Over my years as an artist, I’ve always bought my own art materials to create the work I want and only experimented with what materials I fancied buying. I’d not heard of the idea of a monthly mystery supplies art box before, let alone the company Upcrate.
Well today, I’m going to introduce you to Upcrate and do a full-fledged review of the company, and their materials, as well
as test out the art supplies by creating an artwork.
A Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box?
That’s right, having a monthly mystery box of art supplies delivered right to your door is now becoming a grandiose thing for artists now.
A monthly mystery supply box is exactly what it sounds like.
Each month you receive a box filled with a range of different art supplies.
Why Should You Get a Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box?
Getting a monthly mystery art supply box can actually be very useful for an artist. I do think that getting one of these boxes each month would really help progress a beginner artist and help them find their preferred medium and art style.
The pros of getting one of these boxes each month would be that you would get to experiment and experience a wide range of different art media, and this would greatly improve your overall skill and knowledge of art. After all, isn’t it such a great thing to be a jack of all trades?!
Now I’ve explained why you might want to get a monthly mystery art supply box, let me introduce you to Upcrate.
Who is Upcrate?
Upcrate are a German-based art company that sends out a mystery art supplies box every month. These boxes are filled with a range of different art materials for you to use and test out each month.
Upcrate has this character called “Captain Crate”.
That’s right, the guy with a crate over his head. As much as it may seem a bit odd, the whole story to go along with it is actually quite ingenious.
If you’d like to read the full story of Captain Crate & his Crew, you can read all about it by clicking here.
I’ll give you a quick rundown about Captain Crate and how it works though.
It appears that Captain Crate is the main person who puts the contents of each crate together, and is sent out to the ‘Crew’ aka, the customers.
They say that “Captain Crate has gotten to know a wide variety of art materials and their manufacturers on his travels across the seven seas. He is always looking for new connections and treasures for you – his art crew.”
“From a handpicked selection of new, mysterious materials to you. These are lovingly put together in the crates in order to guarantee our international crew the best quality for trying out new drawing techniques and brands at the lowest price. Each box delivers a new surprise to your home!
Why Get Your Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box from Upcrate?
One thing I personally really love about Upcrate is that they have managed to create a thriving community around their monthly mystery art supply boxes.
Every box of new art materials you receive, you will also acquire a magazine that is full of advice you can use to progress your skills, as well as challenges you can complete with your supplies, and the opportunity to share the art you made online, exchange ideas, gain new opportunities, and also make friends with other artists..
This whole message of being in the journey together really connects well with me, as that is the foundation I built Carter Art upon.
Upcrate Mystery Art Supplies Box Prices.
For the 1 month box, you pay $25 (£18.17) each month.
Or you can purchase three months’ worth of boxes, one to be delivered each month for $71 (£51.60).
You can get 15% off your first subscription by using the code Carter15
How Often are the Boxes Supplies Updated?
Upcrate updates their boxes and supplies on the 5th of each month.
Upcrate also allows you to cancel your subscription at any time.
This is when Upcrate change around the supplies that are included within the box.
Upcrate Shipping.
Upcrate ships their boxes and supplies worldwide for free.
Upcrate Customer Service
If you have questions revolving around Upcrate, you can contact their customer service at support@upcrate.art
I personally found that Upcrate have great customer service, they are so happy to help and assist you with any questions or queries you may have.
What I Got in My Upcrate Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box
When I received my box from Upcrate, I was really impressed with the high quality of the box itself. I really loved the colour scheme they used as well.
Upon opening the box, I received:
- A magazine.
- Three tubes of gouache paints.
- A brush.
- A fine liner.
- Three sheets of paper.
- A glue tube.
- A sheet of transfer foil.
- And a whole load of stickers.
Do remember though that these items are changed every month, and you’ll get something new to try out in each box you receive.
What I Thought About My Upcrate Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box
I really liked everything that come in the Upcrate box, everything was very high quality, and I personally really loved the pen. It was remarkably high quality, and had a beautiful grip.
Using the Upcrate Monthly Mystery Art Supplies
In the magazine, at the very back, it says that this month’s theme is Mysterious Mind. The theme is a challenge you can do to create a piece of art based around the theme they set, and then you can post it on Instagram for a chance to win a prize.
I decided to use a piece of art that was used in the New York Times, (unfortunately, I don’t know who the original artist is) but I really loved the image, and so I decided to do a reproduction of it using the Upcrate art supplies.
I used the paper they had provided, as well as the pen, and I was really keen to trial the gouache paints as I haven’t used them before.
I really loved using the pen, and it had such a nice point, it never skipped on the paper, and it left such lovely pen marks wherever it touched. I found that the paper was really nice as well, and had a great tooth to it and held whatever went on it really well. The paints themselves were really great quality, and were really great to use, I, however, have not used gouache before so this was a really fun learning experience, and that is what I really love about Upcrate; is that by getting these boxes, you open yourself up to being able to learn and experiment in a whole wide range of new art materials.
Overall, I really do like Upcrate, and everything they do, the quality of the art materials are top-notch for the price, and I really love the whole experience and idea of being able to challenge my skills that little bit each month by trying out new materials.
Remember, you can get 15% off your first Upcrate subscription by using the code Carter15.
I also did a full review of Upcrate on my YouTube channel which you can find below.
Upcrate Monthly Mystery Art Supplies Box Review
