Christmas Gift Guide 2018: 15 gadget gift ideas for artists, designers and creative types

Wacom Intuos (£50)

Unlike the temperament of most highly strung artists, this affordable graphics tablet is sensitive to 4096 levels of pressure. So, whether you’re channeling the ocean breeze or stabbing with your stylus like an angsty Andy Warhol, it should help your festive frustration find expression in digital form.

A compact blend of precision and portability, stick the 7.9in slate in your satchel for deft doodling at any desk – including your art therapist’s.

3Doodler Create+ (£70)

Ever wanted to draw in mid-air? No? Well, with 3Doodler’s magic take on making, you soon will. Simply push the button and let the ABS flow.

Easier to control than ever before, the third generation of the plastic-spouting pen packs a revised drive mechanism that’ll go and go. Which is good, because that extruded Eiffel Tower won’t make itself.

Pantone Chip Drive (£16)

A USB stick might seem like a stingy stocking filler for your creative friend – but this is no ordinary flash drive.

Oh, sure, it acts like one – but the shade of that shell is no average hue: it’s Pantone 18-3838. Or Ultra Violet, to you and me.

Available in all kinds of inspiring colours, it’s perfect for painters with a penchant for file transfers.

Apple iPad Pro 11 (from £769)

Real canvases are so last century. Would Van Gogh have smeared paint across the page if he could’ve created pixel-packed masterpieces on the iPad Pro’s 11in touchscreen? Of course not.

At 469 grams it weighs about the same as a pad of cartridge paper and, paired with the pressure-sensitive Apple Pencil, is far more versatile than your average acrylics.

What’s more, with a refresh rate that adapts to the task at hand, the new Liquid Retina display is a real treat for the eyes – artistic or otherwise.​

Office Block Concrete Desk Tidy (£30)

When your days are filled with a spectrum of saturation, colours coming to life as you dab and daub across canvas and wall, sometimes you need a cold hard touch of reality to keep your suede slippers on the ground.

This concrete desk organiser should do the trick: sit it next to your easel, fill it with paintbrushes and periodically caress its hard edges, for a ready reminder of the real world outside your studio.

Where to buy Office Block Concrete Desk Tidy

Rocketbook Everlast (£35)

Ceaseless scribbler? Get a grip on your notebook habit with Rocketbook’s reusable journal: simply doodle to your heart’s content with a Pilot FriXion pen, then wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Good as new.

And before you go thinking this is some masochistic exercise in creative destructionism, the Rocketbook app makes it a cinch to scan pages into your cloud of choice – so your sketched-out schemes will be safe and sound.

Logitech MX Ergo (£83)

Thought trackballs were reserved for engineers and ergonomics experts? Give this ball a go and, after an hour of adjustment, there’s every chance you’ll find your digital creativity accelerating like a wheel down a hill.

Adjustable to suit the angle of your wrist, Logitech’s roller is precise, fast and almost certain to confound anyone who attempts to use your computer. Sorry, digital art station.

Wacom Bamboo Tip (£42)

Swapped your sketchbook for a tablet? Wacom makes a raft of styli to assist your digital scribbling – starting with the Tip.

It’s not pressure-sensitive and there are no shortcut buttons, but for a simple pen that makes digital drafting a cinch, the Tip is tough to beat. There’s no need to pair – just power up and get sketching with the 1.9mm nib. Nifty.

Lacie Rugged Raid Pro (£264)

Need a reliable drive to back up your files in the field? Whether you’re filiming an indie flick or shooting for your latest lookbook, Lacie’s Rugged Raid Pro is the perfect solution for on-the-go storage.

No, it’s not the cheapest drive around, but it’s easily one of the fastest – not to mention tough. Better yet, with a USB-C port and in-built SD card reader, it’s as versatile as you need it to be.

Tilt Brush ($20)

Investing in an HTC Vive or Oculus Rift might not be the cheapest way to create digital masterpieces, but it’s certainly the coolest: gift your VR-ready friend Google’s Tilt Brush app and they’ll be able to craft colourful creations in mid-air.

Simply don a headset, pick from a palette of virtual brushes and fling your creativity into the room around you. Just like Jackson Pollock, only without the paint splatters and associated splashback.

Moleskine Pen+ Ellipse (£179)

Scanning your sketches is all well and good, but those comics would be finished in the half the time if your every drawing was instantly digitised.

Rejoice! This streamlined scribbler syncs with your smartphone in real time, perfectly mirroring your pen marks in pixels. Simply doodle as you usually would on one of Moleskine’s Paper Tablets or Smart Planners and watch as your work appears on screen. Practically magic.

Ikea Hektar (£50)

No amount of creativity can cut through the murky gloom of an unlit studio. And, as well as impeding paint selection, squinting in the dark is no good for your precious artistic peepers.

Transform your creation station with this work lamp from Ikea: besides bringing 7W brightness to your desk, its base packs both a wireless charger and USB port – so, unlike Stannis Baratheon, you needn’t sacrifice power in the name of light.

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Subscription (£10/month)

There was a time when editing photos meant carefully blending chemicals to bring out the desired results in the darkroom. One wrong move and it was all blue hues and spoiled exposures.

Things aren’t quite as tricky nowadays, but if you fancy going deeper than Instagram filters and AI suggestions, Adobe’s Creative Cloud photography package is tough to beat: a bundle of the brand’s biggest photography apps – including Lightroom and Photoshop – it should give you all you need to take your snaps from washed out throwaways to Pulitzer Prize winners

The History of Graphic Design, Vol. 2 (£50)

Think graphic design is all just pretty pictures? Leaf through this capivating compendium and you’ll quickly realise how the art form shapes and reflects so much of the world around us – from packaging to posters, road signs to record sleeves.

Whether to inspire your own creative efforts or learn something about the state of design since the ’60s, this arresting tome is well worth a look. Who knows, keep working on your Photoshop skills and you might make it into volume 3.

Flashforge 3D Printer (£315)

Think of a thing. Digitally design that thing. Watch the Flashforge make that thing.

A plug-and-play 3D printer that’ll fit on your table top, this mini-maker might be too small to manufacture a mock-up of your one-wheel motorbike, but it’ll craft filament Christmas decorations like they’re going out of fashion.

Accessible, reliable and bundled with simple design software, there’s a little learning curve but, once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll be churning out petite plastic parts in no time.