Strathmore 300 Series Mixed Media Paper Pad, Side Wire Bound, 9x12 inches, 40 Sheets (117lb/190g) - Artist Paper for Adults and Students - Watercolor, Gouache, Graphite, Ink, Pencil, Marker

Not cheap but good quality

My sketchbook arrived in perfect condition and exactly on time. this is a huge relief because Ive heard ordering sketchbooks from Amazon (or off the internet in general) sometimes results in them getting damaged during shipping. Despite knowing exactly how big it was going to be, it still surprised me in person just how big it really was. I didnt even order the biggest size! Now Im tempted to try it out sometime... If you like to work on a larger scale but not a huge scale, definitely get the 9x12 because its nice and roomy but not Too big either. It would still fit into a standard backpack. My biggest issue with this brand of sketchbook is always that the covers are flimsy and busy-looking, (in my frank opinion theyre downright ugly) but thats really my only complaint. I tend to paint over the covers and then decorate them, that doesnt fix the flimsiness problem though. If you are going to be storing this in a backpack and taking it with you, expect the cover to deteriorate over time unless you do something to protect it. My wife had one that she used for over a year and the cover really took a beating. Lets get into why were here though... The paper! I already owned a sketchbook in this series, just a lot smaller, so I already knew what to expect when it comes to the type of paper. Its beautifully stark white and incredibly smooth. Takes just about everything I throw at it. Alcohol markers will only bleed after very heavy application, they do ghost but you should always expect that with alcohol markers honestly. Watercolor doesnt ghost from my experience so far, and so of course it doesnt bleed either, the pages do warp but if you close the sketchbook after its dry and set something heavy on top of it the warping becomes very minimal. I have never tried double siding watercolor in this sketchbook but thats just because I dont really double side ever. I think you can get away with it if thats what you like to do though. But this is a sketchbook, so youre probably not going to be making finished pieces in it anyway. If you were planning on making finished watercolor pieces in it though I would maybe suggest something else because of the warping. Works perfectly fine for my doodling though. All-in-all I recommend this sketchbook because I love the paper and for the price I think its a great deal. Your mileage may vary because everyone has different tastes. Try it out though, because if you dont like it you can always rip out the (perforated!) pages youve used and give it to someone else! I think this would make a great gift for a beginner artist who doesnt know exactly what mediums they want to use yet, nice and flexible.

I did my first piece in this sketchbook with watercolor. The page curled pretty bad when getting wet with the paint. I have purchased this brands mixed media paper before and in the past the paper has been textured slightly, and this one I purchased has pretty smooth paper, wich is a little odd for mixed media paper to be smooth.. None the less, its a decent sized sketch book with thick paper. I just would use page clips or something to keep the pages from curling if you watercolor.

I bought the book at michaels it’s better priced here. I love this book it’s really great

Thickness of the pages are awesome! Easy to tear out also. Definitely worth the money!

I use this for watercolor and ink because it resists buckling

The spine rings on the 5.5x8.5 pad are large. The product photo shows tiny ones. The product photo also shows many rings, where in reality it’s much less. This is an issue because I got the pad for travel and to lay flat in a bag. The large rings are more cumbersome. I purchased because the photo shows tons of really small rings.

I didnt realize how tiny it is

On time and good product

Great paper, perfect size to carry.