On Moleskine Altenatives - Again...

Here at the old art blog, I like Sketchbooks a lot.  And I like testing Sketchbooks that are sometimes promoted as Moleskine alternatives.  Over the years, I've met and drawn in quite a few Moleskine alternatives and their quality can vary wildly.  So, in the spirit of the holiday season, here are the four most recent Sketchbooks, reviewed:

I talked a bit about the ZenArt Supplies B6 Sketchbook before and much of my opinion still stands.  I did learn that this Sketchbook takes art markers very well (with insane bleed-through) as seen above, which helps alleviate some of my criticisms.

This awesomeness is the Illo Sketchbook and it is so good.  The pages are nice and thick, and I think I could've easily got away with drawing on both sides, which is a very unique feature among the books I'm reviewing today.  It loves watercolor, pencils, inks, markers and more.  This is, after all, the Sketchbook that saw me through this year's MerMay.  The Illo is my favorite Sketchbook out of the lot and I've already got another one waiting in the wings.

Unfortunately, this means our next two Sketchbooks aren't so great.  This is the Leda Art Supplies Sketchbook.  If you bought a Sketchbook from Amazon recently, you've almost certainly seen it advertised.  I really didn't like the thinness of the paper and that floppy flexible cover is a killer.  And speaking of covers...

We've come to my current Sketchbook and... Look, I love all me Sketchbooks like they are my babies.  This is the Handbook Flexi-Sketch, and about halfway through it's rating a big old "Yikes."  Those pages are thin, thin, thin and they even roll over and give up at the sight of one of my trusty ballpoint pens.  But it's the cardstock-thick cover that seriously messes me up.  What a shame; I really liked the other Handbook I tried way way back in that first post.

So there you have it, four different Moleskine-alikes reviewed.  My verdict is get yourself an Illo, then maybe get another for your Secret Santa.  Have a great holiday season everyone!

MerMay 2018!

Yay I did it!  I drew a mermaid for every single day in May!  Wooo!  Here they all are in a big ol' Twitter Moment!

MerMay 2018


And - AND - because I love you, some bonus mermaid art and fun stuff I posted elsewhere during the month, with bonus bonus comments, like Instagram:

Gotta say, this is a really nice Sketchbook. #showmeyourillo #sketchbook #meta #mermaid #mermay

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 3, 2018 at 10:33am PDT

Great day in the morning, the Illo is a fantastic Sketchbook!  I've gone through a rash of Moleskine-alikes and this one is my favorite so far.  Perfect size, takes all the media I like joyfully, and scans like a dream.  You know a Sketchbook is quality when you've moved on to the next one (which isn't even bad, just very very different) and you already miss it and want to get more of them.

Heck yeah it’s #MerMay! #mermay2018 #mermaid

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 3, 2018 at 10:32am PDT

How about I apologize for that last post with some #workinprogress photos. #mermay #mermay2018 #sketch #showmeyourillo #mermaid #triciaarnoldsart

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 4, 2018 at 8:43am PDT

Bonus, cause it’s late, WIPS! #workinprogress #triciaarnoldsart #mermay

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 12, 2018 at 10:16pm PDT

Work in progress! Initial sketch through inks. #workinprogress #triciaarnoldsart

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 15, 2018 at 11:39am PDT

My first time playing with liquid frisket and it worked very well. #workinprogress #triciaarnoldsart

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 15, 2018 at 11:40am PDT

From now on, if I can help it, I'll never not use this stuff when painting Loons.

Wulver and Selkie WIPS, including an earlier composition that’s harder to “read” but has a cool pose. #workinprogress #showmeyourillo #triciaarnoldsart

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 17, 2018 at 1:48pm PDT

And now, a very silly bonus for my fellow #MyLittlePonyG1 people. #silly #weird #mermay #mylittlepony #animorphs

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 19, 2018 at 12:18pm PDT

This was just a silly thing I made for fun but I broke the first rule of Animorphs cover parodies: the eyes are the "anchor".  Woops.

