Hello, in this video I'm talking sketchbooks.
So how do you choose a sketchbook?
There are hundreds of them out there and depending on what exactly your priorities are, your
perfect sketchbook might be different to mine. I'm going to run through the things that I look
for in a sketchbook so that it performs the best for my specific watercolour method and
I'll show you a few examples of the ones I've tested.
Firstly, you're going to want your sketchbook
to offer you a way of easily reviewing your work, so that you can assess all that great progress
you're making through your practice, and that means you want your sketchbook to be
bound - either stitched, or wirebound where you can work on both sides of the paper like
a book rather than glued watercolour pads like these ones, which
are really designed for you to just work on one side and then tear the sheet of paper off.
So what about the paper itself? Well, as a
reminder, my method is all about 2 things: achieving crisp detail through our brush techniques,
and creating multiple layers of fairly watery paint on dry paper, to achieve really realistic
tones and hues. For achieving crisp detail we need paper that's
SMOOTH. I'd say that's THE most important thing to look for in a sketchbook.
And sadly that actually rules out sketchbooks which say they're designed specifically for
watercolour because official watercolour sketchbooks all seem to have cold-pressed or rougher
texture to the paper, which is not what we want for this method.
But don't worry, smooth papered sketchbooks do exist, and they're usually called 'Mixed
Media' Sketchbooks which are designed for a combination of wet and dry media but including
'light washes' of watercolour. Of course - not all mixed media sketchbooks
are the same and not all are as good to use when layering. To layer like I do, we need
the paper to be robust so it can cope with being painted on several times without it
buckling too much, or the surface getting damaged, and we want a decent level of absorbency
so that the paper dries fairly quickly. In short, we want a high quality paper but at
a decent price. At the cheaper end of things we have cartridge
paper which is the cheapest smooth paper option. But it's thin or lightwieght, at about 130
grammes per square meter - or gsm, so it's really prone to buckling, meaning you won't
want to paint on both sides of it and your sketchbook will end up being pretty messy looking.
So for a cheaper sketchbook I'd recommend going for a paper that's at least 160 gsm like
this one by Canson. It's still likely to want to buckle but you can deal with that by clipping
your pages tight as you paint. So this could be a decent option if price is your top consideration.
At the most expensive end we have something like this beautiful sketchbook here by Strathmore.
It's expensive because it's paper is made of 100% cotton which makes it absorbent and
robust, even though it's only actually 190 gsm. It's lovely to use but it's price means
if you're a beginner it's probably not the one for you. And, though it's beautifully
bound, the fact that it's not wirebound means you can't tear a sheet out easily if you make
a real mess so it's really not ideal for experimenting. So when looking at mid-priced sketchbooks,
I've found it's best to go with ones offering the
thickest possible paper. After testing loads of different ones (and there's a link below
this video to a blog post where I run through my assessment of lots of them) -
I can recommend something like this Zeta series premium mixed media sketchbook by Stillman & Birn.
The paper is super thick at 270 gsm, making
it almost as thick as the paper I use for my finished paintings. And, though it's made
with wood pulp, not cotton, the paper has been what's called internally and externally
sized, which means it's been treated to be strong and have balanced absorbency.
Plus the sketchbook's wire-bound so you can easily remove pages as well as review your work.
So there you have my guide to sketchbooks - I hope this inspires you to start keeping
your own. If you need inspiration about what to paint
in your sketchbook, remember to check out my online school which offers you a wealth of
subject matter to practice painting. If you've enjoyed this video, please subscribe
to my YouTube channel and share it with your friends.
And if you'd like to take one of my full length video classes FOR FREE, visit AnnaMasonArt.com
where you'll find tonnes of resources to help you pick up your brush and paint the way you've
always wanted to. But, remember, you won't improve your painting
unless you MAKE the time to paint. So be sure to schedule in some me-time this week and
start working in that sketchbook. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you
soon to help you create watercolours with "wow".