Having an artistic friend can make your life more colorful. They are the friends that you can count on when it comes to creative and vibrant ideas for decorations, sketches, art designs and many other endeavors that involve aesthetics. They have the talent of bringing to life what they think of through artistic channels, like painting, sketching, sculpting, scribbling, and just about anything that can be considered art.

As a friend who appreciates their talent, we want to give them gifts that can enhance their artistic toolbox and expand their horizons. No matter what the occasion is, there is always a great gift you can give to your artistically inclined friends. With the holiday season closing in, you still have enough time to think of thoughtful and appreciative gift ideas for them.

Wood art set
This comprehensive art kit will definitely spark a friend’s artistic engine. With different types of drawing and painting mediums, your friend will want to try them out. It would be a big bonus if you get to be their painting subject as a token of appreciation, but seeing them get more inspired and doing more artistic creations is already a reward it itself. This is a great idea for friends who are into oil painting, sketching, watercolor painting or even digital artists. The art set will give them new avenues to explore and apply their creative ideas.

Art tablet
Speaking of digital, your technologically inclined artistic friend will love the idea of doing their art projects on an art tablet. This is a great present you can give to your digital artist friend or even your traditional artist friend. The former will have an expanded set of tools that can help them create more art concepts. The latter will learn to transition from traditional hand painting to using a tablet and a virtual brush and learning the ways of digital art.

Art tablets have that sleek and professional look, coupled with a comprehensive set of drawing tools. Some of the perks in having an art tablet include not having to worry about paint brushes, canvasses, or spilling paint on yourself or the room’s floor. Plus, this tablet is portable, so your friend can bring it around with them and let the make instant art creations wherever and whenever inspiration comes to them. If you are new to digital art, you can learn more about the best drawing tablets for beginners here. For the ultimate guide on Huion vs Wacom drawing tablets, see this article by pickypens.com.

Calligraphy pen set
If you notice your friend writes with an extra flair or loves to make extra curving strokes when making letter designs, a calligraphy pen set will be great for them. It’s good to know that your friend still loves to write with their hands, even though there are keyboards and on-screen keypads that can do the same task. Also, this gift can inspire them to keep the seemingly forgotten art of calligraphy alive. The gift might be a bit pricey, but it will be worth it once you see brilliant strokes created by your friend when they write.

Customizable doll
This gift can serve to purposes for your artistic female friend. First, it challenges them to get out of their comfort zone of painting on a canvass or any two-dimensional medium and to expand their artistic creativity to three or four-dimensional mediums like dolls. Second, it helps your friend reconnect with their inner child and recall wonderful childhood memories.

The Neo Blythe Doll makes a great gift item for your female friend. They are customizable dolls that they can modify the facial features, accessories and clothes. This type of doll gift is ageless and is not just limited to children. Regardless of age, your friend’s artistic juices will definitely overflow to breathe in new life to this doll while encouraging them to remain youthful and in touch with their younger selves.

Body kun and body chan
If your friend is into manga (Japanese comic books) or anime drawings, they’ll surely love this gift idea. These fully customizable action figures will definitely up the ante for their artistic endeavors. Just like customizable dolls, these customizable action figures will be a welcome enhancement to their 2-D drawing and painting mediums. They can explore different color combinations, shades and hues to apply to different parts of their bodies.

Also, these figures come with poseable arms, legs, hips and heads to make their poses more human like and adjustable as you see fit. Your friends will also have the freedom to accessorize and create costumes for them based on the anime series characters they are making or simply based on their own creative ideas. The good thing about these action figures is that they are for male and female artists, wherein they can freely select the gender of their action figures (kun is a male action figure; chan is a female action figure).

Also, everything is fully customizable – from head and facial details to body and arm costumes and accessories. They can make great collection items, a new hobby, personal creations and even niche items for sale online. You’ll be excited to see what character design your friend will come up with.

Wacom inkling
Have a friend who is an illustrator for an advertising company, a comic book artist or an animator for an animation studio? One thing they have in common is that they work on both paper and digital media. This neat little device will definitely be something they can appreciate and use for their chosen fields of creative and artistic avenue. Picture this: a physical pen that tracks your drawings and digitizes them instantaneously – this would be an awesome tool for them.

The Inkling is a dual function gadget – a pen and a receiver. As you draw using the pen, the receiver is clamped on top of your notebook or sketchpad to record your every stroke, digitizing your drawings and transferring them to your computer. Your friend will love this digital concept. You can store hundreds to thousands of high resolution drawings sketches to the device before transferring them to your PC. In addition, the Inkling set is small and easy to store in a portable carrying case, which serves a charging station for both the pen and receiver. This makes it a good device to bring along anywhere, allowing for days of uninterrupted work.

