Great Deals on Art Supplies thread!!

**Justin.** · January 28th, 2008, 12:29 AM

I can't believe nobody thought of this before.

Self explanatory; what inspired me to make this thread?

THIS!!!!

20 sheets of Strathmore Bristol, 19x24... for 3 bucks each. Typo? Maybe. But having 4 of these in my cart adds up to 12 bucks.

I figured if you know of or find a GREAT deal on any materials... post em here for all of us to take advantage of

**Digital_Blacksmith** · January 28th, 2008, 01:08 AM

www.Academicsuperstore.com

Maya Unlimited -$389.95
Wacom Intuos 6x8 - $289

And more deals like that, only for students though. You have to show your student ID

**Victor B** · January 28th, 2008, 05:34 PM

Great thread idea Justin, I'm afraid I don't have any deals to share on account of being broke , however I do usually check Dickblick.com for discounts I may have to stock up on bristol. Thanks for the heads up.

**Lad** · January 28th, 2008, 09:58 PM

This is what i have been looking for all this time!

Too bad I already bought paint at 8 bucks a jar instead of the 4 bucks

Well at least now I know...and as they say...

Knowing is HALF the battle! GO JOE!

**DSillustration** · January 28th, 2008, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by Justin Oaksford

20 sheets of Strathmore Bristol, 19x24... for 3 bucks each. Typo? Maybe. But having 4 of these in my cart adds up to 12 bucks.

Yup.
That's definitely a typo.
It's supposed to be $12.89, not $2.89.

Man, they could get raped on that.

**Justin.** · January 28th, 2008, 11:29 PM

:3

COME ON PEEPS!! show us some deelz!

**Meli Hitchcock** · January 29th, 2008, 09:58 AM

If you are near a Hobby Lobby, these deals are going on through Feb 02:

30% off Artist paper and pads
25% All Tube Paints
50% Artists Brushes

**jinxtigr** · January 29th, 2008, 02:44 PM

It does say save up to 88% off list. Maybe they found a spare truckload of bristol pads?

**OldJake666** · January 29th, 2008, 07:24 PM

Thank you Justin!
I had to jump on that! 100 sheets of 19x24 bristol for $14.45??? Hell ya!

**HunterKiller_** · January 29th, 2008, 08:24 PM

This thread is giving me an art boner.

**Jason Rainville** · January 29th, 2008, 10:07 PM

Hunter likes his art CHEAP and EASY

Wish I could find deals on sketchbooks. Mine's just about out and I wanna see if I can get a toned one.

**OldJake666** · January 29th, 2008, 10:46 PM

For those wanting toned sketchbooks I made one myself for about $3. Buy a sheet of toned paper from an art store or paper supply store. For instance mine was 50 sheets of manila paper for $1.50 from office depot. It's pretty good quality actually and quite cheap. Then bring the paper to Kinkos or whatever you use and have them bind it. It should only be about $1-5 to bind depending on how many pieces of paper they're binding.
I got this tip from a guy at life drawing who made a dark gray one. He paid more for paper than I did. I think he said he bought the paper at Aaron Brothers.

**Justin.** · February 2nd, 2008, 04:53 AM

Wow.

Got my GIANT bristol today.

I'm going to be using it as my sketchbook for a while. It's BEAUTIFUL

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO They fixed the price!! DAMN!!

**Qitsune** · February 2nd, 2008, 07:51 AM

Jason, that's about local to you I think, and they are having a great sale. I love currys, best art store in my area (but I'm moving where there isn't one!)
https://www.currys.com/catalogflyers.htm?

**Ilaekae** · February 2nd, 2008, 01:53 PM

I'll add specifics when I find them, but here's some ideas that worked for me in the past...

Idea 1:

Large commercial paper suppliers to the printing trade often have a room loaded with mistakes. These are miscuts, cancelled orders, and just general screwups. Sometimes, if you make friends with the guys at the mill or wholesaler, and chat up how you do a lot of work with kids and wondered if they had waste paper they could let you have cheap, they'll sometimes just give you the stuff, or give you a great price.

Make friends with a printing broker or printer. Commercial paper is sold in cartons at an inflated price because of the small quantity hassle. For example, a ream of 40 x 28 cover stock could run $200-300, but if a printer/broker buys it, they get a specific discount because they buy large quantities of EVERY paper on a regular basis, and they might be able to get the small quantity at a 10-carton price, or even a "train car" price (yes...I actually bought paper for a job by the trainload--on one job, the leftovers alone filled two fullsize railroad cars.) The price drops to anywhere from 30 to 10% of the single carton price.

Many large paper suppliers have small "retail" outlets in larger cities where they sell smaller lots and sizes for a decent price to small printers and offices. Just keep in mind here that "cheap" is possibly $40-100, BUT what you get is the equivalent of over a $1,000 when you buy it from an art supplier in small pads. You just have to know what you're doing. For example, 100# Strathmore Vellum Finish cover stock is roughly the equivalent of the Strathmore art pads with 20-40 sheets apiece that sell for outrageous prices.

