Last night I wrote a Santa list: things my family are allowed to buy me for Christmas that I would 100% love and use. I only want what I want and hate the idea of buying STUFF that we don’t really want or need. It feels so wasteful.
These would be good pressies for me the artists in your lives, or to add to your Santa list and leave it lying around for your friends/ family to stumble across.
A Newsprint sketchbook
I love drawing on newsprint. It is so cheap and disposable, there’s no pressure to make good drawings and that’s when the good stuff happens. Here’s a newsprint sketchbook from Jackson’s Art.
Caran D’Ache Luminance Pencils
I have never been a pencil crayon kind of person before. To be honest, I was quite dismissive about them: ‘Who in their right mind would use a pencil crayon?’
I think pencil crayons were ruined for me at school. They were too hard to draw with, with barely any pigment, and the points broke when you sharpened them.
But now I’ve changed my mind. These Caran D’ache Luminance pencils are on a whole other level! The colour choice is excellent, lots of beautiful subtle, ‘in-between’ colours that set the other more vivid colours off beautifully. The lead is soft and the pigment is high. Perfect! I chose eight of them in a palette I love. I’ll be needing more from Santa.
Toast socks and a hot water bottle
Illustrators get cold, it’s all that sitting at our desks. The Toast socks are pricey (but BEAUTIFUL), and a hot water bottle is cheap, so it balances out. Maths 🧠
A Substack gift Subscription
Did you know you can gift a Substack subscription? I didn’t until today!
Give the gift of your favourite writer/ illustrator to a friend by adding “/gift” to the end of any Substack URL with paid subscriptions (e.g., https://helenstephens.substack.com/gift).
You can schedule your gift delivery for a future date, so you can get all your holiday shopping done today. Bish, bash, bosh, done!
Share your recommendations in the comments!
Make a Walnut Mouse
These are so gorgeous, I have bought a few from
every year for at least ten years. I have a big family of mice hanging on my own Christmas tree, and I have given them as gifts. This Saturday Alice is running a Walnut Mouse Workshop, and I will be there to make my own (probably wonky) mouse to add to my collection!Bring a large glass of Christmas sherry and a mince pie and make some Walnut Mice for your friends.
Pilot Black V Sign Pens and the Sakura Pigma Graphic Pen
(I couldn't choose between them, so I’m asking for both)
Oh the Pilot pens are gorgeous for drawing. They are so juicy! Even if you draw fast, like I do, you won’t get any gaps in the lines.
And I’ll be asking for a big box of Sakura Pigmas please. They glide around the paper like glorious glidey things.
Hot chocolate
But not ANY OLD hot chocolate. It has to be this one. It comes unsweetened so you can add as much sweetness as you like, and I enjoy it seriously bitter.
Why it’s good for illustrators:
You can warm your hands around the cup
It is a bit of a ritual to make it, therefore acting as a good distraction from work 😝
It gives you an excuse to add ‘nice big mug’ to your Santa list
Dressing gown (another on the ‘illustrators get cold’ theme)
When my daughter was five she bought me a New Look dressing gown. I know, probably made of plastic, but bear with me. I wore it over my clothes in winter for nearly ten years until the elbows wore through, and then when it was just rags, I passed it on to Peggy Dog to sleep on, and she loves it. After Peggy has finished with it, I’ll give it to my partner Gerry 😝
That is a good value Chrimbo pressy!
Procreate Dreams
Procreate Dreams is the new animation app from Procreate. I couldn't wait, and downloaded it already. I’ll be trying it our over Christmas.
It’s not a subscription, so it’s nice and affordable.
Blackwing pencils
(With spare rubbers).
Blackwings are the best pencils ever, well worth the money, the line is glorious. You know that amazing feeling when a pencil FEELS GOOD on the paper, that!
When I was a kid I used to have a recurring dream I was a line being drawn on the universe. I can’t explain it better than that. The dreams were surreal and made a lifelong impact on me. Sometimes the line was sweeping, smooth and powerful, and sometimes it scribbled in scratchy, stressy knots. Those knotty dreams were terrifying.
These pencils remind me of the big smooth happy dreams. (Blackwing should be sponsoring me).
I like the Blackwing Twice The Speed, or the Matte, but they are all gorgeous.
What’s on your Santa list this Christmas? Share this post as a giant HINT to your friends and family 😝
Love Helenx
A wonderful list, but where are the CRISPS?
Helen your childhood dream rings funny bells, loud and quiet at the same time! I can still summon this big/small feeling from dreams I had when I was little. It was like a sensation of the biggest thing, bigger than planets and simultaneously the tiniest, invisible speck. Or the smoooothest, purest, surface and the most packed, noisiest scribble. Oh weird!