Stephanie Eche's Gift Guide for Artists & Podcasters

It's me, Stephanie, your host of First Coat! This week I'm sharing my Gift Guide based on my experience as an artist, podcast creator, and creative business owner. I link to everything I I share in the show notes. Let me know what you're gifting this year -- email me at Stephanie(at)distillcreative.com.

Show Notes: https://distillcreative.com/blog/2020/11/28/gift-guide-for-artists-and-podcasters

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Transcript

Stephanie Eche: 0:02

Welcome to First Coat. Where we explore public realm art, how it's made and why it matters. I'm your host Stephanie Eche, an artist and entrepreneur based in Brooklyn, New York. I run Distill Creative, where I curate and produce site-specific art projects for real estate developers. I focus on creating more equitable and inclusive projects, and I want to get more exposure for the artists and developers doing this work. This week on First Coat, I thought I'd do something a little bit different. Instead of an interview, I'm going to share a gift guide for artists and podcasters. If you've been listening to this podcast, then you know that I've been doing everything myself from prepping interviews, recording, editing, and promoting. My gift guide is based on the items that I've found helpful to making a podcast and includes things that are on my own wish list. I link to all the items in the show notes and I also have a video version on my YouTube channel. Just search for Distill Creative on YouTube. Okay, ready for my gift guide for artists and podcasters? Here are my top picks for the artist in your life. Number one, a sketchbook. This is a pretty obvious thing, but not all sketchbooks are the same. If you know that the artist in your life uses both dry and wet media, by which I mean pencil, charcoal, markers, ink, watercolor, even acrylic, then I suggest the Stillman & Birn Multi Media Sketchbook. You can also get the Canson multimedia sketchbook which is a little bit cheaper. Both of these will be great because they can use them with both wet and dry media and they can also use them if they like to collage or scrapbook. I also suggest a watercolor pan set. I have the Windsor & Newton watercolor pan set on my wish list this year. It's a bit expensive, they definitely have smaller, cheaper versions but this is my upgrade pick. If you know someone has been doing watercolor but maybe isn't using the highest quality of paints, you can give them the Windsor & Newton watercolor pan set. Even though we're not doing a lot of travel this year, you might want to give someone a smaller sketchbook that they can take on the go. I like to have a field artist sketchbook that's five inches by five inches or six by six in my bag or purse all the time so I can always do a quick sketch on the go. It's also great for wet and dry media. So if you know that someone likes to watercolor on the go, you can give them this little mini sketchbook and they can take it everywhere they go. Number two, micron pens. I use microns all the time and even if someone has micron pens, they probably would really like having more because you run through them pretty quickly if you use them a lot and they're just a really useful thing to have in different widths. Number three, a paint making set from Kremer pigments. Kremer pigments has really awesome workshops that teach you how to make your own paints. These are not going on right now in person, obviously, but they do have paint sets that you can purchase and gift. There's an oil making paint set and a watercolor making paint set and both of these are on my wish list. I think it would be super fun for any artist to get this set and make their own paints. Number four, an artisan made rug by Porfirio Gutirrez y Familia. I studied with the Gutirrez family in Oaxaca a few years ago, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My husband and I bought one of their rugs for our living room and it's a really beautiful and meaningful addition to our home. I think any artist would really appreciate a handmade, naturally dyed, artisan made rug. The tapestries are a work of art in and of themselves. And they can also be hung on the wall as a wall hanging. Number five, the book Organizing for Creative People by Sheila Chandra. I have this book and it's been really guiding me in how to organize my life, especially with having multiple things going on whether that's a creative project or a business project and I highly suggest it for anyone who is an artist or running a creative business. Number six, a Skillshare subscription. Whenever I have a creative block or I just need a little boost of inspiration, I go to Skillshare and browse the classes. They have everything from new painting techniques to marketing classes, and even though I might not finish the class, it always really helps inspire me. So, if you know someone is either looking to learn a new skill or just is an artist, they probably would really appreciate a subscription to Skillshare. Number seven and this is a splurge item, an iPad Mini, Apple Pencil, and Procreate. I use this every day, I always have it in my purse and the procreate app is really great for any artist who wants to do digital, really anything. Definitely an awesome digital tool that makes a lot of things easier, especially when you're doing mock ups. I love my Apple iPad Mini. Number eight, a subscription to an art magazine. I know it's pretty popular to gift people books, and that's great. I love getting books, but gifting someone a subscription to a magazine will give them inspiration multiple times a year and it's less of a commitment. When I get a magazine, I can just browse it, reference it later, I don't feel stressed out that it's a book that I need to read. So I suggest a subscription to an art magazine. I really like the Brooklyn Rail, I'd also suggest Create! Magazine and Flow. Number nine, a mask with original artwork or that is handmade. I have a whole round up of masks by independent designers and or with original artwork, like one by myself, on my blog at Distill Creative, so I'll link to it in the comments and you can check them out. Those