Smart Art Subscription Box Review + Coupon – January 2016

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, so we were very happy to have the opportunity to try this box out!

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (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

COUPON: Use code MSA20 to save 20% off your first box

The Products: A fine arts project, complete with instructions and supplies

Ships to: US only

Check out all of our Smart Art reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory!

Good to know: It’s a different project in a different media every month, using different techniques!

This month’s project was creating a surrealistic drawing! I can hardly believe this pug is a drawing! 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 is the art history and project pointers, and on the right there’s some info on different colored pencils and papers plus the supply list.

The instructions are printed on the back of the booklet. They are easy enough to follow, but not so specific that they crush one’s creativity.

Here are the supplies that were included for this month’s project.

Derwent Coloursoft Pencil Set (12 pack) – Value $25.99 (on sale at Jerry’s for $14.99)

Maruman Artist Paper Series Book – Value $18.68 on Amazon

Finetec Blending Pencil – Value $19.20 (on sale at artistsupplysource.com for $8.60)

Kum Long Point Pencil Sharpener – Value $10.65 (on sale at Amazon for 6.96)

This is my husband’s masterpiece! He is the drawing expert, so I let him handle this month’s project, and what an amazing job he did! I love it!

Verdict: My husband and I are both huge fans of Smart Art! When I first opened the box, I was skeptical about the value of the contents – I had no idea that high-quality drawing materials could be so expensive! The original retail value of these items is about $73, and even on sale the values total $49. The total cost of the box is $50, but considering that includes shipping, plus they source the materials and provide instruction, I think that’s a fantastic value.
We also have had the opportunity to try lots of new materials, even within disciplines we are already pretty familiar with. Case in point was this month’s blending pencil – it’s clear! It deposits no pigment onto the pages, just helps to fine-tune the colors you are already working with. Who knew there was such a thing? This is a wonderful subscription box for people like ourselves who love to continuously explore the visual fine arts. I highly reccomend it!

What do you think of Smart Art?