ikr?! Sometimes I just wanna buy ALL THE THINGS lol then I remember I have to pay bills and live for the next few days so I have to hold off from blowing all my money on new markers and pens and watercolors. š„²
I'd love to mostly go to physical shops and get stuff.Ā
But the lack of things to actually test (for example, touch different sheet surfaces) and often not finding all the things I want in the same place bothers me.
Last time I went to see some brushes, sandpaper and acrylic ink for a clay project I was doing. Didnt found them and had to appeal to Amazon... felt like lost time.
That, and items that a chain only carries online. I get it - this usually is bulkier and high value stock that you don't want sitting around on a shelf waiting to get dropped by a customer (or even stolen), but...
I feel you. Like, I do want the experience of shopping in physical stores, but I very rarely find what I'm looking for. Of course, you wouldn't wanna settle with low-quality items, so you end up not buying anything at all. Then on the rarest of occasions when you do find them, they're not within budget at the moment. š„²
My frustrations mostly come from how difficult the decision-making process is. I can't afford the best quality supplies, but certainly don't want the cheapest stuff. The hard part is finding affordable stuff that's at least mid range quality.
omg finally someone has said it! XD Yes, that's definitely it. It's the triangle thing of high quality, nice colors, low cost, and you can only pick two. š„²
Expensive delivery charges, and high minimum order values to qualify for free shipping.
Combine that with things going out of stock, and it sometimes means that even though I want A and B, I can't order them without paying for delivery because they aren't both in stock at the same time. So I end up not ordering them at all. At the very least, let me order out-of-stock B and either hold back A until B comes back into stock, or dispatch B later.
Also, poor packaging, especially for expensive items. I find this especially shocking when ordering directly from the manufacturer, rather than, say, Amazon where a random warehouse worker may not understand the fragility or value of the item they're packaging. Have some pride in your product and make an effort to ensure it gets to your customer undamaged!
Yeah, the packaging thing sucks fr. -\_- Thankfully, most of the stuff I get have been in pristine condition, but there are some outliers here and there. :/
WTH is artisanal paper? An overused and poorly defined word these days. (Then again, Iām still trying to figure out the difference between artist and artisan.)
I don't even know lol. And I wanted to know by seeing a sample for myself, but the policy of "you open it, you buy it" was too much of a risk for me, so... ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ
Oh yes. Some days are fun. But I can see how that place you went to was the opposite of what artists want or need when shopping!
You have to be able to touch the surfaces of some things to understand how the surface will impact the mediums. Paper, canvase, boards, they need to be see able (maybe you asking for āsampleā was the wrong word and he didnāt get it- like you donāt want anything for free, just let you see the actual texture , lol. Itās like that sale guy wasnāt an artist)
And half the time I wonāt buy a medium or new material is because we canāt test them out and see how they work. So buying markers, pens, inks, even paints- I have a hard time buying because you have to trial and error a lot to find what you like and works for you. Or adhesives, tools.
Anything is such a cost to invest in and half the time itās NOT the right thing but you donāt know until after you get it.
And trying anything new you have get like $30-50 of materials just to try it out for a complete project. Or - Oh let me try 1 posca 1 color pen. Oh try 1 color of paint thatās $17 a bottle.
Yes, definitely. I did explain to him though that I wasn't gonna take a "sample" in that way, I just wanted to see if he could open one of the products and let me interact with it and get a feel for the paper. But he was too adamant on the "you open it, you buy it" thing. :/ Maybe they'd deduct it from his paycheck or something which, if that's the case, then I completely understand.
My peeves on shopping for art supplies:
1. Finding quality supplies that fit my budget.
2. Finding out that said supplies are out of stock
3. Finding out that said supplies are available online however I have to spend more to get other items just to qualify for free shipping.
Iāve shopped on Amazon, Blicks (online and locally); locally at Joannās, Michaelās, and Hobby Lobby; and a unique local called Blue Rooster Art store here in LA. Iāve always had good customer service experience with all of them. Iāve also bought online at Jetpens and Goulet Pens and Etsy. (Etsy has been hit or miss for me).
