Handbook Journal Co. Artist Canvas Cover Travel Notebook for Drawing and Sketching, Ultramarine Blue, Square 5.5 x 5.5 Inches, 128 GSM Paper, Hardcover w/Pocket

Great size, perfect for traveling. Great quality but paper is not thick enough for even light washes off water color. Photos below show a couple of different attempts using progressively less and less water. The last one used hardly any water and I blotted the excess after a few seconds and you can still see the warring on the next page. Paper takes everything else very well as you can see in the photos of the smaller notebook.

I got a couple of these for a gift for my husband. He likes to draw, sketch, and journal and he LOVES these! They come in different sizes and he loves the smaller ones for throwing in his backpack to go to work or the coffee shop. Highly recommend.

Its a great sketchbook that doesn't take up much space at all, and can even handle watercolor pretty well (It also can hold stickers on the cover). Sharpies do bleed through, as well as alcohol markers, which isn't a big deal for me personally. Beck careful ripping out pages though, it can cause damage to the spine of the book and can cause other pages of the book to fall out. It also comes with a nice mini folder to hold paper and things in.

This little sketchbook takes everything I throw at it. Pages buckle slightly with water media but not so much that it’s a problem. Great for sketching, painting, markers and collage. Convenient size to carry on a walk or throw in your purse. This is my 4th one of these and I have started gifting them to fellow artists. Price for what you get is great!

I always give my daughter these kinds of books as winter solstice presents and she especially loved this one. The size, color (green) and quality are all great. She loves to use them for ink and watercolor art.

I was not sure how this was going to hold up to my watercolor painting as I am just starting out with watercolors and tend to be a little heavy with the water. Surprisingly enough it is holding up pretty well. I have only used one side of the pages bc of the buckling but once the pages dries and the book is bound with the band for a few days the pages seem to flatten out pretty nice. I enjoy it for my travel journal the size is very convenient. The plastic pocket in the back is great for holding my washi tape

I really enjoy using this sketchbook while I had it. It was durable and held up to my water color pens quite nicely. My one gripe it that sometimes to was difficult to hold the book fully open and some pages did fall apart. But overall I do think it makes a wonderful pocket sketchbook!

Purchased as a gift from a wish list for artist Perfect for travel

I bought this for doing Zentangles and was disappointed because my Micron ink pen shows through to the back of the paper which means that I can only do the Zentangles on alternate pages. Admittedly it shows through as a fairly light shadow, but it is enough to distract. Otherwise the size of the pages would have been perfect for 4in (10cm) square drawings.I have only knocked off one star for this because to be fair, the manufacturer does not claim you can do Zentangles in it (though it does say you can use markers and pen and wash, which do show through).Pros:If you use this book for drawing, the pencil doesn't show through at all.The book is sturdy.The colour is great.The elastic to hold the book closed is very helpful.It is a great pocket size.Gouache only shows through a bit to the back.ConsI tried a Sharpie pen on one page and the colour was as bright on the back of the page as on the front, so you wouldn't be able to use both sides. A Sharpie might even go through to the next page.Pen also goes through to the back though not as badly as felt pen.Even a fine Micron pen shows up on the back.

This has become one of my favourite sketchbooks. It's suitable for dry media, I wouldn't use watercolour in it, but I have used Posca paint pens and Zig clean colour brush pen and there is no bleed-through. This is a handy size to carry around and I love that it's square. There's a clear pocket at the back which I use for small items which have designs that inspire me. This book is very well-made and there are lots of pages in it - it has a nice chunky feel to it. I love working in it. Highly recommended. Thank you

I've been looking for a good sketchbook for ages. I think that every artist has a likes and dislikes to different materials and for me, I am really picky about types of paper. I tried out moleskine sketchbooks sometime last year and I loved the style and binding but the paper was way too smooth for me. This sketchbook has the perfect tooth, not too smooth, not too rough. I had seen some fellow artists use Journal Co. sketchbooks and I searched everywhere for it! The 5.5x5.5 inch square is perfect for me and is a unique shape, perfect for carrying around. There's a pocket at the back of the book which is actually plastic, so it is a lot more durable than paper ones. The orange ribbon used for a page marker is really nice (orange being my favorite colour) and goes really well with the blue cover. The elastic the keeps the book shut is very strong, like really strong - I had so much in the plastic pocket that the book was bulging open but the strap kept it together perfect and didn't even stretch! The material on the cover is really nice and gives a perfect finishing touch. When I was searching for my 'perfect' sketchbook, I really wanted one that had a lot of pages, so that I could fill it up and so that the sketchbook was more bulky and not flat. I love the thickness of the paper, it isn't too thick and it isn't too thin - just right. It feels so easy to draw in, I think I've had it for a few weeks and I think I've used half of it so far, thinking of all those pages! Over all, this is the best sketchbook I've used yet! Definitely going to buy another!

This is a lovely sketchbook. the paper has an off cream colour and certainly looks strong enough to resist bleeding from ink although I havent yet tested out the paper so i cant say for sure. the materials feel strong and durable. all in all a nicely presented and well finished product. would be willing to give more than 4 stars once i have tested it.If i had one issue i would say that for the size of the sketchbook it slightly over priced (in my opinion) although good quality always costs more.

These are my favourite sketchbooks. The square format is a pleasing, versatile shape and the paper is a lovely colour and surface. I use a combination of Pilot Fineliner pens, Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks and water pen and have never suffered from bleed through.