Strathmore 400 Series Sketch Pad, Toned Tan, 5.5x8.5 inch, 50 Sheets - Artist Sketchbook for Drawing, Illustration, Art Class Students

I absolutely love these toned paper books. The quality is very good and the price point is excellent. I also love that they use 30% post-consumer fibers and are, therefore, more environmentally friendly than virgin sketchbooks. I have the toned tan and toned gray books in multiple sizes. I use them mostly for sketching in the field with graphite, colored pencil, oil pastels and micron pens, dip pens or fast drying markers. I use the tone of the paper for my mid tone values, then build form with added lights and darks. Even quick gesture sketches have more innate character than those drawn on plain white paper. They offer a nice change of pace from my usual white watercolor sketchbooks.The paper in these books is 80 lb (118 gsm) weight, so it is ideal for dry media. The pages can be lightly sanded to add tooth for soft pastels/pencils, though I think oil pastels or artist crayons work better, since they tend to stay in place. The pages will also accept very light watercolor, gouache or acrylic painting techniques, such as dry brushing in small areas, but are guaranteed to buckle if the paper gets too wet. So, if you use any wet media beyond alcohol-based inks, exercise some caution.In addition to these books, I also have the Strathmore 400 Series Artagain black paper pads, which contain a even higher percentage of recycled fiber (50%) and I enjoy those, as well, for working from dark to light. In those I tend to work with oil pastels, colored pencils, artist crayons, acrylic inks and/or some gouache. If these books were offered in other neutral tones, I'm sure I'd buy them, as well.

My daughter is very much into art! She draws and loves to color her work using prismacolor pencils and this tan toned paper is ideal! She loves the thickness, size and durability of the paper and the tan toned color really makes her artwork pop! Normally I would buy these sketchbooks from Hobby Lobby or another craft store, but I love shopping on Amazon so I decided to order from here and I'm glad I did! The item arrived in perfect timing with the estimated delivery date and was in terrific condition! There was no damage at all! It was of course exactly as described by the seller and I didn't have to leave the house and sit in traffic to get to the store to buy it!! My daughter also loves the aspect of the spiral bound sketchbook, it holds up better and the cover and each page can be completely flipped for ease of drawing and even looking through or showing off sketches! The cover front and back are made of a semi hard material which is very nice! She doesn't like sketchbooks with flimsy covers! All around this is a wonderful quality sketchbook for any artist and she highly recommends it! I have included a few pictures of her artwork drawn inside this book!

I have seen this Tiktok And YouTube shorts comma A lot of people refer to it as the hairy paper, so I was surprised to find it so cheap on Amazon. However, it does its job, and I don't know if I'm going to be going back to white paper anytime soon after this.

Is you use markers or color pencils. Or even a white gel pen. This can help make colors stand out and something of a change then the usual white paper. I would say the quality of this is more for a finish piece then a rough sketching book because of what you pay for .

This book is AMAZING! I found out about it after being recommended by Youtube Artist, DramaticParrot, who uses it to create some amazing pieces of art. As an aspiring artist and fan, I had to take her word. This is my first non-white sketchbook and I noticed the change in quality as soon as I opened it. The pages were so smooth and so good for sketching, something I had never experienced before. I tried drawing a black and white realistic figure skater and full-colored BB-8, and either way, those 2 have been the best drawings I have ever created. I recommend you add a white gelly roll outline to some of your images, and BAM! it looks incredible. You don't need expensive materials (such as really good colored pencils) to work with it. I used 50 Set of Crayola pencils and it turned out great, IMO. If you want to give your art work a different take and want to try out high-end paper without the high cost that comes with it, try this!The 50 pages should last you quite a while, and really, for a book this quality, the price of it is cheap and something I'll be sure to re-order once I run out. If you're an artist, you should really try using this tan book, you may never look at your art the same way again! :)

Goes well with prisma color pencils and a good book for blending pencils and charcoal etc.

This is always a worth while purchase! While the sheets feel a bit diffrent than when I used them previously I still do really like it! The paper is thick and using acrylic markers I have minimal bleed though! It's easy to sketch on and easy to use! The spiral binding is study and has never gotten in the way! Thank you so much!

This is the best sketchbook! It fits great in a handbag. I love the toned paper because it "automatically" gives you a middle value. Can't say enough about it! Just get one and see if, like me, you don't fall completely in love with it. You'll be inspired to draw in it a lot ...it's easier than facing the stark white blank page!