avram | Sketchpad neeping (Reply)

I’ve never been good about finishing sketchpads. Not sure if I’ve ever finished one; usually, I’d fall out of the habit of sketching about a third to halfway through. Time for more art supply neeping.

My main sketchbook these past few months has been a 9x12 100 sheet side-spiral-bound pad of Canson Universal recycled 65-lb sketch paper. I’m about a dozen pages from the end. I’ve also been using, on and off, a Borden & Riley pad, 60 90-lb sheets, 6x9, #880 Royal sketch paper, also side-spiral-bound, and have five pages to go. Time to think about getting a new pad (though I’ve still got about half of that 9x12 Michael Roger Press 100-lb weight book I bought last year). And it’s gonna be a 9x12 pad, ’cause the more space the better, and anything larger won’t fit in my shoulder bag or on my scanner.

I’m a bit unsatisfied with the Canson. The paper’s a bit too absorbent for fine marker linework. The Borden & Riley is beautiful for marker, some of the best paper for that purpose I’ve ever used. But it costs more. The 6x9 pad still has a price sticker on it: $8.39. I expect a 9x12 version to cost about twice as much. I don’t remember what the Canson cost, but it was probably under $6.

I also feel like I ought to try out a Strathmore pad, since I’ve usually had really good experiences with Strathmore paper, and it ought to cost about the same as the Canson. I’m sure I’ve got at least one pad (probably 5.5x8.5) of Strathmore 400 Series sketch paper floating around somewhere, but I can’t find it. It’s probably at