Sketch book / Sketchpad?

For those who are still kickin’ it old school sketching on paper, what type of sketch book or sketch pad do you use? Looked through the old threads but didn’t find anything about sketch books/pads.


I’ve tried a lot of different things, but nothing is really to my liking:

Spiral bound books are nice, but rather expensive for the ‘hard cover’ type that i like, and I can’t add loose leaf paper

Made my own book from binder clips and masonite board, filled with plain paper, easy to add loose papers (just hole punch) but papers shift around a lot and end up being torn out or dog eared

Made another book with a felt cover and binding posts, but its better suited for storing papers than sketching in (can’t fold it flat)

Latest home brewed book uses plastic binding combs, but I’m back to the same issues as the spiral bound books i used to buy, although its cheap to make



What do you use?

This is gonna sound corny…



Books-a-million sells spiral bound heavy-weight sketch books for like 4 dollars (8.5x11, 50 pages). I love them! They are the best thing in terms of a rugged book as far as I use. When I just want good quality paper, I get the Meade brand (Academie) sketch diarys (spiral bound, 8.5x11, 70 sheets).


The Books-a-million thing is only if you’re in the United States… I’m not sure where you are form :confused:

I’m in western NC… no Books-a-million close by, but B&N is not too far away. I’ll check them out and see if they have something similar.

Thanks for the tip!

Here’s what I do, pretty much as simple as it gets while still staying neat and organized:
-Plain 3-ring binder
-3-hole punch (keep it in the binder)
-plain white 8 1/2x11 multipurpose paper pack (500 sheets for about $5). Don’t get the lowest grade, get one with a good brightness (I use HP multipurpose, 20lb, 96 brightness) Good enough for pencil, pen, quick marker work, can still use as an overlay, etc…
-For better final work and general printing, a pack of hp color inkjet paper (24lb, 100 brightness). It’s smooth to draw on that paper but depending on how fast you move, if you use pencil, etc…you can smear. I only use it on rare occasions.

With my book, I can put process sketch pages in, and use a clear paper protector as a divider between projects. Really simple and you can keep 4-5 works in progress in a 1/2" binder, ready to take with you anywhere. Works for me.

a pack of A3 and perfectly siized corner of my shlef to sit on…I have a A5 moleskin which I use as a log book and to drawin sometimes.

Borders sells those blank white paged books that are usually in the doorway.

They are about $5. I only use a ballpoint pen, but I’m sure it would take markers OK. They might bleed though.

I take it everywhere.