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Echoing the supplies suggestion. No-fail gifts I've received in the past have been: really lovely expensive French paper (Rives, Arches, etc), more Staedtler pencils and sharpeners, my spouse bought me this little tabletop box easel I asked for for my birthday. It's cheaply made, but very light and useful. Blank sketchbooks with good paper are always appreciated, particularly if they're "special" (locally made, personalized, etc.).
If you live in or near a city, you could plan a day outing to gallery-hop with them. I'd also jump at the chance to take workshops with a friend in a medium I was interested but not fully competent in, i.e., printmaking, glass-blowing, ceramics, plein air painting, etc.
I'm also the type of person who can never have too many art books featuring my favorite artists or movements with full-page, full-color illustrations.
Quality prints of works by my favorite artists. If the receiver is a mainly-digital artist, they may like to own a print of a piece of their own work that they're particularly proud of.
I found a big easel pad of one inch grid paper on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQDGJRO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.PrEzbBDQR1KT), I draw each section of the dungeon on one sheet so they can be replaced on the table as we go. I've tried a few approaches and this is my favorite. Sections take only ten minutes each to draw out, less of I don't care about details like coloring in terrain and stuff. I also think the drawn aspect encourages the players to imagine the terrain instead of relying on the printouts, but maybe I'm projecting
Do you need books? Don't just buy em all willy nilly unless you're gonna run a specific module or setting.
That said, I highly recommend Mordenkainens Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide to Monsters. A lot of great stat blocks in there. Amazon has good prices for D&D books, and they are often on sale for 20~ dollars.
This is perfect if you like to hand-draw maps for your table. Its 200 sheets, will last forever. I bought this like 2 years ago and I'm barely through the 2nd pad. Course 65 bucks for just paper is a hard ask for some. You can certainly find cheaper easel paper, but this is my fave.
You could always use more minis of course, just search around.
I personally think this is best for beginners. Hope this helps!
US Art Supply 21-Piece Acrylic Painting Table Easel Set with, 12-Tubes Acrylic Painting Colors, 11"x14" Stretched Canvas, 6 Artist Brushes, Plastic Palette with 10 Wells https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PR1JWVK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_eYSuFb6PDXNWE
Thanks. they are called "Plastic Easel Stands" they are very cheap in amazon. although I would recommend this ones since the plastic ones that I got tend to bend a bit the manga.
I grabbed a few pads of 1-inch gird easel paper on Amazon. I draw out dungeon, town, and various maps on it before the session, and it's great. It's awesome watching the players explore a dungeon when I have the whole thing mapped on battle-ready squares already, so I can just drop a new sheet of paper as they travel.
Under that, I have a wet-erase Chessex battlemat, which is good for when I haven't planned something out . . . which seems to be happen more than I would like.
You can probably pick up something similar at any craft store.
I also saw one meant for kids at Walmart, but it would work as well.
[A tabletop easel. They're not all made just for canvases.] https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Art-4-Position-Drafting-Sketching/dp/B084Z2LJCY/ref=sxin_14_ac_d_hl?ac_md=2-1-U21hbGwgQnVzaW5lc3MgQnJhbmQ%3D-ac_d_hl_hl_sb&content-id=amzn1.sym.3663916c-38f6-4d73-9801-2e9551111db6%3Aamzn1.sym.3663916c-38f6-4d73-...
Sorry, I thought I erased the quote, but I erased my own comment. It's right on the mini-easel. Probably for a photo stand, though. Not the same, but something like this. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2TVZJ6/
They're little art easels gives great back support for the books to display.
I don't know what a good battle mat is, but when I played in-person, I used to use gridded easel pads. The sheets aren't reusable but you get enough of them to last a long time. They are good for both drawing maps on the fly and preparing them before sessions. You can combine that with a piece of acrylic plastic (which you can get from a home improvement store) to lay over the sheet you want it to lay flat perfectly flat (a few paperweight style anchors is usually sufficient to avoid any problematic creasing though), which you can use in combination with dry erase markers.
The downside is that the sheet and pad can be a little cumbersome to store (they have large surface area, but are thin) and the acrylic sheet is cumbersome to transport. With sheets from the easel pad, you can just rip them off and fold them though, so no problems with transport there. You can also reuse the maps you draw, though the sheets aren't the most durable, so I wouldn't expect them to last that long before showing signs of wear.
So for objectives I have a separate large piece of paper (I bought something like this a while ago for DnD and things and it was a super cool purchase) that I use to write down objectives and who has what objective, then at during the status round I go and write everything down as people score. I think using the tokens and stuff is fiddly and this is way clearer.
The link still works when I pull it up. But no worries, I'll link from 2 other sites.
Drawing board easels tend to come in various sizes so pay attention to the measurements when buying that the size fits your needs.