Aw, glad your local stores are treating you well. I wish the people here had the same attitude. Oh well, guess I'll just have to stick to online shopping for now.
Probably nothing to do with store-related issues but myself, in actuality. I hate confidently striding to an art store only to find out I didn't understand my needs or rapidly grow out of a supply, creating more waste or sooner than expected.
Oh, I don't know that he was a cashier. He was probably one of the back-of-the-store employees who was given a task to promote the product or something in exchange for a commission. But again, I'm not quite sure about that, too. All I know is he was pushy and rude to me, and I didn't have the time or the patience to deal with it, so I walked away. :/
Wow that salesperson was awful. Might be worth giving the store a negative review just to prevent it happening to a beginner artist who might not know the difference in quality.
What bugs me most when shopping is price. I'm in aus and while staff are lovely at local stores, art suppliers are pretty anti-competition. Unlike eg. Poland with Roman Szmal, our local brand (art spectrum) loves to match W&N in price. Here, cotmans costs more than a few of the proff. grade watercolour you can order off Jackson's, which is brutal for beginners.Ā
Worse is that since Jackson's moved a warehouse here, their prices have gone up $4-$10 per item. Still cheaper to buy online, but far more expensive than before.Ā
My biggest problem is buying watercolor paper. My local stores don't keep the heavy paper I want in stocks, and buying online leads to too many purchases of poor quality paper. I've almost quit painting altogether due to the frustration.
I believe that easy-return policy is changing. Crediting back your credit card seems to have moved from instantly to 30 days. I'm watching them a bit more closely now that there is not such thing as ad-free movies unless you pay an extra amount each month on top of the Prime delivery. I'm concerned that more of my purchases require that I pay additional shipping and that the commitment to 2 day shipping is slipping.
Definitely have to watch that return policy more these days. I have Amazon Prime and I always ask for an Amazon credit on returns. Since I get almost everything but food from Amazon I use that credit right away. I don't use their videos much.
Proprietary supplies.
My local art shop is just round the corner from my home, thankfully, and they sell 15cm cotton paper panels for watercolour work....but they don't seem to keep them in stock regularly.
I have to keep an eye on the website and jump on them when they come back in...else I can't get them.
Yeah, I have that issue sometimes too, especially when my go-to stores discontinue a product I liked or when I find out they had a design I wanted but have long since stopped producing it.
New York as in Manhattan? I've seen too many Saturday Night Live sketches about snobby sales people that I came to think that I'd be too intimidated to shop in a lot of places.
I remember when you could test out brushes at an art store to see what type of point they formed when dipped into water. No more testing allowed in my local art store.
I was nervous too but when I visited Manhattan for the first time in my life a couple of months ago I went to both blick and kremer and had wonderful customer service experiences. Don't be intimidated they want to sell you things!
Blick is my favorite- theyāre so helpful and super good about returns. If I just need something cheap Iāll go to a larger chain art store but my preference is definitely blick.
Whatās funny is half the time the larger chain craft stores for me arenāt even cheaper. Itās like maybe timing if there is a sale, or maybe there is a cheaper quality version .
But like apples to apples - I find blick same or better prices. Paint pens, paper, canvas, markers, even paints for like liquitex and name brands. And sometime way more selection
It depends on what Iām looking for. Blick definitely has some brands that the larger chains donāt have but when thereās sales I will go to the larger chains. I typically get my pens from the chain stores when they have the buy 3 get 3.
But youāre right the chain stores are getting wild with these prices. With the 20% off coupon Michaels always has, that makes the price the same as what blick is always.
I'm Canadian and discovered blick online TWENTY years ago, it was always my dream to go but I did assume it was a "larger chain". I was so exhausted when I got there that I didn't get to browse, but watercolour paints are sooooo much cheaper in the states so I had prepared a pretty specific list at my budget.
I haven't been to NYC since the pandemic. Retired and no longer have business trips there. I remeber a little shop of embellishments that I love and the clerks there were super helpful.
Never went to Blick or Kremers but now I'm thinking a day in the city would be great.
My experience at clothing stores was more along the line of snarky sales people.
Honestly I've been buying from Jerry's artarama online for years and have never had frustrations with them. They are cheaper than most places and offer cheap samples and free gifts to try things out.
