Watercolour sketchbooks

I've used and travelled with many sketchbooks since I first sat outside trying to sketch a duck pond when I was 11. In recent years, I've really concentrated on working in sketchbooks that will take watercolour washes. I'll include a number of them here. 

I created a template so I could easily draw the same arrangement of squares in each book, then painted the boxes in the same colours to give a comparison of the papers. I've then scanned them all on the same scanner. Most colours look pretty accurate but Cerulean Chromium looks more turquoise in all of the samples. I'll add my notes about now I felt painting them. Some papers required a faster touch than others.

While I have more information on these on my website here, I thought this may be the best way to allow easy comparison of the paper types. I have loaded them in no particular order. I haven't shown the liftability of each paper. (That's not a word, but I think it's useful ;-) so will do that another time.

The colours I've used are my suggested 12-colour urban sketching palette and are all Daniel Smith - buff titanium, hansa yellow medium, quinacridone gold, quinacridone rose, ultramarine, cerulean chromium, perylene green, goethite, burnt sienna, Indian red, raw umber and Jane's grey. You can read more about that on my website here or on my blog, set up in a palette, here.

The sketchbooks that I like best may not suit everyone best. It depends how quickly you work, how detailed, how much water you use and whether you paint on both sides. I work relatively slowly, with a lot of detail and accurate colour. I love watercolour granulation. The paper that works best for me generally has a high cotton content and I really like 200gsm for sketchbooks so you get a lot of pages in the book. For my framed works outside of a sketchbook, though, I prefer 300gsm paper. I personally always prefer a medium or cold pressed paper to rough or really smooth, as I like to use fountain pens with fine or even extra fine nibs along with the watercolour. And yet I have enjoyed using a lot of 150gsm Alpha books! So I use one type for quick work and another for more detailed watercolour painted sketches.

Stillman & Birn - Alpha. 

This comes in a range of sizes and in spiral, hardcover or soft cover. It is 150gsm paper designed to take light washes. The paper is a bright white, takes fountain pen and pencil really well and has a very slight texture, described as a vellum surface. 

I enjoy this as a paper to use for notes and sketches, where I'll be doing more writing than sketching, or for quick sketches, demonstrations or colour studies. I've used many of them in many sizes, especially the landscape format hard-bound 9x6" hardbound books. There is some show-through, but remarkably little. There is also a little buckling but it has never worried me. The soft-bound are lighter for travel but I personally prefer the hard covers. 

This is the lightest weight paper I've used with watercolour and I think I've used more Alpha books than any other!

Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook sample page

Global Handbook Watercolour sketchbook. 

This paper comes in a range of sizes and interesting shapes and is fairly strongly textured paper. The cover is a light grey fabric hard-cover. It is 200gsm, which I think is a good thickness for a sketchbook. The paper is natural white and the texture is similar, though not identical, on both sides. I feel that is has slightly too much of a right and wrong side for best results but it's a nice book. 

Global Handbook Watercolour Sketchbook sample page

Hahnemühle Watercolour Book
This paper is a natural white, acid free and has a fine grained texture on both sides. I think it is great for pencil and pen with smaller areas of wash, though a little more tricky if you want to create larger smooth washes. It comes in a range of shapes and sizes including new zig-zag formats.

Hahnemühle Watercolour Book sample page

Moleskine Watercolour notebook (original)
The original Moleskine watercolour notebook had wonderful 200gsm natural white paper, with the same cold pressed texture on both sides. I loved this paper when I first started using it in 2009. It took pen and pencil well and watercolour behaved very predictably on it.

Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook (original) sample page

Moleskine Watercolour Notebook (2nd Generation)
This is 200gsm paper in the same natural white colour as the Hahnemühle and Global. It is 25% cotton, acid free. But is has quite a different texture on each side of the paper. I understand it has improved but I haven't tried the latest version. This sample is painted on the 'right' side.

Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook (2nd generation) sample page

Stillman & Birn - Zeta
This is a smooth surfaced 270 gsm paper in a bright white. It is gorgeous for pen and pencil but you need to use watercolour very quickly to keep in under control. Personally I always prefer to use watercolour on cold pressed rather than smooth or hot-pressed papers, but many like the smooth surface. Excellent for pen or pencil work.

Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook sample page

Stillman & Birn - Beta
This is a brighter white paper like the Alpha, but in a heavier 270gsm weight. While it is cold pressed with a surface that takes pen or pencil beautifully, you have to work quickly with watercolours so it is more difficult to control. It is best for single pass watercolour techniques and no fiddling.

Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook sample page

Koval Sketch Book - Pro
This is 300gsm cold pressed, acid free, 100% cotton extra white Fabriano Artistico paper. Just lovely. It is very easy to control the watercolour washes and it shows the granulation of the pigments beautifully.

Hand made and really well put together, this is available in a range of sizes and shapes. They also make 50% cotton and 200gsm weight and include rough and smooth surfaces in the range.

This is a company well worth checking out. It was started by an artist looking for his own perfect sketchbook and ending up making them.

Koval sketch Book Pro sample page

Winsor & Newton Watercolour Book
This is another 100% cotton, cold pressed 300gsm acid free sketchbook. It comes in a range of sizes and in hard or soft cover. Very easy to control, with a gentle grained texture so it takes pencil and pen well.

Winsor & Newton Watercolour Book sample page

Etchr Lab - The Etchr Sketchbook

Made from 230gsm cold pressed paper, this is the most textured of the papers included in this list. 100% cotton, natural white, with a heavy fabric cover. It is available in A5 and A4 but also in a hot pressed (smooth) 220gsm version. Hardcover with a cream fabric cover. The paper would skip more than some others with pencil or pen but watercolour behaved nicely in it.

Etchr sketchbook sample page

Etchr Lab - The Perfect sketchbook 
Artist grade, 100% cotton, 300gsm Cold Pressed paper. This is a joy to use. The watercolour behaves with a high degree of predictability and control. The paper has a soft texture on both sides. It is a creamy white. Available in A5 or A4 landscape only. Hardcover, with a grey cover.

Etchr Lab The Perfect sketchbook sample page

The Perfect Sketchbook B5 (Indiegogo 200gsm version)
This is the sketchbook I have been using since I received them in April 2016. It is Fabriano Artistico cold pressed 200gsm 100% cotton paper. It is a slightly cream white, which is my only criticism. I really enjoy using this sketchbook. It works beautifully for pencil or ink and gives tremendous control with traditional watercolour techniques. Lovely.
It is available in 300gsm from Etchr Lab as their Signature sketchbook.

The Perfect Sketchbook B5 sample page

Canson All Media 

I've used a 9x12" spiral bound format with this paper. It is 185gsm, acid free paper with a pledge to low emissions for water and air. The surface is slightly more textured on one side than the other but both sides take watercolour or pen well. I used the spiral format so I could easily stick in photos, samples of papers and other items as I've used this as my visual arts process diary - a visual record of my larger artworks.

Canson All Media sample page

Laloran Sketchbook 
I bought the Extra Large square Laloran sketchbook at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam in July as I wanted to test out the lovely 21cm square format. It is made in Portugal from 180gsm Clairefontaine Dessin à Grain paper. These are hand made books with 96 pages (48 sheets). They have a fabric spine, which can be plain or a lovely hand made fabric from East Timor. Available in range of colours.

The grain is very similar to the Stillman & Birn, but heavier at 180gsm rather than 150gsm. The prices are excellent. See the range here.

Laloran Square sketchbook sample page

The Perfect Sketchbook A6 (Indiegogo crowd funded project)
This was the first collaboration between Erwin Lian and Bynd Artisan book binders. The paper is a cold pressed 190gsm 100% cotton watercolour paper. The book is beautifully made with a back pocket, bookmark and elastic closure. Though similar, there is a slightly more textured surface on one side of the paper than the other. This sample is the more textured side.

The Perfect Sketchbook A6 sample page.

SM.LT Art Watercolour #authenticbook
This is a 280gsm stitched sketchbook with a simple cardboard cover. The paper is 280gsm acid free, with an almost smooth surface though it is described as rough. I found I had to paint quickly to get an even wash, but the granulation shows up nicely. This is an interesting company - you can read more about them here. Made 'by caring hands in the centre of Europe' they were a sponsor of the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam.