Headphones
Your artist friend deserves both a reward and a source of inspiration, so why not give them a present that serves both – a nice set of headphones. Choose a color that best reminds you of your friend or a color that your friend likes.

Also, choose a headphone with noise cancelling feature and has great audio output to provide your friend the aural inspiration they deserve. Music can evoke emotions and stimulate creative thinking when it comes to concentration and focus, the noise cancelling feature of the headphone can block out distractions for a peaceful and comfortable project creation. Whether your friend makes artworks for a living, as a job or simply as a hobby, they can get more things done when they listen to their favorite tunes while doing their thing.

Fabric paint set
Here’s a revolutionary gift idea that your friend will love. A fabric paint set will surely upgrade or change the canvas that your artistic friend has gotten so used to. Instead of the flat, rectangular blank canvas, shirts can be a new and challenging type of canvas where they can showcase their artistic creations. Also, this gift idea can be a way of showing your support for your friend by advertising their works through the hand painted shirts that you wear when you go downtown or to parties and events. If your friend is thinking of opening up his or her own painting studio or art gallery, having their work samples painted on shirts can effectively advertise their creations along with the power of word of mouth advertising. Even if your friend paints for fun or as a hobby, having a customized shirt print design can be fun and exciting to do. You’ll also love to wear and see the creations your friend made and you’ll be happy to see their transition and adjustment to another type of canvas, which will improve their skills further.

Temporary tattoo set
Have a friend who like making detailed sketches or someone who paints realistic portraits? You can inspire them to try out making tattoos by giving them a temporary tattoo set as a gift. It’s a way of challenging them to step out of their comfort zones and temporarily leaving their sketchpads and canvasses for a new type of canvass – the human skin. This idea might be at totally new concept for them, but you can encourage them to try out their skills in being a tattoo artist.

They might not show it, but they are just as fascinated as you are about tattoos and making one themselves. This could be the perfect opportunity to have them try out tattooing. Since the inks are just going to stay temporarily on the skin, they won’t have to worry about messing up on the first try. Also, it’s a way of knowing if they have the potential to become great tattoo artists and you’ll be glad to have helped them realize their full artistic potential. As a supportive friend, be ready to volunteer to have your skin inked for them to try out the tattoo set. Get your other friends to also try out having temporary tattoos for fun. This way, your artistic friend gets exposed to a new artistic side and will improve their artistic portfolio.

642 things to draw: journal
Your gift ideas don’t need to be art items. They can be practically anything that can be connected to art and something that can help your artistically talented friend improve their talent and skills further. This book is a great gift item whether your friend is new to drawing and sketching or they are seasoned sketchers.

The book is a guided journal that will encourage creativity, stimulate the mind and enhance the passion for artistry in any aspiring or skilled artist. While your friend may not have a certain need to read it yet, they’ll be thankful to you in the future for this gift as it will inspire them to rekindle their artistic sense and inspiration during times of artistic slump or when they are just simply uninspired to do any project.

Art organizer tote bag
Have a friend who loves painting landscapes and someone who frequently moves between home and studio? This gift can be very useful for them. With many compartments for different art supplies, your friend can have a pouch to bring all of their art supplies with ease. They also wouldn’t have to worry about losing small art items while traveling due to different compartment sizes which are suitable for art items of any size. Painting will never be more convenient for your friend when they have a tote bag made just for keeping and organizing their art supplies.

Mini stretched canvas
This miniature version of a stretched canvas can be a good gift item for your friend as it serves many purposes. Your friend’s finished painting in this canvass can make a great decoration for their rooms, make great wall frame paintings for the living room or an inspirational artwork collection they can display in their dorm rooms. Mini stretched canvases are also easy to carry around, so your friend can start and finish her art project no matter where she is.

Inspirational artist’s mug
Your artist friend will need all the help and inspiration they can get to keep them going. Select a mug with a strong inspirational message as a gift for your friend. Sometimes, your friend can get mentally exhausted or feel sluggish early in the morning. Mugs can be great day starters by not just containing their favorite coffee, but also having messages and quotes that can spark their inspiration and motivate them to start their day right.

Don’t let your favorite artistic friend make the mistake of drinking from the wrong mug and ending up unproductive and uninspired for the whole day. If you’ve given them quotes or messages in your previous gifts, you can choose mugs with art-related designs and themes to decorate their shelves or serve as a reminder that they are great artists and you are proud to be their friend. There’s nothing like a good combination of coffee and inspirational mug to get an artist inspired and going for the entire day.

Choosing a great gift idea for your artistic friend need not be a hard task at all. It’s the thought that counts, and your friend will easily realize and appreciate your efforts. You don’t really have to buy them new art supplies. You can just think of items that can help them become better in their art and inspire them to explore more ways of expanding their artistic horizons.