Strathmore Visual Journal Bristol Smooth 5.5"X8"-28 Sheets -460350

I have bought several of these now. (I have done two 40-day art challenges. So I have a lot of experience using these particular journals.) They aren’t made for watercolor. Let me just say that now. However! Don’t let that stop you. I started off using prismacolor markers (Alcohol based), And while there is ghosting on the back, I’ve never had any bleed through. The next page is always pristine. I recently did the sketch with Copics and those are fine too. Very smooth paper, a pleasure to use. And the 9x12” is large enough to write notes above or beside your images. Now, watercolor. Is it good for watercolor? Yes and no. If you do not have excellent water control, and the ability to paint quickly so that your water brush doesn’t lay down a sopping mess, you might not be happy. This was me the first two pieces I did. However, I kept at it, because I loved the journal anyway. And I Found that it TAUGHT me excellent water control. Whenever I paint on actual watercolor paper, it’s like magic. My skill level is just way higher simply from making this journal work for me. That being said, the watercolor paper version of this journal is excellent, and has a smooth enough texture to take ink very nicely. And I absolutely love it. If you are doing watercolor ONLY, you might consider doing that one. But if you do markers as well, I think this one is better. I currently buy both. (Fyi: There is the slightest buckling, waving as you can see at the edge of the notebook. But when you are looking at the page, it looks flat. Probably only somebody with OCD would notice it. Which is probably why I noticed it LOL. But when using the notebook the pages always look and feel flat)

I've only used one page, but so far, I'm very impressed with the paper. It doesn't suck my markers dry like my mixed media paper sketchbooks do. I primarily use copic alcohol markers as my medium, so finding bristol paper in sketchbook form is difficult. It seems like the only sketchbook option available for marker artists is Ohuhu, but they don't carry smaller sizes, so if you're like me and don't like using bristol pads then I recommend this bristol sketchbook! I wish I could find it in a physical store tho. Also, I wasn't a fan of the cover, but there's a nice solid brown cardboard cover underneath, so you can just tear off the front! I have the 5.5 x 8 in size, and I put my Canson XL 7 x 10 in mixed media sketchbook side-by-side for comparison. I prefer small sketchbooks so this size is perfect for me.

I like doing pen and ink with watercolor and have been enjoying this “journal”, which happily the Visual Journal cover can be removed to reveal a rather handsome faux brown leather very hard cardboard cover! Will likely purchase another one when this one is finished.

After discovering this sketchbook, as a die-hard Moleskine fan, I don't think I'll ever go back to anything else for drawing. Bristol board has long been my preferred drawing surface for its smooth, toothless quality and substantial paper weight. It suits my style of drawing which is very line and ink heavy. But bristol board has always been sold in formats that have frustrated me. Most come in low page-count pads that use an adhesive tape on one end as the binding, so whenever you turn the page you're forced to irreparably break the binding and tear loose the page you were working on. So they aren't really like sketchbooks at all, since as soon as you turn the page it basically removes itself from the "book". This suuuucks. I love collecting my art in actual sketchbooks I can save or pull from if I want and it's really annoying to have to instead collect loose paper drawings from these break away pads, just because I prefer the quality of bristol board. The solution for me until recently has been Moleskine sketchbooks. Their sketch models (as opposed to their other non-lined notebooks) have thick, smooth, bristol boardish, paper in an off-white color. My problems with this beyond the price, is the radical inconsistency in their paper. I've had some books with warm parchment color paper, some with subtle egg shell color paper, and one with a crazzzy acidic yellow color paper. And beyond that the color erodes as you lightly erase pencil over top, making finished pieces kind of obvious roadmaps of all the trickier parts of your drawing (ie: the paper around her eyes seems awwwwful white dude, had to erase them a lot huh). Also it's annoying that the books are bound in a way the only method of extracting art is to literally dismantle the entire thing. But this sketchbook has everything I've wanted after so many frustrating alternatives! It's just a ring-bound bristol board sketchbook! That's it! That's so weirdly hard to find I swear. If the paper were sub-par it would be notable just for the format alone, but the paper is great! The ring binding means you can flip the book in half when you're drawing instead of always laying flat, which is another problem I had with the larger moleskine book. It's annoying to flip open a book that lays flat like 16"x22" when you're only drawing on half of that. The pages here aren't perforated, but that just makes it less likely stuff will fall out with use, and you can see the rings so cutting out the art is about as easy as it can be. As far as the paper quality it's smooth (like realllllly smooth even for bristol) without any tooth to speak of. Pencils glide around as if on an ice rink, particularly ones with a softer lead, making this an ideal surface for more line-heavy illustration. Think like comic book or tattoo art. It also takes to ink incredibly well and pencils erase easily underneath, no bleeding around the edges of lines with either fountain or dipping pens. And the pages are thick (like realllllly thick) which is a quality I've always liked about bristol board. When you finish a piece, or a sketch accidentally becomes something more like a finished work, you have it on something really substantial and high quality feeling in your hands. It feels even thicker than most card stocks. I'm a big fan of the paper. Side note: this is a silly detail but when I ordered this sketchbook the cover on the listing really bothered me. It just felt kind of childish and not particularly serious. But get this... It tears away to reveal a hella classy hard cardboard cover!! Why this isn't pictured on the listing I'll never know, it's shiny brown carboard in a faux snake skin kind of pattern on both the front and back cover. Really pleasant surprise. -Mont