And for younger "My Little Pony" fans thinking, "Wait, I don't get it?" enjoy.

#workinprogress pictures! If anyone’s wondering how to distress Sketchbook paper in a hurry, the answer, as it is with so many other things in life, is coffee and lots of it. #triciaarnoldsart #showmeyourillo #arttechniques #undyne

A post shared by Trish A. (@babbletrish) on May 20, 2018 at 9:45am PDT

And stuff from Tumblr:

https://babbletrish.tumblr.com/post/174245482931/its-towel-day-my-book-collection-and-a

Now, I'm a little burnt out so maybe I won't be doing the daily JuneFae Challenge, but a periodic piece of Fairy fun isn't unreasonable.  Here's a little rainy day Fae:

The Birds of Easter

Had a lovely Easter Dinner with my Aunt and Uncle, who live near a forest and have a bird feeder up all season.  I had the good sense to bring my little Zen Art Sketchbook mentioned in the last post and basically filled the last few pages.  Behold!

2018 Animal Kingdom Sketches

I went to Animal Kingdom for the first time since they opened Pandora: The World of Avatar Pandora Landora!  But before we talk about that, we need to dive deep into the early days of this blog and talk Moleskines and Moleskine alternatives.



The unthinkable happened; I was about to go on a trip and did not have a new Sketchbook handy to start once my current one ran out of pages.  (I draw through and entire Sketchbook and start a new one immediately.  I have heard this is unusual of me but my broken OCD brain and I just can't believe it.)  Fortunately, I was able to order the two lovelies pictured above right away from Amazon.

The one on top is the one I am currently using and that went to Florida with me, the ZenArt Supplies B6 Sketchbook.  And it's very nice for sketching, doodling, and writing with a pencil or ballpoint pen.  But the pages are almost ridiculously thin; I have to scan with a sheet of card stock in between the pages or you'd have a nice preview of the art on the next page.  Art markers bleed right through and the pages roll over and give up at the very sight of even a dry-ish watercolor brush.  It fits right in my purse, though, and so this little Sketchbook joined me on every ride, show, exhibit, and other adventure in Disney World.  (For what it's worth, yes the paper is blacklight sensitive.)

And the ZenArt went to Animal Kingdom with me.  I have to say the ZenArt is very nice for drawing quickly on the spot.  I suppose though, so would a Sketchbook with nicer paper of the same size.  Oh well, here are the studies of the animals there:

Impressions de New Hampshire

I'd brought my "new" Moleskine along on a scenic train ride along Lake Winnipesaukee last October.  This was during a weekend in my childhood romping ground, the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  It wasn't quite peak foliage yet, but the mountains look beautiful no matter what.  Here are my inept little landscape paintings and drawings of them:

Let's Go Down to "Turtle Town"

My current Sketchbook is a little pocket-sized Moleskine that's been riding around in my purse with me for some time now. Since I'm going to be traveling a bit this month, I decided to finally make it my main Sketchbook and fill the dear little thing.



There were already quite a few very nice drawings and paintings in it from this past October.  The first few pages were full of watercolors of a place we call Turtle Town.  It's a tiny little inlet off the main section of the Lake.  It's easy to kayak to and, yes, you can often see turtles of unusual size hanging out on the sunny logs or lurking in the mud.

I didn't see any turtles last October when I paddled down to take reference photos and do a watercolor sketch or two, but I did find a lot of cool water plants.  So here's a page of botanical studies and a couple of landscapes.

Travel Sketchbooks

It's been a while since I wrote a post about Sketchbooks, hasn't it? I figure I owe you a post about arty stuff, dear reader, after those last two ranty, only-obliquely-art-related posts.
Of course, there was a prompt for this one. I recently got this little fellow in the mail from the wonderful, if strangely-named, Dick Blick art supply catalog:


You may recall from a much earlier Sketchbook-related post that I first saw this brand of Sketchbook at the Massachusetts College of Art store. This is an Art Supply Enterprises Pen and Ink Watercolor Book (an Art Alternatives Watercolor Book according to the Blick catalog). As you can see, it looks like another lowfat Moleskine alternative, especially with it's rubber-band closure, it's (maybe) fake leather cover, and it's hilarious wrap-around dust jacket thingy:
"Embrace the Immediacy of Watercolor... and bathe your sketches in color!"


