Every artist you're shopping for already owns the obvious thing. They bought the brushes they wanted years ago, in the exact sizes they wanted, and they've got opinions about it.
So the good gifts for artists land in one of two places. Either the consumable they're permanently running out of, or it's the thing they'd never justify buying for themselves. Everything below is one or the other. Ten picks, $6 to $90, most of them under $40.
I make things for a living. These are what I actually reach for, plus three pieces from my own shop, which you can judge accordingly.
The short version. The best gift for an artist is either a supply they burn through and never think to restock, or a small object they'd feel silly buying themselves. Skip anything that asks them to change how they already work.
1. POSCA Markers
About $20 for the 8-color PC-5M set.
Water-based paint in a marker body, which sounds boring until you use one. It writes on plastic, on wood, on a shoe, on a black surface where every other marker just disappears into the background.
That last part is the reason artists keep them around. Most pens are dye and they disappear into the paper. POSCA's paint sits on top. Get the medium bullet tip if you're guessing, it covers the most ground. But tbh they'll eventually buy all the sizes because they're amazing.
2. Polaroid Go Generation 3
$89.99, comes in five colors.
It's the smallest instant camera anyone makes (that I know of), small enough to live in a jacket pocket. Take it with you and capture things, on paper, in real time. It's so much fun.
Gen 3 added a new lens and a stronger flash, which mostly matters indoors where the older Go struggled. The film isn't cheap, plus you should keep the unused film in the fridge, which is kind of funny. But there's something about a physical print that a camera roll of 40,000 iPhone pics can't replicate the feel of. And artists tend to pin them up.
3. Perception Tee
Art by... well, me, so take the recommendation with the appropriate grain of salt.
I put it on the list because it's the piece people seem to be vibing with lately, and because a tee is one of the few gifts an artist will actually use in public. It ends up in the studio rotation, which is the highest compliment a shirt gets.
4. Art From an Actual Artist
Whatever they're asking, usually $30 to $150 for a small print.
This is the one I'd push hardest. Open Instagram and search "woodblock art" or "lithograph print" or your own city plus "art." Scroll past the big accounts. Find someone with 800 followers who's clearly making the work themselves, and buy a piece.
Three I have my eye on lately: @alexiawinterhalter, @dormousepress, and @rachelwheelerarts.
You get something nobody else has, at a price that's almost always lower than it should be, and the money goes to a person instead of a corp. Artists know exactly how meaningful supporting small is, which is why it hits different vs receiving a poster.
5. Kodak Charmera 1987
A keychain digital camera named after the 1987 Kodak Fling, shooting a gloriously bad 1.6 megapixels. The photos look like a disposable camera scan, but I'm telling you they feel instantly nostalgic. It's lovely, so so much fun, and my 8 year old uses hers all the time.
It ships as a blind box with six designs you might pull, plus a secret transparent edition that shows the inner tech. You can't pick which one you get, but they're all cool.
6. FrogTape Delicate Surface
Around $6 a roll, or about $23 for a four-pack.
This is the only tape I've found that doesn't tear the surface off art paper when you pull it up. Regular painter's tape lifts little paper bits. Masking tape lets paint bleed in too much (at least for me).
The Delicate Surface version uses a lower-tack adhesive built for fresh paint and wallpaper, and that same weakness is exactly what makes it safe on paper. Make sure it's the yellow roll.
7. Aspirations Tote
Also my artwork. A piece of art that just might get used every single day.
Artists carry stuff. Sketchbook, pens, an iPad, you get it. This holds it.
8. Ugly Books
$7.85 for a build-your-own three-pack.
Colorful pocket sketchbooks made in New York on genuinely thick, acid-free paper. Most pocket notebooks use stock so thin that a marker bleeds through to the next four pages, but these are heavy. Plus how often do you see people drawing on fun colored paper? Never.
9. Micron Pens
Roughly $17 to $19 for a six or eight pen set.
I've got a tattoo of these pens. Take that as a recommendation or a warning, depending on your relationship with art supplies.
Archival pigment ink in fixed line widths, from 005 up through 08. I like the heavier weights the best. The ink doesn't feather, it doesn't bleed under a watercolor wash, and it doesn't fade after two years.
Kent State's visual communication design program made me use them until I loved them, so shoutout to them.
10. Recovering Perfectionist Embroidered Tee
Embroidered with print behind it.
It says the quiet part out loud. Every artist I know has some version of this argument with themselves. There's something disarming about wearing it out loud. It sits in our mental health shirts collection alongside a couple of others in the same spirit.
FAQ
What do you get an artist who already has every supply?
Buy the consumable they burn through, or the object they'd feel silly buying themselves but secretly want. Artists restock the things they need and never get around to the things they merely want.
A blind box camera, a small print from someone they've never heard of, a tape that solves one specific irritation.
How much should you spend on a gift for an artist?
Most of this list lands under $40. Price is a weak signal here anyway. A $6 roll of the correct tape is a better gift than a $60 set of the wrong brushes, because one of them proves you paid attention to how they actually work.
Are art supplies a bad gift for an artist?
Only when you're guessing at the technical stuff. Brushes, paint, and paper are deeply personal and they've already chosen theirs. Consumables and accessories are safe, because those are the categories where they're not loyal to a brand, just to whatever's in the drawer.
What's a good gift for an artist who doesn't paint?
Everything on this list works for illustrators, designers, tattoo artists, and people who mostly work on a screen. Pens, notebooks, cameras, and something wearable travel across every discipline. If you want it narrowed further, our gifts for artists collection is the wearable end of it, all under $60.
Buy one thing on this list and you'll do better than the average gift. Buy the print from the stranger on Instagram and you'll do considerably better than that.
Shopping for one artist in particular?
Same list, narrower aim. I broke the shop out by discipline: gifts for designers, gifts for tattoo artists, gifts for digital artists, gifts for art teachers, gifts for artists who draw, and birthday gifts for artists.