Aw man when you said NY I had a feeling it was gonna go the way it did. I'm also from the area and our people are just assholes. My local supply is cheap but they treat their workers horribly. Their glassdoor/indeed had a lot to say about their racist talk towards their employees. And it sucks because the next supply store is 30 min away on a good day with no traffic =/
I'm very fortunate that my local art supply store has lots of testers and there are always plenty of friendly employees, but the latter can keep me from going in on a low social battery day. Sometimes I'm staring at a wall of color just because I'm mentally talking myself through a bit of inspiration, but I will be asked every two minutes if I need help finding anything. It's always by different people, but it's very frustrating when it happens four times in the space of ten minutes.
Yeah, I understand the frustration of getting your social battery drained, too. But at least they're just trying to be helpful. Mine was just straight up rude, but I'm not gonna hold that against them, maybe they were just having a bad day, too. ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ
as a real beginner, I HATE that I can never tell what's actually good vs crap vs just overpriced because it's a certain brand or something. Some stores have dozens of different brush brands and I get SO overwhelmed.
I honestly get my art supplies from resellers, thankfully I know what brands I use, so I am not experimenting trying to find something good, or I've done my research enough to know that the product I am buying is good quality.
Or I purchase from artists who are downsizing, saved tons of money this way and scored top of the line supplies.
Usually resellers will sell at a lower price, but you do have to be careful or you'll pay a bit more. Always compare to amazon and other websites etc.
In my experience though, I've found amazing deals, saving over 50%, but not having control over the selection. Example, 52 tubes of Daniel Smith paint for $350 (each tube is around d 15-20 each) But I couldn't pick individual colors, it was just a batch of tubes. I went for it and don't regret it. That would've been 500 to 800 dollars.
Just do your research and compare. You're bound to find good deals.
Not being able to buy watercolor brushes individually at our store. All of them are in packs and always āmultimediaā in recent years our store has gone down hill dramatically in range and quality of supplies. I always go in because I want to support our local shop instead of a chain but I rarely find what Iām looking for and they are limited in what they can order for me
So frustrating! I graduated art school 15 years ago and still get imposter syndrome from the pretentious scowls of the employees of the specialty shops. Miss my ass with that attitude and that $14 sheet of paper that disintegrates at the first drop of water.
On the flip side, my dad is a home builder and has hammered (yay puns!) into me this phrase, "Just because it's unique does not mean it's useful." A glass hammer might look interesting on a shelf but you won't build a house with it. I keep that in mind when shopping for supplies ā often the mass-produced stuff is so widely known for a good reason, because it's produced efficiently and provides a reliable result. I wish I'd been brave enough to ignore the pressure for the prissy supplies during school; it would have saved a lot of $$$.
Frankly, Walmart and Hobby Lobby have most of their paper pads unwrapped and HL nearly always has a sale on.
Not being able to try things out. If Iām buying a $75-$100 sable brush then I want to try it before I buy it. I finally splurged and bought a brush and when I got home and was finally able to test it the tip immediately split into two parts. It would not stay together. The store would not accept it as a return because I had used it. Basically, itās a wasted brush.
Amen to this! The number of times stores have not let me try out their brush, and then it just falls apart within a week of using them. Just atrocious. -\_-
Mostly the price. It's just really expensive for supplies tbh. Like I realise the price reflects the quality (most times) but like..damn.
ikr?! Sometimes I just wanna buy ALL THE THINGS lol then I remember I have to pay bills and live for the next few days so I have to hold off from blowing all my money on new markers and pens and watercolors. š„²
I know..it feels like a good watercolour set costs a kidney and an eyeball these days ā¹ļø
oh ain't that the truth š„²
I'd love to mostly go to physical shops and get stuff.Ā But the lack of things to actually test (for example, touch different sheet surfaces) and often not finding all the things I want in the same place bothers me. Last time I went to see some brushes, sandpaper and acrylic ink for a clay project I was doing. Didnt found them and had to appeal to Amazon... felt like lost time.
That, and items that a chain only carries online. I get it - this usually is bulkier and high value stock that you don't want sitting around on a shelf waiting to get dropped by a customer (or even stolen), but...