With the help of my handsome assistant*, you can see that this little book looks like a Watercolor Moleskine on the inside as well, and even sports a pocket. The only difference -and this is a bit of a disappointment for me- is that the pages are perforated. Maybe there are people out there who like the option of removing pages out of their Sketchbook, but I am not one of them.
* - My Oviraptor mascot needs a name!
So the only thing left to do is personalize this little fellow:


Obviously, this is the Sketchbook I'm taking to Florida with me in a few weeks. I usually go small when choosing a travel Sketchbook. It should be able to fit inside a fanny pack. This little guy could fit in a pocket if it had to!
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Now, I know making fun of Twilight is like shooting fish in a barrel at this point, but I recently got an issue of a magazine that had a special preview of the Twilight comic book. And as somebody who went through four years of art school, I can't let this pass without comment. (Illustrations by Young Kim. I can't find much about him online, so hopefully he was hampered by the source material -I know all too intimately what that's like- and this is not indicative of what he can do.)
Ladies and gentlemen, the many expressions of Mr. E. Cullen:


Bonus: Here is Bella scared out of her mind:


Yeah.
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Feederwatch Thursday!
Not much goin' on this week. To be fair, the rain/snow hadn't started yet really and I only had the suet feeder full.
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Sparrow 15
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Sketch of the Day!
I've been editing some more older pieces for DeviantArt this week, so I haven't had the time to upload anything new at the time of writing. Here are some dragons:

Further Sketchbook and Michael Jackson auction thoughts

Let's go on another journey through the world of Sketchbooks. Which, as you may recall, are Personal Things. (See also "On Moleskines" and "New Sketchbook".)

Any time I'm in the kind of store that sells Sketchbooks, I have a hard time walking out without one.  I like to stock up on them.  Recently, I was in the Massachusetts College of Art's bookstore and, while they did not have as many Sketchbooks as I'd expect, they had an interesting variety.

In particular, they had loads and loads of Lowfat Moleskine Substitutes. The one on the right was the largest of these available (the rest were tiny) and I was apprehensive about not getting a watercolor version - Sketchbooks designed for pen tend to have absurdly smooth paper. So I wasn't up to seeing what this brand was like. They're resting atop a Sketchbook about as long as my forearm with handles, which I can't help but think is a better idea in theory.
MassArt also had quite a few hilariously impractical Sketchbooks.

I'd seen the Strathmore Circlevision 360 Sketchbook before. It's still hilarious. I can't see anyone honestly bringing that anywhere and drawing in it.
The tiny, tiny linen books are equally impractical. And expensive to boot.

And then there's this $100.00 beauty. The sucker is heavy. I guess if you never wanted to bring your Sketchbook anywhere, maybe it'd be the ideal Sketchbook for you. I'm failing to see the point myself.
So what Sketchbook filled my needs most recently? Well, I bought a larger version of the awesome Nature Sketch at MassArt. My current Sketchbook, however, the one that earns the italics, is one I had picked up at Dick Blick last year on sale.

An Aquabee Tree-Free Hempdraw. For under ten dollars I couldn't leave her. She was all set to go, I just needed to personalize her a bit.

So here's my baby. Inside, she's got my name and address label just in case (I have only mislaid a Sketchbook once ever. It was over a friends house thankfully, but it was traumatic enough.) Not every Sketchbook is so gaudy but, well, it's almost spring! And after all, she's a Hemp Draw.
(By the way, chill out. It isn't that kind of hemp..... right?)

