Strathmore 566-5 500 Series Hardbound Mixed Media Art Journal, 5.5 x 8.5, White, 32 Count

I was looking for a sturdy sketchbook that would withstand acrylic paint and other media. This product works well with a variety of media as it should, and pages can be used double-sided without colour or paint seeping through. I tested some acrylic paint in several layers, and the paper holds its integrity well with minor rippling at the paper edges. Although, I have not tested this with watercolour yet, so I cant say for certain how well the paper holds its integrity for that case. The small number of pages of this sketchbook provides a nice way to document your work over short time periods. I would buy this product again.

Love strathmore products.

I love the paper in this sketchbook so much, but the binding is very tight. It doesnt want to lay flat at all, which can get pretty annoying. Trying to hold open the book while sketching is a bummer. Ive been trying to train it to stay open by just holding it wide open a lot, but I shouldnt have to do that. :/ My other hardcover sketchbooks (Pentalic and Stillman & Birn Beta and Zeta) stay open fine, so youd think a big company like Strathmore would have figured it out...

Unfortunately a lot of pages have an odd film on them which makes it hard to paint wet on wet. It doesnt actually absorb the water, it slides around.

ある程度リフも出来スケッチ用としては使いやすいと思いますq

The paper is really hard to paint on. I find Canson xl, a budget paper, gives better results. Really, save your money and buy Canson, or get a 100% cotton paper. I feel that this journal is way overpriced for the quality of paper you get.

Strathmore is a great brand for journals, but this is my ultimate favorite because it is THIN and I travel with this everywhere.

This journal is really nice, the hard cover is beautiful, it opens flat and the paper is nice and thick but there is a problem wuth the sketcbook, the pages are not double-sided i mean that: you have one page and on one side of the page you have your nice watercolor cold press surface to work on (which is really nice in my opinion) but in the other side of the page is like the back of the actual cold press sheet. The back side of the page has something that is kinda water-resistant so when the paint you lay there takes forever to dry and it dry kinda weird. So the sketchbook has 48 pages but you just have 24 proper sheets to paint with. I would buy it agaij just if strathmore fix that because the watercolor cold press surface its really nice to work with but as half of the pages are useless the number a pages reduces to 24 and that wont last you a long time so i really hope they fix that problem!

The toned paper is thick enough and it is great for drawing on. I love my new sketch book, it is all i needed it to be

For Professional Artists who love working with all sorts of mediums: I LOVE this book. I draw with Strathmore graphite pencils, mechanical pencils, watercolor pencils and colored pencils. The pages have great textures for all of them. There’s too different types of teeth, one for each side. They erase very well and don’t smear too much. When using watercolor, try not to overdo the water amount and it won’t get too crinkly. Plus, when one dries, you can try compacting the book on the floor with other books to help flatten the work out. I also recommend a perforating tool (which you can buy on amazon) if you want to have a hardbound where you can safely remove pages. I recommend the Excel perforation tools. Just be sure to bend the page back and forth gently before tearing. This isn’t a “lie-flat” book, but it’ll eventually lay flatter the more you use it. So for me, personally, it handles all my mediums and I can just have fun with it. It’s solid, beautifully made and everything you’d expect from this well-known company. I love the large size I got. I was like a kid in a candy store when I pulled it out of the box and opened its thick white pages.