Mixed Media Sketch Pad, 9 x 12 inches, 60 Sheets (98lb/160gsm) Heavyweight Drawing Papers, Top Spiral Bound Hardcover Sketchbook, for Wet and Dry Media, Drawing, Painting

I purchased this mixed media sketchbook for my 17-year-old daughter’s birthday, and it was a perfect choice. The 9" x 12" size is ideal, large enough for detailed pieces but still easy to handle, and the hardcover makes it sturdy enough to travel in a backpack without bending.She loves experimenting with different materials, and this book has handled everything from pencil and ink to watercolor and markers really well. The paper is thick and smooth, with minimal bleed-through, which is exactly what you want in a multimedia sketchbook.The spiral binding is another big plus, it lays flat while she works and makes flipping pages easy. Overall, this was a thoughtful and practical gift for a teen artist, and I’d absolutely recommend it for students, hobbyists, or anyone who enjoys creative projects.

I am a painter, but don’t like to draw. I’m too impatient. However, to keep in practice for art making, I need to draw, so- I make sure that I draw, every day. I’ve been working my way through “Cours de Dessin,” a collection of drawing lessons from the 1800s I found here on Amazon. I had heard about it in art school, but had forgotten about it until I came across it here. In lieu of attending a life drawing class, it’s proved to be great practice.I wanted a sketch pad that would hold up to a lot of erasing and to some wet media, as along with regular graphite I like to use water soluble graphite pencils, gouache, and India ink. After looking through a lot of sketchpad choices and reading reviews, I chose this one. By the way, if you love to draw with graphite pencils- check out Blackwing pencils. Amazon sells them. They are expensive, but they are totally worth it. I heard about them from a cartoonist friend who draws for six or seven hours a day and he uses nothing else.I apologize for sounding like a constant commercial, but I often approach drawing with a slight sense of dread, so having recently discovered items that actually make me look forward to drawing is still a bit hard for me to believe. In case someone else out there is going through this, I wanted to pass on my discoveries. Drawing, I have found, is invaluable to keep in touch with the parts of the brain that are engaged in art making. If I hadn’t found tools like this sketchpad, drawing would be nowhere near as pleasurable.The sketchpad has a surface that readily accepts the graphite (meaning it is not cue ball smooth) and the buttery Blackwing pencils just glide across it.The paper is a robust 98 pounds, so it definitely stands up to scrubby erasing and washes. The spiral binding gives me the option of choosing landscape or portrait orientation, and to not have to worry about the sketchbook flopping closed on me. You get a lot of pages for the price, the paper is acid free, the spiral binding is well made, and the cover is sturdy- like a hardcover library book. I will definitely be re-purchasing this sketchbook, and I recommend it.Happy drawing!

Very sturdy. Exactly what's required.

The paper is nice and thick, holding up great to ink, pencils, and light washes without warping or bleeding through. One of the best features is the perforated sheets—they tear away cleanly and consistently every time without ripping into the paper or ruining your work. The spiral binding lets it open completely flat, making it a solid, dependable pad.

I had purchased another brand that claimed their pads were for mixed media, to include acrylic paint pens, but when I got them, and tested a blending technique on the paper, barely running the pens over it, made it pill very badly, so I was nervous about getting these, and having the same issue. NOPE! These are smooth, very light texture, but smooth, no bleeding through to the back of the paper, and IF pulling occurs at all during blending, it's very minimal. And I love that the spiral is at the top of the book, you can tear the pages out if you want (it's perforated), and the hard covers are awesome (both front and back). That was an unexpected surprise.I did a little test doodle and took a photo of it, plus the back, and as you can see, no bleed through. I can't even see where my doodle is, when I turn the page! Only when I put light behind it, can I see it. The paper color is a very light cream, almost white, but not quite. Pics aren't the best at showing that (my lighting isn't the best). Will definitely buy these again.