Idea 2:

The phony lumberyards like Home Depot that cater to yuppie screw-ups often do a lot of "cut to size" stuff for their customers. The scraps left over are often just tossed in a box and dumped as scrap, or sold at a much reduced rate. This includes stuff like plywood, etc., that can be used as painting bases. Structural lumber under four-feet long is also usually tossed because it's not profitable to keep track of.

Idea 3:

See if there is a company that makes and sells awnings or the canvas for awnings in your area. The often have huge rolls of 6, 8, 10,12# unbleached cotton canvas on roles and will sell you pieces by the yard/cost at a really decent price. This stuff is 54" to 84" wide, and picking up 5-10 yards at a time would keep you painting for a long time.

Idea 4:

If you have to do sculpted pieces out of plaster in a pinch, and want them to look decent for exhibition, find some white good grade CASEIN house paint. It really does exist--it's used in historic restoration. Slap a lot of coats (10-15) on your piece with a light sanding between, and really polish up the last coat with some care and your plaster piece looks almost like a solid opaque marble, and the surface is incredibly durable.

**Wetterschneider** · February 2nd, 2008, 02:49 PM

Now I can't stop poking around at random on Dickblick, looking for buried treasure. It's more addictive than WOW.

**Blue** · February 2nd, 2008, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by Justin Oaksford

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO They fixed the price!! DAMN!!

**Jtho** · February 2nd, 2008, 04:13 PM

Good thing I ordered 5 earlier this week. I'll be set on bristol for a year :0

**Bhrazz** · February 2nd, 2008, 05:54 PM

bristol paper, here in Montréal, is 2.49 for a pack of 20 sheet 12X9. Is that cheap over there?

Well, just saw it... not so cheap...

Bristol Pad, 20 sheets Regular 9" × 12" List $7.30 $2.89

**Justin.** · February 2nd, 2008, 06:01 PM

Yeah but you missed the deal B, 19x24 bristol, 20 sheets was only 3 bucks. But it's gone now!

**OldJake666** · February 2nd, 2008, 07:17 PM

What sucks is a week before you posted this I spent $7.50 on 15 sheets of 9x12 bristol. Well at least I won't run out any time soon...

**PeggyChung** · February 3rd, 2008, 04:18 AM

anyone order canvas panels or stretched canvases online? the ready made kind, so far ive been finding packs of 6 for 22 bucks size 14x18 i believe.

**Grief** · February 5th, 2008, 06:21 PM

Originally Posted by Jake Kobrin

What sucks is a week before you posted this I spent $7.50 on 15 sheets of 9x12 bristol. Well at least I won't run out any time soon...

thats pretty bad jake. the price for 11x14 is $ 7.10 where i'm at (for 20 sheets), i'd find a new art supply store if i were you.

ps- just got my 19x24 bristol today only 4 pads though. thanks again justin.

**Digital_Blacksmith** · February 6th, 2008, 09:47 AM

Yall are lucky, the only art supply store we have nearby is a small section at walmart, who of course charges outrageous prices for the crappy things. I have to go atleast 2 hours out to even find a hobby lobby. I stick to doing everything online with dick blick and cheap joes.

**Toxdel** · February 8th, 2008, 01:59 PM

Thanks for this post man, The local art supply store doesn't carry a whole lot and I hate shopping at the craft store; I'm like the only male in the whole freakin place.

**Blue** · February 8th, 2008, 08:47 PM

Well i don't feel as bad about missing this deal now. An art store near me is going out of business and selling everything 50% off. I just bought enough sketchbooks to last me a few years.

**guggemmaneuver** · February 9th, 2008, 01:34 PM

http://www.dickblick.com/zz103/50/

if you can afford to drop the $91.68 on a case of the 12x roughly u.s. letter sized sketchbooks, it works out to be $7.64 each... which will last you a long time, save loads of cash, AND will save you the hassle of trying to track down a decent sketchbook everytime you fill one up. i got a case of them 2+ years ago and am just now at the end of them. it's a good deal, though the initial pang for ... $100 is kind of tough to stomach i guess.

g

**Toxdel** · February 9th, 2008, 11:59 PM

corel.com sells Painter X for only $100 to students, don't even have to show proof of being a student.

**Qitsune** · February 10th, 2008, 07:33 AM

I got a legit PainterX new for 40$ off ebay.

**Digital_Blacksmith** · February 10th, 2008, 10:25 AM

Im guessing that post was directed at me Toxdel? Well, thats one thing. But can you get Autocad for only $159? Or would you rather pay the $4,000 they normally charge? What about Photoshop CS3 for only $300 instead of the $1000. So yeah, I think this site has some good deals. Just cause it has normal Painter price, why pass up anything else this site has?