schools around the country. What you probably didn’t know is that they are a Japanese company, where writing is still a form of art and taken seriously. Because of pen fanatics over here, those pens have been finding their way over the Pacific. Our favorite is the Pilot MR Metropolitan Fountain Pen. And it makes a great gift.

When people hear about fountain pens, they think of the traditional lever-and-piston model that requires a dip in a bottle of ink. These are still around, but there are numerous variations today, many of which have little fuss or difficulty in getting down to the basics of writing.

Writing with a nice fountain pen is a revelation. For the writer in your life, this is the perfect gift. It doesn’t require bottles of ink, it’s affordable, and it doesn’t require much care and maintenance. The downside is that it’s not as flexible as the lever-and-piston or plunger-style fountain pens when it comes to swapping colors, but it’s still pretty fast. Pilot offers a wide range of color cartridges that can be used for refills.

It also comes with a small-capacity converter that can be used for bottles of ink, which opens up a huge range of options, which leads to our next gift recommendation.

There are thousands of inks out there in a multitude of shades, so we stuck with well-regarded Pilot Iroshizuku brand as a place to start. However, there are also , , , and more. Additional information on inks and the endless array of colors can be found at JetPens. You can also give a gift set that has 3-5 different colors to try out.

With fountain pens, it’s important to use the right paper. To get the best performance, it needs to be a heavier paper, and ideally it is more absorbent than something you’d find in an old wired notebook. That’s not to say those won’t work, but the best experience in writing will be found using higher-quality paper. The Rhodia Webnotebook is a smaller notebook that will lay flat without damaging the spine, provide an ideal surface for your fountain pen, and has a sturdy cover that will protect everything on the inside. While we’ve linked to the dot-grid style of paper in the title, it’s also available with lined or blank pages in numerous colors.

Sketch Artist

While fountain pens are great gifts, there is some care and feeding. They also don’t lend themselves to quick sketches or drawings when a moment of inspiration strikes. While we don’t use pencils nearly as much as we used to, it’s nice to have some on hand when inspiration strikes.

Depending on the artist, a single pencil might be enough. But with a set of pencils in varying degrees of hardness, there is a wider range of freedom. These don’t have erasers on them, so they aren’t idea for carrying around as a general-purpose pencil.

For people who want a pencil that can pull both sketch and writing duty, a mechanical pencil, like this . This gift looks great and is a standard in the world of mechanical pencils and should last a long time.

While the Rhodia above will work just fine with pencils, the Stillman & Brin sketchbooks can be used with both wet and dry media. The paper is thick enough in the Zeta line to handle markers and watercolor in addition to the usual pen and pencil. The small size also makes it pocket-sized, so it can be easily carried around. If the person you are giving the gift to will only use dry media like graphite and colored pencils, the Alpha line would be a better choice.

Definitely a must have when paired with drawing pencils, these erasers require only light pressure to erase. They also don’t have a lot of the rubber “dust” that we’re sure you remember from school. These erase cleanly and last a long time, plus can be used to add effects to pencil drawings. Probably not a standalone gift, but there is nothing more frustrating than a smudged sketch or drawing because you didn’t have the right eraser on hand. So help an artist out and make sure their pencils are paired with a great eraser.

Keeping it tidy

Finally, we have a few items to put finished sketches, bottles of ink, extra pens and pencils, etc.

Sometime people don’t need more pens. They just need a gift that will allow them to keep them all in one place. Lihit Lab has a number of options, but one that holds a lot of items is the Teffa line. In addition to holding pens and pencils, there are mesh pockets that will also hold erasers, highlighters, rules, thumb drives, etc. With everything on hand in a compact case, it’s easy to throw it into a backpack or laptop bag when on the go. When ready to use, it unzips and unfolds like a book, making it easy to find what you’re looking for. There are many color options as well.

IRIS USA makes a number of plastic storage options that are perfect for documents, sketches, bottles, ink cartridges, etc. Many of their products are well reviewed at Amazon,  affordable, and made in the USA. While you might find something in scrapbooking, the reality is that they are modular boxes that stack, nest, and expand as necessary. So if your partner has a lot of items for art or other hobbies lying around, these containers can help. Since everything is transparent, it’s easy to see what’s inside without opening each box. And the really ambitious out there could benefit from the rolling racks and shelf systems that are available.

 

If you have any other ideas, we invite you to leave a comment below.