Review by Tina Koyama I have a penchant for teeny-tiny things, especially art materials. Tiny pencils, paint palettes and sketchbooks may be adorable, but unfortunately, most are too small to be practical. As an urban sketcher, I am constantly trying to strike the ideal balance between portability and useability, and my sweet spot for sketchbooks…
Review by Tina Koyama Maker of the popular pocket-size notebook in a wide variety of designs, Field Notes Brand has given an occasional nod to sketchers and visual thinkers over the years. Although the original Kraft notebook comes with an unruled option, the first product that attempted to look like a sketchbook came out in…
The BUKE A5 Size Hardcover Sketchbook Journal (currently selling for $13.34) is kind of an amazing little sketchbook. First, the price! I think when I ordered it, it was about $15.50 which is still incredibly inexpensive. The sketchbook came in a matte, white box with an iridescent foil feather on the box. Inside, the sketchbook…
After my successes with the Paperblanks blank notebooks in 100gsm & 120gsm I decided to try out the Paperblanks Arabica Sketchbook ($34.95) with 200gsm paper. Once the stickers are removed from the cover, the aged look and gold trim is much more evident. I like that it already looks weather beaten. Even with the gold, it…
I recently realized I had accumulated quite a stack of sketchbooks to review. I was not sure the best way to present them so I decided to just review them altogether. There are EIGHT different sketchbooks from seven different companies and include different types of paper, binding methods, number of pages, price points and other…
Review by Tina Koyama Stillman & Birn sketchbooks have been my favorites for a long time, especially Beta (toothy paper for wet media), Zeta (smooth, mixed media paper) and the Nova series of toned books in beige, gray and black. This review is of the beige Nova in the versatile 5½-by-8½-inch, portrait-format softcover ($19.99). The…
Review by Tina Koyama Perhaps better known for its fountain-pen-loving notebooks, Clairefontaine stationery company has come out with a new book specifically intended for sketching: the Graf’Book 360° ($13.50 for A5 portrait; several other formats available). The A5 portrait-format book I chose contains 200 pages of 100g/45-pound “ultra white, super-smooth French milled paper for drawing,…