You should also invest in painters tape as it has decent adhesive but won't destroy your paper when removed. The tape can be used to "stretch" the paper to keep it from not only moving but from buckling and getting waves from heavy use.
Let me know if either of those links don't work. Jerry's Artarama does ship internationally as well if you are not state side.
Put them on a mini easel. Supporting the back and keeps them from damage. Mayitr 10pcs Mini Wooden Artist Easel Triangle Cards Stand Display Wedding https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2TVZJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_M5H0Q5Z8M4XE3B8B95ZV
Put them on a mini easel. Supporting the back and keeps them from damage. Mayitr 10pcs Mini Wooden Artist Easel Triangle Cards Stand Display Wedding https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2TVZJ6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_M5H0Q5Z8M4XE3B8B95ZV
I use this one. Pretty sturdy for the price.
T-Sign 66" Reinforced Artist Easel Stand, Extra Thick Aluminum Metal Tripod Display Easel 21" to 66" Adjustable Height with Portable Bag for Floor/Table-Top Drawing and Displaying https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076X3WZHB/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_8113D9CY6YQKQVXM0GX9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Grab an Easel and make your life easier
Try out printing some maps and see how it goes - worst case, all it costs you is a bit of paper and ink, right?
If it doesn't go well - can you pre-draw the maps on your existing battlemap?
If you can't (it'll get smudged, you need multiple maps, etc) - Amazon sells large pads of 1" grid paper, for example: https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Standard-3-Hole-Punched-Sheets/dp/B00AQDGJRO/
Worst case, just buy some regular graph paper, pre-draw the maps, and use some small tokens rather than minis.
>when playing IRL I find that taking the time to draw the maps can kill the suspension of disbelief. Is there a way you do this and keep it fun?
An old school thing is to make the players draw the map. You give them dimensions of a space and talk with them as they draw it on graph paper. Effectively, you get a group cartographer sitting there with a note book. Part of the fun is they get it wrong sometimes.
You can even get an easel pad with 1 inch squares. You give the players a sheet, and they draw out the map and put their characters on it. Basically, make the players take some of the load off you.
You could go a little hybrid in this case, and do theater of the mind for non-essential rooms, and then have them map out the space that is important. You could just draw lines representing passages connecting the important locations.
It's the angle. Drafting tables are great because they come up to a roughly 45 degree angle which is ideal for drawing posture.
You can get way with it if you also get a desktop drawing board with it. This differs from the easle you shared and is much better dor drawing on paper.
I really like it! In some ways, working flat might have been a tiny bit more comfortable on my wrist, but it always made my back hurt. I would want to keep diamond painting but couldn't because it got too uncomfortable.
This is the desk easel I bought: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084Z2LJCY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
It's nice because it has several different angles, so if I ever want the canvas to be a little flatter, I can adjust it.
A simple way of doing maps if simplicity is something you value, is picking up a big pad of 1"x1" grid paper like this: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AQDGJRO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then just get some colored sharpies or something and you can draw up whatever you like. There are also dry erase mats you can get if you want to go that route, but I like these pads because it means I can draw multiple maps ahead of time if I want to. Biggest downside is finding a good place to store such large pads of paper. Under the bed works for me though.
Yes, I drew it on two sheets of gridded presentation paper. It’s this one:
TOPS Standard Easel Pads, 3-Hole Punched, 27 x 34 Inch, 1" Grid, White, 50 Sheets/Pad, Carton of 2 Pads (7902)
It helps so much! It takes strain out of my neck and makes working on paintings so much more comfortable. I invested in a cheaper one from Amazon for around $16. It works well but if I’m still diamond painting around Christmas I may invest in a larger one. The one I have holds a size A4 light pad perfectly and the the painting I’m working on doesn’t hang off the sides too bad; the painting is 35x50cm total in size. I would recommend the easel I have to start out if you want to give it a try! It has a little drawer to store supplies which is really nice. :)
Here’s the link!
I recently bought two 1" grid easel pads, which I draw maps on. You can find them on Amazon, or at an office supply store depending on what's available near you, I bought mine from Staples.
As an example of what I'm talking about, here's a link to one from Amazon
For tokens, I use a small collection of D&D miniatures I had from when we last played 3.5 ten or so years so, I don't have much in the way of duplicates and a decent amount are basically impossible to use (My level 3 group ain't fighting Bane any time soon...), so I've been supplementing with some spare dice for the time being, anything will work so long as everyone is clear on what each token represents.
I would check amazon. I have something similar to this, but this particular one is a big pricey
https://www.amazon.com/TOPS-Standard-3-Hole-Punched-Sheets/dp/B00AQDGJRO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=large+graph+paper+27x32&qid=1562945390&s=gateway&sr=8-3