Sketchbox Subscription Box Review – September 2016

Sketchbox is a monthly subscription service for artists. They provide 5-6 art supplies plus a small print intended to inspire. Additionally, artists are encouraged to share their work with the Sketchbox community, and in some cases, have their work featured in a future box!

I love the design of this box, by the way! This is the artwork of one of their subscribers. Very cool!

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Sketchbox

The Cost: $25 + $5 shipping = $30 per month, with savings on longer length subscriptions. There is also a $35 per month “premium” option for higher-quality supplies (also with $5 shipping = $40 per month).

The Products: A selection of hand-picked art supplies, plus an art print to inspire

Ships to: US for $5, Canada for $10, International for $15

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

Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!

This review is of the premium box.

This is the info card that was included with this month’s package. This month is all about drawing with charcoal! It explains why they chose the items they sent.

This is our “art print to inspire” for the month. The artist is Caitlin Stevens.

These are the supplies we received this month:

Cretacolor Noir Charcoal Set – Value $15.59

I love getting full sets in boxes. It just seems so much more special to me! I love sets! My husband agrees, and said this is a good one.

Loew-Cornell Chamois – Value $9

This is a natural leather chamois, used for blending and shading.

Royal Brush Blending Stumps – Value $1.26

Blending stumps give you better precision blending than a chamois when needed.

General’s Pencil Charcoal White Pencil, 2B and 6B Black Pencils – Value $0.91 each

This is an assortment of charcoal pencils.

Sakura Pigma Brush Pen – Value $2.50

My husband LOVES Sakura pens! He proclaims them the best of art pens. He was happy to get this one.

This is my husband’s charcoal skecth. I think it turned out great! I love having such a talented partner. I am TERRIBLE at charcoal drawing, my hands just drag the charcoal all over the place. So I have a lot of respect for people who can do it well.

Verdict: Sketchbox is great! The value of this month’s items comes to $31.08, which is a little less than the cost of the box, but to be fair many of the values I have listed are sale prices. At the same time, art supplies online always seem to have sale prices, so I’m not 100% sure what the real value is. From my experience, art supply boxes don’t tend to have a huge return on investment. Selecting the right fine arts box really depends on what you are looking for. With Sketchbox, you don’t get a specific project with instructions, but you do get a suggested “inspiration” for a type of drawing, plus a sampling of high quality instruments to try it out. There’s definitely a discovery element that comes with Sketchbox. If you are a big fan of drawing and painting, it’s a really fun box to try out!

What do you think of Sketchbox?