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Posted 20 hours ago

Studio Series A6 Field Sketchbook

£2.495£4.99Clearance
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About this deal

I prefer to be working on only one sketchbook at a time because I’m creating a narrative of my life. 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. What are the important characteristics of the best book for you? Please share in the comment section below.

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. 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! The way in which you work will also affect your paper decision – but that needs a separate article. 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. 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!)

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.

Also consider how robust the cover is. Will it bother you if the cover gets tatty (if it’s a softcover) or grubby (if it’s a light covered fabric cover)? 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!The important thing is simply to choose a book and start sketching! The only way to discover what suits you best is to fill a book and then start another one. Searching for a different type of pad? At Ryman® we have a great range of pads & notebooks to help you explore your ideas on paper. Discover our great range of notepads & books or for budding artists, our drawing pads are an essential artistic staple. Larger books – such as A4 size – provide lots of different options for creating big sketches or filling a spread with a collection of smaller sketches. But of course A4 sketchbooks are much heavier and possibly too big to carry around in daily life. Artway has been producing high-quality sketchbooks for over 20 years, and as creatives ourselves, we know the importance of quality materials. Whether you're producing rough sketches on the go, finishing detailed drawings, creating technical designs or experimenting with different materials like watercolours, pastels or marker pens a sketchbook is the starting point for many artists, so finding something that is reliable and suits your needs is crucial.

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 have a few themed books that I use for my research and development at home, and separate books for teaching (local workshops and my big SketchingNow courses). What different media will you be using and how will you be using it? Is there one medium that you will be using more than the others, one medium that is more important to you? 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. 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.

My 3rd sketchbook is Moleskine landscape in A4. This I use when I go out sketching for buildings. I have tried the Etchr sketchbooks. I found a big learning curve with the cold press, it was rough, so hard to use pen and ink but loved the hot press. 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.

I LOVE an A5 or B5 format landscape, and almost never reach for anything else, though I always have an A4 landscape in rotation. I recently was given a Portrait B5 and while I loved the size, the shape was torture! I love a square (the architect in me?), and they are a second choice for me, both loose paper and sketchbook, but only for in-studio sketching. 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. 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. 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.We carry a large selection of sketchbook sizes - everything from small A6 notebooks to square and graduate sizes and even huge expansive A1 sizes, there's a sketchbook for everyone. Our large format sketchbooks are truly unique, available in different ranges and finishes, both in case and spiral bound options and popular with artists who work big and education as classroom floor books.

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