Art Alternatives Very Big Sketch Book

Seriously, buying this sketch book has got to be the best $30.00 I ever spent. The quality is amazing, I am absolutely delighted with it. I started drawing in it about 60 seconds after I got it out of the mailbox and unwrapped. If you like to draw you will LOVE this sketchbook. If you know someone who likes to draw, they will think you are the Funk King/Queen of the Western World if you get them this sketch book.So far I have used pencils, regular old No 2's and nicer Prismacolor sketching pencils, Prismacolor colored pencils, Derwent colored pencils, a few different brands & types of gel pens and some Staedler fine tipped markers to draw/color in this sketchbook and I have had no issues with bleed-through to the next page though some of the gel pens and the fine-tipped markers did show through on the back of the page I was using them on. Had I been using the markers for anything other than lightly outlining/subtle depth, they would probably have bled through to the next page. The paper is not thick but it is not exactly thin either. It's not super smooth, nor is it at all textured or rough. It's GOOD paper, not extremely high quality, but very nice. It seems to take pencil, both graphite and wax-based colored pencils best, and gel pens work well too though I much prefer the way the Prismacolor and Derwent colored pencils blend and look on this paper. If you're gonna use markers, put a couple of sheets of paper between the page you're using them on and the page behind it so it toesn't bleed through. I don't know if pastels would work too good, the paper seems too lightweight and smooth but then again it has been a very long time since I've used pastels so I could be wrong.If you're looking for a high quality oversized sketchbook that'll take awhile for you to fill up, this sketch book is an excellent choice. I can't imagine anyone being anything other than thrilled with this sketchbook.Art Alternatives was also a pleasure to deal with, I actually received my sketch book a couple of days early. My book was appropriately packaged and and brand new, still wrapped in plastic, and in absolutely perfect condition. It was NOT exactly as the seller described. I got the Very Big Sketch Book and I don't care. Yes, the Very Big Sketch Book has, I believe, 48 fewer pages than the Sketches in the Making book. I still don't care. For approximately $30 (which includes shipping and handling) this book is still a great deal. The quality of the book itself and the paper is very, very good, I would expect to pay around $70-$100 for a sketchbook of similar size/quality someplace like Artists Loft or even Michaels, if Michael's carried a product like this (which they do not!) I am very, very happy with my purchase and quibbling over 48 pages when I have 300 oversized ones to work with just seems petty to me. Yeah, it's a bit scammer-like of Art Alternatives to send people a different product that the one pictured/described without telling their customers about the substitution or offering a discount or anything. That really is the classic definition of "bait-and-switch," though a very small-potatoes example of it. Inevitably, they're gonna p*ss some of their customers off and probably lose at least a few with this kind of behavior. And while I would happily buy from them again, I will also be asking them some very specific questions about anything I buy from them before I purchase it and saving those emails and their responses just in case I should find myself going toe-to-toe with them over something that IS a big deal to me. If I don't get a clear response or any response at all to my pre-purchase inquiries, I will probably order from another seller if at all possible. Although I am happy with this purchase, Art Alternatives has let me know that they find nothing wrong with substituting one product for another, very similar, one without telling me of their intention to do so or offering me any sort of discount or incentive for my 48 missing pages. Everything worked out ok for me this time, but it might not next time. They have planted the seed of doubt and that's a shame. If someone at Art Alternatives had taken 90 seconds out of their life to email me and make sure I was gonna be ok with the substitution before just sending it on (and hoping I wouldn't notice, I assume) there would have been no seed of doubt planted and I would not feel the need to use caution if and when I should deal with them in the future.Still, I do love the sketch book, I feel like I got an excellent deal, the fact that there are 48 fewer pages than I thought I was getting is not a big deal at all to me and overall I am thrilled with this purchase. I would also recommend this sketch book to anyone in the market for a sketch book and I would recommend Art Alternatives as a good source to purchase the sketch book from though I might also suggest that the buyer email Art Alternatives for specific information about what product they will actually be receiving, especially if I know the buyer to be a person who is very choosy and/or very detail oriented.

This sketchbook is great if you want to suffer through the sketchbook Slam challenge, or just want to have a nice hardbound book for a long time. The book is massive (think of your largest textbook). The paper I would say is midweight and honestly not great for marker or any wet media, but will hold up well enough for sketching and fine liners. Please note, if you are using thicker liners, they may bleed through pages. This book is not travel friendly at all due to the size and weight of it, but I have a pocket book I use for ideas on the go right now. The paper is bright white. My only real complaint is the cover quality and binding situation. The cover paper tears very easily and my binding is separating from the book after less than a week of ownership. If you put it in a bag, I recommend putting rubber bands around it or tying something to keep the covers closed so it doesn't slide around and tear during transport. Other than that, the quality for the money can't be beat! Please don't base your opinions of this brand off of this one product. I own another hardbound sketchbook by art alternative in the 11x14" size and that paper works great with my inks and gouache. And that has a much sturdier cover and no binding issues. This a great gift for any artist of enthusiast and will be memorable just from it's size!

I bought this sketchbook for a personal sketching project. I was expecting highly inferior paper that would prevent me from taking my artwork too far or doing paintings in it, so that I'd focus on just drawing and moving on to the next page. Boy, was I ever surprised. First of all, the paper itself is 75 lb and quite heavy duty. Fountain pens, Pitt pens, and Microns do not bleed through the paper. Secondly, the construction is fabulous. The book is stitch-bound, and the individual signatures are only two sheets, folded and stitched before being bound together into the book. This means that the pages open completely flat. After the first 150 pages, I decided that the book is just too heavy to comfortably situate myself to sketch, and definitely too cumbersome to take it out on location. However, because of the great construction of the book, I took it apart from the back, and separated out the individual signatures. It can be broken down into 75, eight-page booklets! Now I can just take a small booklet and a drawing board with me. When that's finished, I grab another. Numbering the pages as I go, I put them back into the cover when I'm done. I'm at around page 450 now. When completed, I can rebind the book, or (more likely) leave the signatures stacked inside the cover. There are advantages to having them separated when I want to refer to some of them, rather than having them bound. I've used all kinds of grounds on the paper too --- gesso, pastel ground, micaceous iron oxide, etc., and have used acrylic, pastel, charcoal, gouache, watercolor, markers, and inks. the paper gets a bit crinkly with wet media, but I didn't expect to be able to use wet media at all on this paper. I highly recommend this sketchbook and paper, and to anybody who finds it too large to handle, go ahead and break it down into signatures. It's a lot of paper at a great price. (I got it for about $23, but have noticed that the price fluctuates a lot.)

I'm in love. The pages are thicker than I imagined so sketching won't be a problem. I bought this at a great price. The cover is very sturdy. The pages lay 95% flat. I personally wouldn't travel with it. Its just too heavy. Thin markers don't bleed through. But thicker markers can be seen through on the back of the page.