First Look at the Sketch Pad from the Artownlar 72-Piece Art Set

 

This is a follow-up on the blog post about unboxing the Artownlar 72 piece art set (here: https://allsortsartbyali.blogspot.com/2023/06/unboxing-artownlar-72-piece-art-supply.html ). This is a first look at the sketchbook that was included with the Artownlar art supply set. At the time, this sketch pad was shrink-wrapped, and so the only thing that I could tell you before opening it was what I could see from the outside.

It was labeled as a 60-sheet book, 8½ x 11 inches, with a paper weight of 80 pounds. I was pretty excited about that because most sketch pad paper is only 65 lbs, but 80 lbs is the same weight as my favorite drawing paper, Strathmore's 400 series. I could also see from indications on the cover and from looking at the side of the pad that the paper came in three colors: 10 pages of tan paper, 10 pages of black paper, and 40 pages of white paper. I've never seen a basic sketchbook with a variety of colors before, so that was fun.

 

Now I have unwrapped the sketch pad and have had a chance to examine it more closely. I have discovered something interesting: Not only do the pages come in different colors, they also come in different textures, according to color. The white pages are textured very much like drawing paper, with a fairly light “tooth” on each side. Good for pencil or colored pencil, and perfectly okay for media like pen or marker, too.

The tan sheets, however, are different: Unlike the white pages that are textured on both sides, the tan pages are extremely smooth on one side and have a texture on the other. 

The smooth side probably would not be good for the charcoal pencils that are included in the set and perhaps not for the softer drawing pencils; maybe the harder ones. I think these might be best suited for a medium like pen and ink or marker; possibly a somewhat dryer and thicker paint like gouache. As for the textured side of the tan pages, they have a lot more texture than the white pages, and so this might be ideal for a medium that gets built up in layers, like charcoal or colored pencil. Since the the set is very colored-pencil-heavy, then that might be a good thing to try.

Last but not least, the black pages are actually smooth on both sides and might not be receptive to any dry media. Again, these would kind of be like the smooth side of the tan sheets, but since they are black, perhaps they would be best used with gel pens in white or neon colors. I could possibly try white colored pencil and see if that goes anywhere, but with no tooth to the paper, I don't think trying to layer colored pencils as usual would work. I do have a silver Sharpie that might make some fun marks, but I would really prefer trying to stick to the supplies that are included in the set just for consistency sake and also it might be kind of fun to limit myself – it might force me to be more creative in figuring out what I can do.

I'm pretty sure that the black pages cannot be used with the watercolor pencils, but who knows? We'll see. I feel like the only possible page for the watercolor pencils might be the tan paper, because I think watercolor would probably just wrinkle up the white pages. Even though all the pages are supposed to be 80 lbs, the tan paper seems more sturdy, like maybe it would be okay to use watercolor pencils. Maybe I'll just try to use not very much water. I'm trying not to destroy things, here!

Anyway, I did end up using some supplies from the set, including one of the sketchbook pages, to make a picture, so I will write a more detailed review on that in the future.

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