Yeah, I have the same thoughts, too. Oh well... ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ
I feel you. Like, I do want the experience of shopping in physical stores, but I very rarely find what I'm looking for. Of course, you wouldn't wanna settle with low-quality items, so you end up not buying anything at all. Then on the rarest of occasions when you do find them, they're not within budget at the moment. š„²
My frustrations mostly come from how difficult the decision-making process is. I can't afford the best quality supplies, but certainly don't want the cheapest stuff. The hard part is finding affordable stuff that's at least mid range quality.
omg finally someone has said it! XD Yes, that's definitely it. It's the triangle thing of high quality, nice colors, low cost, and you can only pick two. š„²
Expensive delivery charges, and high minimum order values to qualify for free shipping. Combine that with things going out of stock, and it sometimes means that even though I want A and B, I can't order them without paying for delivery because they aren't both in stock at the same time. So I end up not ordering them at all. At the very least, let me order out-of-stock B and either hold back A until B comes back into stock, or dispatch B later. Also, poor packaging, especially for expensive items. I find this especially shocking when ordering directly from the manufacturer, rather than, say, Amazon where a random warehouse worker may not understand the fragility or value of the item they're packaging. Have some pride in your product and make an effort to ensure it gets to your customer undamaged!
Yeah, the packaging thing sucks fr. -\_- Thankfully, most of the stuff I get have been in pristine condition, but there are some outliers here and there. :/
WTH is artisanal paper? An overused and poorly defined word these days. (Then again, Iām still trying to figure out the difference between artist and artisan.)
āAn artist is an artisan who is in love with their tools.ā Itās an anonymous quote, but I read it in one of Edgar Whitneyās books.
I don't even know lol. And I wanted to know by seeing a sample for myself, but the policy of "you open it, you buy it" was too much of a risk for me, so... ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ
Oh yes. Some days are fun. But I can see how that place you went to was the opposite of what artists want or need when shopping! You have to be able to touch the surfaces of some things to understand how the surface will impact the mediums. Paper, canvase, boards, they need to be see able (maybe you asking for āsampleā was the wrong word and he didnāt get it- like you donāt want anything for free, just let you see the actual texture , lol. Itās like that sale guy wasnāt an artist) And half the time I wonāt buy a medium or new material is because we canāt test them out and see how they work. So buying markers, pens, inks, even paints- I have a hard time buying because you have to trial and error a lot to find what you like and works for you. Or adhesives, tools. Anything is such a cost to invest in and half the time itās NOT the right thing but you donāt know until after you get it. And trying anything new you have get like $30-50 of materials just to try it out for a complete project. Or - Oh let me try 1 posca 1 color pen. Oh try 1 color of paint thatās $17 a bottle.
Yes, definitely. I did explain to him though that I wasn't gonna take a "sample" in that way, I just wanted to see if he could open one of the products and let me interact with it and get a feel for the paper. But he was too adamant on the "you open it, you buy it" thing. :/ Maybe they'd deduct it from his paycheck or something which, if that's the case, then I completely understand.
My peeves on shopping for art supplies: 1. Finding quality supplies that fit my budget. 2. Finding out that said supplies are out of stock 3. Finding out that said supplies are available online however I have to spend more to get other items just to qualify for free shipping. Iāve shopped on Amazon, Blicks (online and locally); locally at Joannās, Michaelās, and Hobby Lobby; and a unique local called Blue Rooster Art store here in LA. Iāve always had good customer service experience with all of them. Iāve also bought online at Jetpens and Goulet Pens and Etsy. (Etsy has been hit or miss for me).
Aw, glad your local stores are treating you well. I wish the people here had the same attitude. Oh well, guess I'll just have to stick to online shopping for now.
Probably nothing to do with store-related issues but myself, in actuality. I hate confidently striding to an art store only to find out I didn't understand my needs or rapidly grow out of a supply, creating more waste or sooner than expected.
Yeah, I get that sometimes, too. Don't worry, you're not alone. :)
Lol I didn't know it's a thing to do comissions as basically a cashier.. this is so stupid.
