Smart Art Subscription Box Review + Coupon – September 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, and we have been having a blast with our Smart Art subscription!

This box was sent to us for review purposes. (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: 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!

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

This month’s project was street art! Cool! Each month, I receive a booklet that 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.

The inside of the booklet provides art history and project pointers on left, and on the right, there’s some info on murals 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:

Chroma Acrylic Mural Paint Markers (4 oz) – Total Value $13.05 ($4.35 each)

Tombow Mono Pro Drawing Pencil Set (3 pcs.) – Value $3.75

Gallery Cradled Wood Panel 8″ x 10″ – Value $11.49

Pro Stroke Premium White Bristle Brush (Round 10) – Value $15.25

Beste Finest Golden Taklon Hair Brush (5/0 Spot Touch) – Value $6

Please note that all values listed here are list prices. Almost all of them can be found for less at most online discount art supply stores.

This is my completed street art! Y’all, I tried. I was really excited about the project when it came in the mail, but I didn’t like the example piece they gave with the instructions. I kept waiting to get inspired, but nothing came to me. Then I started running out of time! So one day I was really irritated with my son’s dance instructor, and I painted a picture of a ballerina with a dog barking at her. Art can be a great way to release negative emotions.

Verdict: My husband and I are both huge fans of Smart Art! That being said, this wasn’t my favorite month. I am actually fairly pleased with my result, but I wasn’t super inspired by the sample project. I was also pretty confounded by the mural markers. They are huge, as they should be since murals are typically also huge, but the canvas was only 8×10″. This meant I had to squeeze the paint out, which was difficult and then use the two brushes that were provided. One brush was enormous and one was tiny. Suffice to say, this was more difficult of a project than it should have been, in my opinion, but it was still fun.

The value of everything this month totals around $54, but as I’ve mentioned many times, the value of the materials is not really what this box is about. The project selection, the instruction, and the material sourcing is really where the value in this subscription lies for me. We love Smart Art!

What do you think of Smart Art?