Studio Series A6 Field Sketchbook

Product Information

Travel sketchbook: Moleskine A4 portrait watercolour sketchbook. This is my favourite paper for sketching (despite various quality issues in recent years), I love the size and binding of these books. I do nearly all of my work inside a sketchbook, so I thought it might be helpful to share all the different considerations I make when deciding on a sketchbook. There are a lot of variables (and probably some more that I haven’t thought of!) so in the second half I will share my preferences.

Hardbound books are great for urban sketching as the cover provides support whether you are standing up or sitting down to sketch. But the hard cover adds weight to the book. So if weight is an issue, it’s worth considering a softcover option. Weight is a very big consideration for me for my everyday book, so I rarely go larger than an A5 hardcover book. Anything larger is too heavy to carry in my bag. As mentioned above, I have separate books for my travels but once I return home I will resume working in my latest everyday book.

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Good quality sketchbooks are not cheap, and as mentioned above, an expensive sketchbook might mean that you put too much pressure on yourself to only do ‘good’ sketches. If you are just starting, this article will probably seem a little overwhelming, so I suggest that you just skim it for now and then focus on the Conclusion at the end of the article. Softcover works well as I often use a support board for my book, paint tin and water container, and this board means that any floppiness in the cover is not an issue. I also do a lot of cafe sketching in my everyday life!

The environmental aspects of whomever I am dealing with is important… How they source their water and paper pulp. Hahnemühle fits that bill, and I am pleading with them to do a bamboo sketchbook in the A5 landscape size. I find that an A5 sketchbook is a good general size for everyday use – if you sketch across the fold you can create work which is A4 in size. When I travel I want to use watercolour paper but I prefer paper made with wood pulp and a little bit of cotton, rather than 100% cotton paper. (I need to write a separate article about this!)I’m not a fan of the light coloured fabric covers (Handbook, Etchr) but it’s not a big deal and wouldn’t affect my decision to use a certain sketchbook. I prefer to be working on only one sketchbook at a time because I’m creating a narrative of my life.

My everyday sketchbook is a narrative of my life, the place where I record the everyday and take risks. I want to have the freedom to try new things in it, and I want to use it daily for sketches and notes.

Hobbies

Before you start assessing the physical characteristics of a sketchbook, it’s important to think through how you will use it. Of course this might change once you begin the book, but it’s good to make your best guess as to how you think you will use it. So whether you're a professional artist or you enjoy getting creative in your spare time, have a look through our collection of art sketchbooks. At Ryman® UK’s competitive prices, you don’t have to create masterpieces and be a perfectionist every single time. Anyway, sometimes the beauty is in the mistakes! As sketching has now become my career, I have accepted the fact that I will spend a lot of money on sketchbooks! So cost is not something that affects my decision as to which book to use. A great article. Thank you so much for putting it together. I would like to be using one sketchbook but find myself using three. One is watercolor paper, my favorite is Winsor & Newton 100% cotton cold press. It does not have a rough service like most cold press and is a dream for watercolor. This I use for people and portraits and to develop my watercolor skills.

Portrait (vertical) formats are easier to handle and if you are prepared to sketch across the fold and provide lots of options for sketching different subjects. They also provide more composition opportunities than a landscape book. The main limitation of a portrait format book is that they are not as good when doing panoramic sketches. A great choice for the travelling artist, the Indigo Sketchbooks are suitable for a range of creative purposes, and accommodate graphite, ink, markers and other soft media. As you might guess from the photo above of just some of my Alpha sketchbooks, my favourite Stillman & Birn is the 150gsm Alpha, which is a bit of a surprise as it is not, strictly speaking, a watercolour sketchbook. However it is designed for 'dry media, light washes, ink' and works very well for these.

Sketch Diary Black

The reason why it’s good to ask yourself these questions is because there is often a compromise if you want more than one medium – eg. ink and wash. Watercolour likes textured paper while ink is better on a smooth surface. Most watercolour painters prefer to work on 100% cotton paper with some texture (Cold Press or Rough) but these papers often don’t work very well for ink. So you have to work out which medium gets the priority in your decision making process! When travelling I’ve been happy with A4 landscape Moleskine, but this year (2019) I loved using the new portrait format version and at this stage, intend to continue using them. Shopping for someone else and looking for the perfect gift for a budding artist? Give the gift of a sketch pad! Kit them out with some high-quality art pens and drawing tools.