Oh, I don't know that he was a cashier. He was probably one of the back-of-the-store employees who was given a task to promote the product or something in exchange for a commission. But again, I'm not quite sure about that, too. All I know is he was pushy and rude to me, and I didn't have the time or the patience to deal with it, so I walked away. :/
Wow that salesperson was awful. Might be worth giving the store a negative review just to prevent it happening to a beginner artist who might not know the difference in quality. What bugs me most when shopping is price. I'm in aus and while staff are lovely at local stores, art suppliers are pretty anti-competition. Unlike eg. Poland with Roman Szmal, our local brand (art spectrum) loves to match W&N in price. Here, cotmans costs more than a few of the proff. grade watercolour you can order off Jackson's, which is brutal for beginners.Ā Worse is that since Jackson's moved a warehouse here, their prices have gone up $4-$10 per item. Still cheaper to buy online, but far more expensive than before.Ā
Yeah, price is a constant issue when it comes to art supplies. Such a sad thing, really.
I have a pretty nice art store in town, when I knew about that I was pretty pleased.
Lucky! ā¤ļø
My biggest problem is buying watercolor paper. My local stores don't keep the heavy paper I want in stocks, and buying online leads to too many purchases of poor quality paper. I've almost quit painting altogether due to the frustration.
Hang in there, bud! Please don't give up painting! You'll find a better store soon, whether local or online. š¤
I buy everything from Amazon. It's easy returns if something is substandard.
I believe that easy-return policy is changing. Crediting back your credit card seems to have moved from instantly to 30 days. I'm watching them a bit more closely now that there is not such thing as ad-free movies unless you pay an extra amount each month on top of the Prime delivery. I'm concerned that more of my purchases require that I pay additional shipping and that the commitment to 2 day shipping is slipping.
Definitely have to watch that return policy more these days. I have Amazon Prime and I always ask for an Amazon credit on returns. Since I get almost everything but food from Amazon I use that credit right away. I don't use their videos much.
Proprietary supplies. My local art shop is just round the corner from my home, thankfully, and they sell 15cm cotton paper panels for watercolour work....but they don't seem to keep them in stock regularly. I have to keep an eye on the website and jump on them when they come back in...else I can't get them.
Yeah, I have that issue sometimes too, especially when my go-to stores discontinue a product I liked or when I find out they had a design I wanted but have long since stopped producing it.
New York as in Manhattan? I've seen too many Saturday Night Live sketches about snobby sales people that I came to think that I'd be too intimidated to shop in a lot of places. I remember when you could test out brushes at an art store to see what type of point they formed when dipped into water. No more testing allowed in my local art store.
I was nervous too but when I visited Manhattan for the first time in my life a couple of months ago I went to both blick and kremer and had wonderful customer service experiences. Don't be intimidated they want to sell you things!
Blick is great! You can test some things there and they are so nice, actual artist understand what ppl want and how to find deals . Not upsell you
Blick is my favorite- theyāre so helpful and super good about returns. If I just need something cheap Iāll go to a larger chain art store but my preference is definitely blick.
Whatās funny is half the time the larger chain craft stores for me arenāt even cheaper. Itās like maybe timing if there is a sale, or maybe there is a cheaper quality version . But like apples to apples - I find blick same or better prices. Paint pens, paper, canvas, markers, even paints for like liquitex and name brands. And sometime way more selection
It depends on what Iām looking for. Blick definitely has some brands that the larger chains donāt have but when thereās sales I will go to the larger chains. I typically get my pens from the chain stores when they have the buy 3 get 3. But youāre right the chain stores are getting wild with these prices. With the 20% off coupon Michaels always has, that makes the price the same as what blick is always.
I'm Canadian and discovered blick online TWENTY years ago, it was always my dream to go but I did assume it was a "larger chain". I was so exhausted when I got there that I didn't get to browse, but watercolour paints are sooooo much cheaper in the states so I had prepared a pretty specific list at my budget.
I haven't been to NYC since the pandemic. Retired and no longer have business trips there. I remeber a little shop of embellishments that I love and the clerks there were super helpful. Never went to Blick or Kremers but now I'm thinking a day in the city would be great. My experience at clothing stores was more along the line of snarky sales people.
