Art Discount Discount Code, Offers & Deals July 2025

Art supplies are a bit like kitchen knives or hiking boots: you can muddle through with a glorified starter pack for years, occasionally swearing under your breath and wondering if the problem is you or the tools. Eventually, though, the truth emerges. Paper buckles. Brushes fray without provocation. Paints dry with the texture of fondant. And you begin to realise: maybe the problem isn’t inspiration. Maybe it's just cheap gear.

That’s where ARTdiscount comes in - a kind of online warehouse-meets-supply cupboard catering to the mildly serious and the deeply obsessed. Based in the UK and celebrating over 20 years online, ARTdiscount tends to fly under the radar compared to the splashier, lifestyle-focused art brands. Their vibe is more "university art department with a decent procurement officer" than "Instagrammable studio flat with a eucalyptus in a vintage jar."

The Products: Sensible, Functional, Mostly Unfussy

Their catalogue leans on functional breadth rather than designer branding. You won’t find scented brush washers or edgy street-art marker collabs. But you will find rows of reliable Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours, Daler-Rowney brushes, and plenty of own-brand basics that do the job and don’t ask to be thanked. Paint ranges include traditional oil, water-mixable oil (earnest but useful), a strong acrylic lineup, and some surprisingly decent-coloured pencils in the budget tier.

One recurring bright spot is the ARTdiscount own-label collection - a low-key triumph of no-nonsense pricing paired with products that consistently punch a class above their price. Their canvas panels, for instance, are squarely in the category of "you’d be annoyed if they were bad, but pleasantly unsurprised that they're perfectly fine." Not thrilling, but that's sort of the point.

Deals and Discounts: Quietly Aggressive

True to its name, ARTdiscount tends to price things with a kind of exasperated fairness. Seasonal sales - including Black Friday and student discounts - offer real savings, not just 10% off with a sigh and an asterisk. Voucher codes float around now and then, though they're usually tied to specific product lines or thresholds (£50 here, brushes only there). The Clearance section is worth an occasional dig - there’s gold in there if your expectations are modest and your colour palette forgiving.

Shipping within the UK is straightforward: free over £50 with standard delivery, and generally prompt unless you’re ordering from the more obscure corners of their inventory, where you might face a brief wait while someone checks a shelf in the back. Returns are possible - 14 days, standard rules - but don’t expect the frictionless return orchestra of, say, Amazon. It works, it’s just... more manual. As in, you might have to find a printer.

Dry Hands, Wet Paint: The Real Working Artist’s Site

There’s a certain honesty to ARTdiscount. It’s not trying to seduce you with curated boxes or surprise collabs. The homepage doesn’t dazzle, and there's a pleasing frugality to the layout that suggests someone, somewhere, believes the site should mostly help you find things instead of helping itself look good. Which in a strange way is refreshing.

Is everything flawless? No. Some of the lower-end brush packs will shed like a nervous Labrador in spring. Product photography can be on the minimal side - occasionally you’ll wish for more angles, or any at all. And some of the descriptions are determinedly utilitarian ("aluminium tripod easel" pretty much says it all). But in an age where everything is increasingly covered in layers of digital lacquer, the restraint is, oddly, trustworthy.

Bottom Line

ARTdiscount isn’t trying to reinvent the creative wheel - and thank heavens for that. It offers reliable supplies at predictable prices, with a couple of legitimately good own-brand surprises thrown in. For hobbyists sick of flaky "arts and crafts" kits and professionals who don't need their palette curated by mood board, it delivers the essentials with minimal drama. No peacocking. Just brushes, paint, and a website that, like many art teachers, is more competent than charming - and probably undervalued for it.

What you need to know