Smart Art is a fine arts subscription service that sends a new project every month and all the supplies needed to complete it. My husband and I are both artists, and we have been having a blast with our Smart Art subscription!
This box was sent to us at no cost to review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Smart Art
The Cost: $49.99 per month with free shipping. Save with 3, 6, and 12-month subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: $5 off your first subscription
CODE: ENJOYART5
The Products: A fine arts project, complete with instructions and supplies
Ships to: U.S. only
Good to know: It's a different project in a different media every month, using different techniques!
Check out all of our Smart Art reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory!
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This month's project was creating a pencil and ink painting! This is the booklet that Smart Art sends every month. It includes art history related to the project, a list of the included supplies, project pointers, and instructions.
Subscribers can upload a picture of their finished project to Smart Art's Facebook page for a chance to win a free box! That's really cool! On the other hand, our projects usually take forever, so we always seem to miss the boat on this contest.
This is the inside of the booklet. On the left are the art history and project pointers, and on the right, there's some info on graphite pencils plus the supply list.
The instructions are printed on the back of the booklet. They are pretty clear and easy to follow, but they still allow for as much creativity as you like.
Here are the supplies that were included for this month's project.
Derwent Graphic Tin Set of 6 (8B, 6B, 4B, 2B, HB, 2H) - Retail Value $13.99
Derwent Watersoluble Sketching Pencils: HB, 4B - Total Value $3.98 ($1.99 each)
Prismacolor Multipack Erasers - Retail Value $2.58
Derwent Graphic H2O Brush - Retail Value $7.99
Higgins Fountain Pen India Ink - Retail Value $5.45
Crescent Premium Watercolor Boards 8X10 (x2) - Value about $5 each? (I could not find this size for sale online, so value is an estimate based on other sizes.)
Please note that the values listed here are list prices. Almost all of them can be found for less at most online discount art supply stores.
My husband did this project. His first step was to make a pencil outline of his subject, and he used the HB pencil for this step.
He began filling in details with the 2B pencil. He absolutely loves having such a comprehensive set of pencils! He was impressed by the quality.
He then went in and did some shading with the water-soluble pencils.
Then he used the H2O brush to work in the graphite. This was his favorite part of the project! It was like doing a sketch and a watercolor all in one! Last, he completed some final details with the India ink.
This is my husband's completed painting! I think it turned out great! At first, it seems like a regular pencil drawing, but when you examine it for a moment, you can tell there's something very different about it. I like it!
The Verdict: My husband and I are both huge fans of Smart Art! My husband really enjoyed working with pencils as watercolors this month, and of course, the quality of the materials was great as usual! The value of this month's contents was about $44, which is a somewhat less than the $50 cost of the box. That's pretty typical for a fine arts subscription box. I think you have to factor in the value of the instruction and other printed and online materials to decide if it is worth it to you.
What do you think of Smart Art?
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