The Last Artsnacks Quarterly Box

I am sad to say that this is the last Artsnacks quarterly box that I can share with you guys. This box arrived in the mail yesterday along with an email saying that they will no longer be selling the quarterly boxes. Which makes me a little sad, because I enjoyed being able to open new art supplies and try products I never would have picked out on my own through these boxes. Artsnacks will still have their store open, so if you like any of the products you see here, they should be available via their shop. And I will be getting their Artsnacks Ink Box soon, so stay tuned for that post!

In this box the first thing I noticed was the Crescent RENDR sketchbook. I have used these types of sketchbooks before and they have really awesome thick paper so you truly don't have to worry about things bleeding through to the next page. These are great for ink, alcohol markers, and basic drawing pencils. This one is the 8.5" x 11" Lay-Flat multimedia sketchbook. Really good quality, however, I wouldn't say it truly lays flat without putting some effort into bending the spine and paper. This sketchbook retails for $29.48.

We also got a set of alcohol markers, The Art Alternatives Portrait set of 6 illustration markers. The colors are E2 Sand, YR5 Light Peach, R2 Blush, E17 Praline, E6 Hazelnut, and E18 Coffee. These went very smoothly onto the paper for my swatches. These are pretty neutral shades, which was a refreshing change from the rainbow colors seen in previous boxes. These markers are dual tip, there is a brush and a chisel tip. These retail for $17.99.

Next was a pencil sharpener and an eraser. The KUM Magnesium Long Point pencil sharpener and the Koh-i-Noor Themoplastic Eraser. Nothing about the pencil sharpener seems special, It's your basic metal pencil sharpener. The eraser however, is an interesting hexagon shape which supposedly allows you to hold it better and be able to be more accurate with it. The pencil sharpener retails for $3.20 and the Eraser retails for $1.58.

There were two Cretacolor graphite pencils included. One F and one 4B. F is a Fine Art Graphite pencil, while 4B is a larger Megagraphite pencil. These swatched very nicely on the Crescent RENDR paper. The fine art one is best for sketching while the Megagraphite is great for blending and filling in larger, dark areas. The Fine Art Graphite pencil retails for $1.99 while the MegaGraphite Pencil retails for $2.69.

The most interesting item was probably the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Dot pen. This one is a metallic silver marker and has a dual tip for specifically made for dotting onto drawings. I picture using this for adding accents to pieces in the future. And there is also a Kuretake fine tip brush pen in a red color. The tip was quite bendy, however it didn't seem very juicy in the swatches. The dot pen retails for $4.00 and the fine tip brush pen retails for $4.25.

Lastly was an ITOYA Midtown Pencil Pouch to hold everything in, the classic sticker, and a Smarties candy for the snack. The felt pencil pouch has two pockets inside the zipped compartment so you can separate things inside. It retails for $7.99.

I have to say, this box was a bit underwhelming compared to the past boxes I have received. This is the first one where the value of the box doesn't seem to add up to what was paid for the box. Usually there are some interesting products that I haven't heard of, or that are a twist on the normal products you might use (such as the pallet pastels in a previous box). However, this one seemed to be filled with pretty basic drawing supplies that are pretty reasonably priced items if you were buying them yourself. Good quality, but still pretty basic. And I feel like including a pencil pouch, pencil sharpener, and eraser was unnecessary. It just took up space that could have been used for something new and interesting rather than just a storage space or an item that most people already have. I'm also pretty sure I received a pencil sharpener in the first quarterly box they did, and that one came with a lid and was a bit nicer. I just would have liked to see something more unique is all. Let me know what your thoughts are and what I should make with all my new supplies.