are my picks for the artist in your life. Now for my top picks for the podcaster in your life. These are great gifts for anyone who has a podcast, who has been talking about starting a podcast or who is just starting out making a podcast. Number one, a workshop. So I have a few workshop picks on my list. One of them is Heartcast media course on podcasting. And then the other two are BRICs, Intro to Audition and Intro to Premiere Pro. I took all of these classes, they're all great and they all helped me with different aspects of making a podcast. The Heartcast Media course on podcasting really helped with knowing what to set up before I even recorded my podcast. The BRIC audition class really helped me with knowing how to record audio and edit audio. And the Premiere Pro class by BRIC really helped me with video editing. It taught me everything I needed to know about video editing, and it was really fun to do with other people online. Number two, this is a free thing. Buzzsprout has a really great guide to podcasting and they also have a podcast about how to make a podcast. You could print out the guide and gift it as a little handmade package and it's a great free gift and can give the podcaster in your life some extra tips and inspiration to get their podcast started. Number three, a microphone. So, I have both the Blue Yeti and the Audio-Technica ATR 2100, which is this right here. It's what I'm using to record today. I keep the Blue Yeti in my studio where I do my podcast recording and then, actually, I used the Blue Yeti in my kitchen when I was recording my podcast, so it worked pretty well and then I use the Audio-Technica at home as a backup. I forget what number I'm on. Number five, a Zoom H5 portable recorder. This is not Zoom, the online video conferencing app, this is a device, a audio recorder and it's really great because it's pretty small. As you can see I have really small hands, and it is handheld, and you can take it anywhere. The one I got from B&H came in this nifty little case and it's great for someone who wants to record on the go. Also someone who just wants to kind of up their recording gear, especially if they want it to be more portable. Number six, a external solid state drive. I got this one, it's a Samsung, the Samsung T7 Touch Portable SSD. It's super portable, it can hold a ton of stuff, I put all my video and audio recordings on it and then I also back everything up on Dropbox and I have a second SSD, the same one that I use as a backup for my computer. Number seven, Brooklyn Botany Brown Sugar Scrub. I have been in the market for a sugar scrub. I think a sugar scrub is a nice gift for anyone who is working really hard on a project and might need some encouragement to relax. Also on my list is a Handmade Habitat candle. Gifting a candle, especially by an independent maker is a great gift. Anything you can gift the podcaster in your life, or the artist or creative business owner in your life that gives them a little bit of an excuse to just chill out and relax is a great gift. Number eight, a MacBook Pro. So, this is another splurge item for a podcaster in your life or really for an artist or anyone doing creative work. I have been a Mac person for a while, so I am definitely biased, but being able to seamlessly have your photos sync up and just do audio and visual projects on your computer without it crashing is really really awesome. I linked to the refurbished Mac store, which has refurbished Macs, and with the new Mac that just came out, you might be able to get a really great 2020 MacBook Pro for not as expensive as when those first came out. I use my MacBook Pro every day and it is super portable, super fast and it allows me to do all the creative work I do. Number nine, a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud. So if you want to give someone an ongoing gift who's working on a podcast or any creative project, Adobe Creative Cloud is awesome. It's what I use to do all of my creative work and artwork. I use Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Audition, Adobe Premiere Pro, Lightroom for photo management, Photoshop and InDesign. I use a lot of Adobe products. Gifting someone Adobe Creative Cloud is an ongoing expense but it's also a really sweet way to kind of sponsor their creative work and tell them that you want them to keep doing the work they're doing and you don't want them to lack the best software to do their creative projects. And number 10, a gift certificate to B&H. B&H has everything that anyone doing audio or visual projects would need. It's where I got all my microphones, my camera that I'm using right now, which is the Fuji xT 200. A gift card to B&H is awesome. It allows the podcaster in your life to get whatever they need to work on their podcast, and it's a great item that you can give them even digitally or if you're far away, you can just email them the gift certificate or print it out and write them a really sweet card. I know I would love a B&H gift certificate because there's always some new equipment that I'm looking to purchase and it's just a nice surprise. I hope you liked my gift guide for artists and podcasters. If you have something else that you would add or if you want to share something that's on your wish list, please email me, Stephanie at Distill Creative. Let me know what you're gifting the artist or podcaster in your life, I am really curious to know, maybe I can add it in on my list. Also, I have a whole Pinterest board of all of my picks. So if you want to see it on Pinterest or repin anything for yourself, you can check that out. I'll be back next week with another interview with a mural artist for the next episode of First Coat. Don't forget to subscribe to the First Coat podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and to our YouTube channel on Distill Creative. Thanks for listening to this episode of First Coat. If you liked this podcast, please leave a review. Make sure to subscribe to the First Coat podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Instagram@firstcoatpodcast or@distillcreative. First Coat is a production of my company, Distill Creative. Check us out at distillcreative.com.