These Visual Journals are so very nice. They have a hardcover underneath the page that you see in the image. I’ve purchased both the Bristol 9x12 and the watercolor of the same size. The Bristol paper is super smooth - so good for colored pencils and graphite - I’m not sure about markers. It’s also good quality paper compared to a lot of journals. The Bristol paper won’t work with water it’s too smooth for that. The watercolor version is good, especially with water soluble mediums - Inktense blocks and pencils, Faber Castell Graphitint, and watercolor pencils. I don’t care to use it for actual watercolors - especially if you want to use the wet-on-wet techniques. It’s smoother than a typical cold press paper, but not as smooth as hot press paper. If you’re not using a lot of water, these would be fine. The pages buckle with relatively small amounts of water, so keep that in mind.

I think all of the Strathmore Visual Journals are professional or near-professional quality. Great size for convenience, and the paper types are specific, not generic sketchbook paper. The Bristol vellum is only 300 because that level works. The pages are thick and sturdy, the surface is smooth and slightly glossy, and like all the Visual Journals has sturdy binding with a good, hard back. Although it isn't what it's intended for, it takes wet (not like wet on wet) media well. I have used watercolor in it with interesting results. I've bought this bristol vellum multiple times, and it's on my subscribe and save.

This is one of the few sketchbooks that can be used for marker work. The paper quality is great, it's very thick smooth bristol. I do a lot of pen and Copic / Prismacolor marker art and always use loose bristol, but it's awesome to have it in a nice hardcover sketchbook. The paper doesn't bleed or wick, so it makes for nice clean lines, and the thickness is great for lots of blending without warping or tearing. For marker art, there will be bleed-through to the other side, but I haven't had problems with it bleeding to the next page. See my attached images of a Micron and Copic artwork and then the backside of the page to see the bleed. If you're layering a lot of marker and concerned about the bleed, put a piece of paper in between. My only one complaint is that I wish the cover was a little wider than the paper, to protect it a little better.

Great paper for Zentangles and zen-mandala (AKA Zendala) smoother and heavier paper than the usual scratchy drawing notebook that's best for colored pencil and ink drawings. The "side"-binding is great as opposed to "top" binding, as it's more of a notebook. You could make a cool scrapbook album with this as the colorful first page where it says "visual journal" can be easily ripped-off (it's a thinner sheet of paper) and exposes a brown and tan pebble grained notebook with a hard cover. I date my prices and draw at least 3-4 hours a day. I now have at least 6-8 of these notebooks over the past 2 1/2 years. They are easy to stash with the rest of my books and to peruse old work for a fresh idea.

Great quality visual journals for everyday sketching and ideas. I've got two of these, Bristol for pen and ink and vellumb for paint. Lovely quality paper to make the most of your sketching without breaking the bank

I love how smooth this paper is! There is not a lot of grit/rough texture on this paper, but it's still very strong and quite thick. Perfect for using markers!

Great solid paper/journal, the "visual journall" design cover can be removed if you want, there's another solid plain cover right underneath it.

What is not apparent is that the cover sheet is removable. Underneath there is a thick hard cardboard cover at the front and back protecting the sheets. The quality of the sheets themselves is good. What I really like is how erasable pencil is on it making the paper very forgiving to mistakes.

Lovely for pen and ink work ,markers and mix media.