SM.LT sketchbook sample page

Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media.
This is 190gsm paper, acid free and 100% cotton with a slight tooth that shows up the watercolour granulation nicely. It is a lovely surface for pen and pencil. I have a soft-cover 7.75x9.75 portrait format sketchbook, which is a useful size. I think I'd prefer a hard cover though - soft cover books always feel more casual.

Strathmore 500 series sample page

Black Sketch Books 2 - Stillman & Birn

My collection of black books.

Stillman & Birn

My previous post in this series was about Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks which you can find here. Here I'll look at the sketchbooks am papers I have tried more recently from Stillman and Birn.  These come in a range of sizes, paper weights, paper colour and binding styles and are known as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta. You can see the whole range on their website here. 

Some of the Stillman and Birn range from their website http://www.stillmanandbirn.com/

It is a great range of books with something for everyone. This chart from their website is very helpful as it shows the weight, colour, surface and intended use of each book in the range. It can be found here.

The characteristics of Stillman & Birn sketchbooks from their website http://www.stillmanandbirn.com/specs.html

Unlike many of the books available these days, Stillman & Birn books do not have an elastic strap to hold them closed, or a pocket in the back to hold extra pieces of paper. Or a pen holder. If you want these features you need to add them yourself.

Pocket Alpha, Landscape Alpha and
square spiral bound Beta books.

The Book on the left is my Pocket Alpha 4" x 6". Alpha is white paper that is very versatile. It calls itself a 'dry media, light wash and ink' paper but takes even heavier washes surprisingly well, is nice to draw on and being 150gsm paper you get a lot of pages in each book. I use this hard bound portrait format pocket version as my sketch/notes/colour play book that I keep with me all the time.

Watercolour sketch from a cafe window in an Alpha pocket notebook

The second book in the photo is the larger landscape version that I enjoy to test out colours in my studio and for pen and wash or pencil and wash sketches and quick studies. It is slightly larger than the 'Large Moleskine'. I don't use it for more serious paintings, but one could. It's a fabulous paper and I really like it's versatility. Below are scans of two pages from this book.

Watercolour sketch of a statue in an Alpha 9" x 6"
landscape format sketchbook 

Samples of watercolour testing a range of Burnt Sienna and Indian Red varieties in my Alpha 9" x 6" landscape format sketchbook.

Notice that the watercolour washes are quite strong but there is not a lot of buckling. However, there is some degree of show-thorough so I certainly wouldn't paint serious sketches on both sides of the paper. Paint on one side, writing on the other is perfect. There are a range of sketch books available in the Alpha as shown here.

The two books on the right in the photo at the beginning of this post are Beta square 7" spiral bound. Beta books are made with heavier 270gms paper so there are less pages in each book than the Alpha. Each page can certainly be painted on both sides. So far it is not available in my favourite hard bound landscape format, but it is in either hard bound or spiral bound versions in a range of sizes as you can see here. It is lovely paper to paint on and though not smooth it also works well for pencil and ink drawing or writing. 

Painted swatches on both sides of the paper in a Stillman & Birn Beta 7" spiral bound sketchbook.

The Gamma is the same 150 gsm paper as the Alpha but in ivory. I haven't used a book in this range yet as I prefer white paper so far. I do have a pocket version waiting though...I have tested the paper and it works beautifully for its designed use for 'dry media, light wash and ink' and is really lovely. I tested a yellow and Buff Titanium on each sheet to see how well they showed up and there isn't a problem. 

S&B Gamma paper test

S&B Gamma paper test - back with wet wash.

The Delta is 270gsm Ivory paper. The same characteristics as the Beta but in Ivory. Once again, I have tested the paper but not used it in a book. I really love the paper, but am not sure about the slight ivory tint for my own work - perhaps just for warm scenes without any white? It is a very soft Ivory by the way, not a strong tone.

S&B Delta paper test - back with wet wash

S&B Delta paper test

Epsilon is Smooth white 150 gsm and Zeta is smooth white 270 gsm. These are also lovely papers, but I seem to recall they took a long time to dry. I haven't used them in a book as yet...I'd suggest these would suit those who like to write a lot of text as well as and draw/paint, or simply those who want a smoother surface. I always prefer a medium surface as I find the granulation of watercolour shows up more. For pure drawing and line work these are great and simply gorgeous for pencil.

