The July 2019 Basic SketchBox
Updated: Aug 14, 2020
For July the Basic SketchBox featured acrylic inks, brushes, and paper. For those who want to try out these supplies for themselves, I have included my Amazon and MisterArt affiliate links down below.
When I opened the box, this is what I saw: Ink and some interesting paper!
The art on this month's SketchBox was created by Jackie Storm.
Cutie Boots said, "Those bottles are too hard to play with! Is there anything else?" He decided that he liked the paper scraps.
The first items were two 12 ml jars of Speedball Calligraphy Ink. The ink was acrylic and the colors were white and black. This ink was archival and waterproof. You can get these for $1.99 a piece on Misterart.com.
Second there was a bottle of silver Speedball Super pigmented acrylic ink. This bottle was 2 oz. and retails for around $7.54.
Third there was a Marvy Uchida Color In water brush. It retails for around $5.99 on Amazon.
Then there was a Silver Brush Crystal bright #4 paintbrush. It retails for around $2.33 to $4.65 depending on the store.
Next there was a General's Scribe-All white pencil. This pencil writes on lots of different surfaces. You can get it in a black and white two pack for $7.37 on Amazon.
Last there was a 4X6 inch pad of Strathmore Toned Blue Mixed Media vellum surface paper. This paper is for wet and dry media and is 184 lb, which is fairly thick. A 9X12 inch pad retails for $11.19 on Amazon.
There was also an art supplies list, an art print by Erin Ewer, and a SketchBox sticker.
Doodlin' Time!
The Strathmore Mixed Media paper was sort of a grayish blue and had a fairly smooth surface. The black and white Speedball Acrylic Ink was opaque and showed up well on the blue paper. The silver Speedball Acrylic Ink wasn't very opaque unless I put it on top of the other two inks. The white Scribe-All General's Pencil showed up very well on this paper. The Silver Brush Crystal #4 bright and the Marvy Uchida ColorIn Waterbrush made nice strokes and were very good paintbrushes.
'Bleeding Hearts Flower Design'
by Ellie Taylor
I used a flower design from my Art Nouveau Design book and drew it out first with the white General's Scribe-All pencil. Then I used the black acrylic ink to paint the leaves and flowers. I outlined the design with white acrylic ink and added some silver ink on the black to show some details. I added some white dots with white acrylic ink around the flowers.
I really like the brushes, the pencil, and the black and white inks. The silver ink was very transparent and didn't show up very well. It might work better if one adds 5 or 6 layers of it. Overall this was a nice box with good ink.
If you want to check this box out, SketchBox offers two subscription levels: the Basic Box for $25 plus $5 shipping and the Premium Box for $35 plus $5 shipping in the US. Shipping is $10 to Canada and $15 to all other countries. SketchBox has a list in their FAQ of the countries that they ship to. Check them out through my referral link. https://getsketchbox.com/refer/Elean-IFGGOHVY