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

These make excellent travel journals and sketchbooks. The paper will hold a wash without buckling and is smooth enough for pen and ink work. I use both sides of a page without any bleed through.

Es algo caro, pero es el mejor papel sobre el que he pintado. Es excelente para técnicas mixtas, lo soporta todo!

After a few bad experiences with Mixed Media papers and watercolors I was hesitant to try this, but after a couple recommendations I gave it a shot and am very happy that I did. I bought the 5.5x8.5 hardbound journal. The binding is very nice. It appears to consist of four signatures of four sheets (8 pages) each and, to me anyway, the covers are a pleasant feeling nice dark brown, completely free of branding. So far the binding is staying snug. In use Ive had no problems having it lie flat enough to work comfortably by opening to a new page, firmly pressing it flat and resting something like my small pencil case on the unused half. This is for the 5.5x8.5 portrait format only so I dont know how easy or difficult it is to work with the binding of other sizes. Its certainly not as easy to work with as a spiral bound journal, which opens completely flat, but I very much prefer the appearance of this type of binding and have found that the pages dont move around like they do in a spiral bound journal. Im even more pleased with the paper itself. Its 100% cotton (unlike their watercolor journals) and watercolors appear quite vivid when compared with some other good quality papers. It takes ink very well and even a small .2 sized Rotring technical pen writes smoothly. Ive done some light wet on wet with no trouble but realize that doing anything requiring a good soaking might cause difficulty, but thats rarely what Im using a watercolor journal for. For the combination of both watercolor and pen & ink Ive used or am currently using the following *journals*: Canson Monval, Pentalic, Field Artist, Strathmore Visual Watercolor (series 400), Stillman & Birn Zeta and a Moleskine watercolor specific, and I think this Strathmore series 500 Mixed Media is my new favorite (of course changes in pricing might change that). For strictly pen & ink there are other journals/papers that I prefer but when adding watercolors to the mix this journal is hard to beat. Strathmore makes watercolor-specific journals very similar to this, but even if all I did was watercolor (no pen & ink) Id still choose this Mixed Media journal. Their water-color specific journals use a heavier but lower quality Series 400, cellulose-based, watercolor paper, while this Mixed Media paper is 100% cotton.

The girlfreind is the artist. She loves this book. It is a much better value than anything else we were finding. Looks great!

I broke down and had to buy this journal as the one I tried to use just wasnt getting it. This paper takes Tombows extremely well. Watercolors, and markers, ect. I had to buy another one because I was so satisfied with the first one. Would LOVE to see this in an even BIGGER SIZE if they have one. Sturdy. I will definitely be buying more of these.

This is a perfect watercolor journal I love it! I wanted a small but not big either so I can carry it out in my trips. It’s very convenient and the paper is thick and takes a good amount of water or washes. I love that it is hardcover for more protection on the paper and most of all your artwork!

Format and paper quality are not ideal, buckles a lot

Gorgeous paper for chalk pencils, light charcoal, pen and ink. Love doing value studies in this book.

Absolutely love the hard bound book and the pages are perfect. Nothing not to love.

Im using it as a watercolor journal. Its okay. I could have just gotten an arches pad for the price and had better quality paper. Gouache is a better medium for it. The sketchbook itself isnt bad. It has a sturdy build. The paper could be better tho.