Stillman & Birn Epsilon series test sheet

S&B Epsilon series test sheet back with wet wash

Stillman & Birn Zeta paper test sheet.

S&B Zeta test sheet back with wet wash

To be complete, I'll show my tests of the Alpha and Beta papers here too. This is the Alpha paper again. It really is quite special - some buckle but remarkably little for a relatively thin paper. Colours look bright - brighter than the smooth papers? Or am I imagining it?

S&B Alpha test sheet back with wet wash

Stillman & Birn Alpha test sheet

...and this is the Beta. Great paper that takes watercolour really well on both sides of the paper. Also fine for pen and other line work but not a smooth as the Zeta and Epsilon.

Stillman & Birn Best test sheet.

S&B Beta test sheet, back with wet wash

So something for everyone in this wonderful range of sketchbooks. 

Next up - other sketchbooks I've tried, though I think the Moleskine and Stillman and Birn are probably the most universally available. Make sure you try the Book Depository if you can't find them near where you are.

Black Sketch Books 1 - Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks.

I have a large number of black books that I have used over the last 30 years as sketch books, visual diaries, note books, study notes and so on. I have some other books that are not black - beautiful leather bound books and so on - but I'll concentrate on the black books for now! This first post is on the Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks. Future posts will cover Stillman & Birn, Handbook, Canson and others I have tried over the years.

My collection of black books jumbled onto one shelf. 

Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks. Pocket
on left. The others are 5 of the 'large' and two of the 'folio'.

Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks 

Of all the sketchbooks I have tried, my favourite for painting are the Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks. These are made with 200gsm cold-pressed white watercolour paper that is designed to be the same surface on both sides. It is also thick enough to take paint on both sides and takes watercolour washes well. Being cold pressed it is not completely smooth but is also nice to use for pen and ink and pencil drawing.

 The Moleskine watercolour notebooks come in landscape format in Pocket (A6), Large (A5), Folio Album (A4) and a larger Folio Album (A3). You can see them all here. They all have an elastic closure, which is helpful if the book is rattling around in a bag, and a pocket for extra papers or notes in the back, features that have been copied extensively in recent years. I have had a pocket version, on the left of the picture, since 2006, and it is a lovely little watercolour book but I prefer to carry a the larger A5 book with me these days, along with a Stillman & Birn Alpha Pocket notebook, which I'll show you in part 2.

The Large Moleskine Watercolour Notebook from the Moleskine.com website.

I really like the landscape format of these books. For plein air sketching it allows you to do a very wide view across the page if you wish, or turn the book vertically for an alternate view. The images below are all from an A5 'large watercolour sketchbook' as pictured above, which is 81/4' x 5" or 21cm x 13cm. You can see many more of my sketches on my website here. A great size for plein air and my absolute favourite sketch book.

Large watercolour sketchbook used horizontally. 

Large watercolour sketchbook used vertically

Large watercolour sketchbook with image extended partially across the page.

I am up to my 4th Large Notebook for plein air sketching, but have two others that I use for documentation. One I have called 'Every Watercolour', which has a painted swatch of every watercolour I have tried. They are arranged by colour type, lemon yellows together, deep blues etc, with details of colour name, brand and pigments used. Here is one of the cool blues pages. They are painted quite close together to waste as little space as possible but are also done with plenty of water at the top to show the full tonal range and characteristics of each colour.

'Every Watercolour' sketchbook - one of the cool blues pages.

My other Large Watercolour Notebook has a whole range of mixing experiments and triad work. It is very helpful to keep these in one well organised spot rather than to do them on a rough piece of paper and throw them away. They can then be referred to later and are very useful for my teaching. Here are a couple of sample pages.

A mixing wheel with Transparent Red Oxide mixed with some warm and cool yellows, blues and reds

A colour wheel using opaque earth colours. On the right are other compatible colours.

My A4 Folio Album books are also for my own reference notes. One contains a paint-out and research information, mixing experiments and pigment history of every Daniel Smith watercolour. Below is my page on Ultramarine.

Ultramarine, page from my Moleskine Watercolour Folio on Daniel Smith watercolours. In the left margin are other Ultramarine paints by other manufacturers for comparison.

Coming up next - Stillman & Birn.