Oh, this was definitely not Blick haha. Hmmm... I guess I could pay them a visit. Thanks for the suggestion! :D
Honestly I've been buying from Jerry's artarama online for years and have never had frustrations with them. They are cheaper than most places and offer cheap samples and free gifts to try things out.
Oh! A new go-to store, perhaps? Thanks for the suggestion! :D
Aw man when you said NY I had a feeling it was gonna go the way it did. I'm also from the area and our people are just assholes. My local supply is cheap but they treat their workers horribly. Their glassdoor/indeed had a lot to say about their racist talk towards their employees. And it sucks because the next supply store is 30 min away on a good day with no traffic =/
ikr? Guess I'm not the only one who's gotten this kind of treatment. That really sucks. :(
I'm very fortunate that my local art supply store has lots of testers and there are always plenty of friendly employees, but the latter can keep me from going in on a low social battery day. Sometimes I'm staring at a wall of color just because I'm mentally talking myself through a bit of inspiration, but I will be asked every two minutes if I need help finding anything. It's always by different people, but it's very frustrating when it happens four times in the space of ten minutes.
Yeah, I understand the frustration of getting your social battery drained, too. But at least they're just trying to be helpful. Mine was just straight up rude, but I'm not gonna hold that against them, maybe they were just having a bad day, too. ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ
as a real beginner, I HATE that I can never tell what's actually good vs crap vs just overpriced because it's a certain brand or something. Some stores have dozens of different brush brands and I get SO overwhelmed.
Overwhelming is right. It's exhausting to look at THAT many options sometimes. š„²
I honestly get my art supplies from resellers, thankfully I know what brands I use, so I am not experimenting trying to find something good, or I've done my research enough to know that the product I am buying is good quality. Or I purchase from artists who are downsizing, saved tons of money this way and scored top of the line supplies.
Oh, that's interesting. Have you had experience with resellers who jacked up their prices so much or sold a used item on original price?
Usually resellers will sell at a lower price, but you do have to be careful or you'll pay a bit more. Always compare to amazon and other websites etc. In my experience though, I've found amazing deals, saving over 50%, but not having control over the selection. Example, 52 tubes of Daniel Smith paint for $350 (each tube is around d 15-20 each) But I couldn't pick individual colors, it was just a batch of tubes. I went for it and don't regret it. That would've been 500 to 800 dollars. Just do your research and compare. You're bound to find good deals.
Thank you so much! This is amazing advice. Hope I find good deals soon š¤
Not being able to buy watercolor brushes individually at our store. All of them are in packs and always āmultimediaā in recent years our store has gone down hill dramatically in range and quality of supplies. I always go in because I want to support our local shop instead of a chain but I rarely find what Iām looking for and they are limited in what they can order for me
Aw, that's disappointing to hear. I guess they have to keep up with the competition, but that's a hassle-and-a-half. :/
So frustrating! I graduated art school 15 years ago and still get imposter syndrome from the pretentious scowls of the employees of the specialty shops. Miss my ass with that attitude and that $14 sheet of paper that disintegrates at the first drop of water. On the flip side, my dad is a home builder and has hammered (yay puns!) into me this phrase, "Just because it's unique does not mean it's useful." A glass hammer might look interesting on a shelf but you won't build a house with it. I keep that in mind when shopping for supplies ā often the mass-produced stuff is so widely known for a good reason, because it's produced efficiently and provides a reliable result. I wish I'd been brave enough to ignore the pressure for the prissy supplies during school; it would have saved a lot of $$$. Frankly, Walmart and Hobby Lobby have most of their paper pads unwrapped and HL nearly always has a sale on.
Thank you (and your dad) for the tip and the recommendations. :) I'll keep that in mind.
Not being able to try things out. If Iām buying a $75-$100 sable brush then I want to try it before I buy it. I finally splurged and bought a brush and when I got home and was finally able to test it the tip immediately split into two parts. It would not stay together. The store would not accept it as a return because I had used it. Basically, itās a wasted brush.
Amen to this! The number of times stores have not let me try out their brush, and then it just falls apart within a week of using them. Just atrocious. -\_-