Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great for drawing in pencil and ink, March 18, 2006
I noticed that an earlier reviewer indicated that these books are made with "cheap" paper that is not ideal for wet media. I'm not sure that I consider the paper "cheap," but I do acknowledge that some of his criticisms are valid. The paper is extremely thick, stiff and has a great plate surface. Wet media - water color washes - tend to bead on the surface of the paper and washes always dry duller on it than I intend for them to.
That said, as an artist you really need to consider what you want to do with the media before you use it. I'd not recommend these sketchbooks for individuals working in a crumbly media like charcoals or pastels and I wouldn't recommend them to be used with washes. The paper is simply too stiff and smooth - it lacks the tooth to capture dry powdery media and isn't absorbant in the way you'd need for it to be to secure wet media.
They're fantastic, though, for pencil sketching and pen work, and I also like to use thicker paints - acrylics and guaches - on their pages. The thicker nature of the paper really reduces bleed-through on the pages - a feature I love because I like to make use of every side of every page, and for most sketchbooks too much ink will bleed through onto the other side of the page. Because the paper is thick, you can have a pencil drawing on one side and drawing on the other side typically does not force some of the pencil drawing's lines to smear onto the opposite page.
I use pencil, marker, india ink, and pens like UniBalls in these sketchbooks. Wetter pens and inks (like india ink) do tend to sit on the pages for a little while before they dry and smear easily while still drying. It's just something to be aware of - I'm used to it now and really don't mind working on another area of the page while the ink dries.
I think the best thing about these sketchbooks, though, is that they lay perfectly flat when you open them. (There's no stiff binding keeping it from laying flat - instead, the spine is soft bound so that the signatures roll over each other comfortably while opening and closing the book. You'd think such a construction would be weak and ultimately deteriorate, but actually the faux-leather cover is extremely durable, and the books are quite solid.) You don't have to deal with any curve in the binding, and you can make a sketch that spans both pages and it will feel like you're drawing on one.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Smells like creativity... , June 23, 2006
Now I'm just an amateur artist who was looking for a heavy-duty drawing journal to take around with me. My first few reactions to this sketchbook were as follows:
1) It's smaller than you might expect. If you're looking for a good sized work area you'll want to buy elsewhere. However, if you're looking for a handy, portable, go-anywhere book this one works just fine.
2) The pages are thick and (very very) smooth. They remind me of your typical note-card stock of paper but in creamy vanilla color. This paper stands up to minimal marker usage plus the typical graphite/colored pencils/pen mediums. But Watch Out! Graphite will smear in the blink of an eye. If you're left handed or are a heavy-handed sketcher you will want to use an extra piece of paper to prevent your art from smearing.
3) The cover is solid and will stand up to a beating. A handy strap keeps it closed when you're done. Aesthetic sidenote: The material on the cover also picks up eraser shavings, cat hair, lint, and dust like a magnet. However everything but the dust wipes off easily.
4) There's a handy pocket in the back for loose slips of paper you might have lying around. Very considerate of them!
Overall it's a great sketchbook if you draw or write lightly. However, for me who draws in graphite with my hand running over my work, I've noticed some considerable smears over my art. I like to keep my shading inside my crisp lines so unfortunately I have some minor qualms with this sketchbook. For those of you who never have a smudging problem normally, though, feel free to buy and try for yourself!
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Heresy? Maybe., March 31, 2007
First off, I am a dedicated Moleskine user. Love the smaller notebooks.
However, I was very disappointed by the sketch book. The interior pages are a very slick "card stock" type of paper. For those of you with the regular journals, the same stock that is used to make the title pages where it says "In case of loss:". Basically it feels like 3x5 card stock.
Water based inks smudge on this paper like crazy, and the low absorption also leads to irregular ink spread.
This smooth paper might be fine for some mediums, but I didn't like it for Pencil, Charcoal, Conte Crayon, and Water Based ink, which is pretty much the items I use for sketching. Pens that feature ink thick enough not to smear are usually poor for drawing. Maybe I should have seen that it's recommended for Tempura color... I personally don't see this used for painting. I think of my sketchbook as a place for drawing.
Maybe next time I'll try a "Watercolor" Journal, this one is now property of my 5 year old. It should work well with Crayon. For now it's back to Strathmore....
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