Prime Day picks for artists and makers and people who fool around with tools

There's not a lot going on at Amazon Prime Day unless you're after last-gen gadgets or dog DNA kits, but I found some a few good money-saving picks for artists, photographers and other folks who like making stuff.

Huion graphic tablets and displays (such as the Kamvas Pro 24" and its smaller sibling) are going for a song. They're among the best-known and most widely-reviewed alternatives to Wacom gear (which is not discounted today) and vastly less expensive even at normal prices.

Here's some cheap artist's gloves going even-cheaper.

This 6-pack of Copic skintone brush markers is 20% off — sadly the only Copics going cheap for Prime Day, but worth grabbing all the same. (The 36-piece Copic Classic set is on an unrelated 9% off deal, though they're not brush markers.)

I have a tin of these Faber-Castell Goldfaber Wood Cased Color Pencils and recommend them. At 41% off today, the 48-pack (be sure not to change the count!) is an outstanding deal. Less expensive (e.g. for kids) is a tin of 48 Faber-Castell Colored Pencils, with an even steeper discount.

Camera folks will be disappointed by Prime Day, but there's 30% off the Rokinon 12mm F2.0 manual prime for Sony, MFT and Fujifilm mounts, and on lots of glass from sister brand Samyang. Fujifilm's Instax Mini film is half off, too. Pelican cases, designed for gadgets but good for storing all sorts of delicate gear besides, are all 20% off today.

Audio gear and music instruments don't seem to be a Prime Day thing, sadly. Blue Yeti mics have a $10 rebate if you snag a gift card with one.

The power-tools situation is a little better, with Black and Decker stuff (it's fine, whatever) discounted. This four-part 20V set with drill/driver, circular saw, lamp and reciprocating saw, at 50% off, is the best pick. DeWalt's Prime Day stuff is higher-quality but the offerings are a bit random—this half-inch DeWalt corded drill is a solid deal but this non-Prime Day deal on a refurbed Bosch Bulldog is a much better one.

Attention sewers! The Singer Heavy Duty is $25 off for prime day. I own one of these and, I have to admit, I don't like it all that much: it's clunkier than an everyday model but not really all that heavy duty, and has trouble with heavy/layered denim amd leather. But it is a very well-reviewed and respected model and a deal is a deal.

I picked up two books this morning on "lightning" deals: The Great Book of Woodworking Projects and Coding Games in Scratch.

A good generic-gadget pick today is the SanDisk Extrem Pro external SSD, nearly half off at the time of writing. God knows if these label makers are any good, but this 30% off thermal printer is most tempting.

Last, but not least, here's a great deal on Corel Painter 2021, normally $429 but $229 for Prime Day. It's still my favorite natural-media painting app, though I'll admit I'm yet to get familiar with Clip Studio.