SKETCH BOX July 2017

SKETCH BOX
July 2017
Subscription box for artists
4/5 stars

I've been receiving this box since late 2016 and know it's always going to be a treat! When the box arrives we get a beautiful cardboard box held together with tape which is easily pulled off so as not to wreck the gorgeous packaging. Each month the box is adorned with art from a subscriber. I love this month's whimsical girl!

Once the box is opened we can see in all its glory what we are about to receive. If you like to blind box make sure you turn the box away from you as you will get an eyeful!

Look at the goodies waiting in this month's Sketch Box.

I wanted to get my hands on those brightly coloured pens right away! Let's take a look at what we received in the box then I'll show you a closer look:

Every box contains a vinyl "SketchBox" sticker, a detailed list of all the items you have received, plus a glossy print of original art from a subscriber who used the items from a previous box. On the reverse side are all that artist's social info and a little bio. The info card tells us that this month's theme is "Precision Drawing" and looking at the items we can see we got lots of pens and pencils.


What was in the box:

10 set of Staedtler Triplus Fineliners - These are 0.3 so are a very fine tip and I found them to colour beautifully. The pigment is bright and flow is very smooth.

1 Custom Alumicolor Pocket Scale - This didn't quite make it into the picture but is a small metal three-dimensional ruler with three sides (ie. a triangle). I haven't had the opportunity to use this yet but I've heard these triangle rulers help one to draw very straight precise lines. This is good quality and actually just looks important sitting on my desk!

1 Derwent Precision 0.7 mechanical pencil - This is a "First Look" item meaning it has been sent out to us before they are available retail. A nice pencil just what one would expect but nothing more.

2 Derwent Procolour Pencils - I received Brown Ochre and Distant Green. I didn't find anything special about these pencils but also had no complaints. Just artist grade colouring pencils. They are supposed to be heavily pigmented but I received such light, soft colours that it didn't show off the pigmentation. I did find they glided smoothly and put down colour easily.

1 Sakura Microperm 0.45 Fineliner - I already have one of these, also in black. But Sakura is one of my go-to brands for fineliners so I was pleased to add another to my collection.

Every art box I receive I am in the process of making an altered puzzle piece using only the contents of the box. With this one I made:

I start off by gessoing the blank side of the puzzle piece. Next thing I did was to use a stencil from this month's Stencil Girl Club and used the mechanical pencil to trace the quite intricate pattern. Then since I had nothing to paint the background with I decided to go ahead and colour with the Derwent. I wasn't sure it would turn out so well on top of the gesso, and it didn't, so I just used the other colour for the two small circles in the bird. 

Now the fun 😀  I coloured the stencil in with the Staedtler pens and found them just wonderful to work with. Look at that pigment! And to finish off, I traced around the pencil lines with the permanent black Sakura.