Meanwhile, the complete catalogs for the Neverland Yard Sale are up now. My thoughts:

* Who is David Nordahl and how did he get that job? The job being, apparently, drawing and painting whatever Michael Jackson demanded. All those treacly/scary paintings of Jackson leading The Children of the World across some field? Nordahl's fault.
* Had I the finances to spare, I would absolutely put one minimal bid on those official Neverland doormats. I mean, why not?
* The "Earth Song" statue is pretty badass/hilarious in itself. It's too expensive, but it is based upon the climactic scene in the one song and video that most succinctly defines the latest, say, quarter of Michael's career (starting with the whole spectacular "HIStory" album debacle). It goes a little something like this. Brace yourself for the Narm/Bathos.

On Moleskines and Pseudo-Moleskines

NOTE: I apologize for some of the formatting SNAFUs here. This is the last time I use the "wrap text around pictures" option.

First off, Happy New Year! Secondly, a tip of the hat to my three-year-old and semi-retired MySpace Blog. (Somebody out there was reading, right?)

Beginnings are complicated. So to kick off my shiny new Blog let's just start in with an overview of the Moleskines and Pseudo-skines I have known.

A Sketchbook is a personal thing. Everyone who draws or writes daily has her own preference when it comes to paper or pencil/pen/paint/whatever. Of all my Sketchbooks, the ones that were the most fun to draw in were the ones I customized to my liking; and we'll talk about that next time I modify a Sketchbook. (Incidentally, no personal offense is meant if I happen to alter any Sketchbook given as a gift. Also, I love all my Sketchbooks no matter what I say here, it's just that some were more fun to use than others.)

And then, there's the Moleskine. To some people, these pretty pretty books need no introduction. But I'd never even heard of them until I visited the Harvard Coop one day and saw them on display. They are a self-appointed "Legendary Notebook." They were used by Van Gogh, Picasso, Hemingway, Amelie, Santa Claus, and some guy named Bruce Chatwin. (He is apparently a writer and in 1986, he bought out an entire stationary store's stock when he learned the notebooks were to be discontinued. One is left to assume they did not cost so much back then, but more on that later). It's pronounced "Moe-luh-skee-nuh". They are different from other notebooks. Better.

They also tend to be a bit on the small side (8 and a half inches for the large), have wildly varying "stats" for want of a better word, and are... a little pricey. Large sizes run about eighteen dollars at list price, and the little ones (five and a half inches, so they are smaller than my hand) are about twelve dollars. In my humble opinion, this is a tad bit ridiculous. It isn't surprising that some notebooks produced in the Moleskine style made by other companies have popped up. Today, I'll rate and rank the Moleskines and Lowfat Moleskine Alternatives I have used.

The Watercolor book is amazing. The paper is a think, partially cotton blend and is a dream to draw on. It takes wet media very well and accepts all kinds of pencil and pen. About the only down side is the fact that it is nearly as long as my forearm when open, which makes drawing in the field and scanning a little awkward.

The Sketchbook fits nicely in the hand and it scans relatively well, so it has that going for it. It accepts *some* pens but not others and it doesn't really like pencil. Don't even think of putting watercolor to it; the paper is practically oak tag, which is a big disappointment. I've heard that those hopelessly devoted to Moleskine usually end up using the Watercolor book as a sketchbook and the Sketchbook for writing exclusively, so lord knows what the quality of the paper in the Notebook is. There is also apparently a trick to improve the Sketchbook: upon acquiring the book, presumably long before you're going to draw in it, dunk your nearly $20.00 Sketchbook underwater. Sure...

Which brings us to the Lowfat Moleskine Alternatives. They tend to have many of the same features (useful pocket, useful elastic closure, dubious ribbon bookmark), and they also tend to be cheaper. They also tend to be a little hard to find.

The first in the row at right is the Papersource Cute Pocket Book. If you visit the link, you'll notice that it's unusual among all these Sketchbooks in that you make it yourself, to your own specifications. Papersource only provides the paper within, and it's... okay paper. It has a tooth, so you can draw in pencil with little difficulty. But it's also very thin. And due to the shape of the book, you can just forget about scanning. However, since it is indeed a Cute Pocket-sized Sketchbook, it is an honorary Pseudo-Moleskine.

Second in line is my friend, the Handbook. They are inexpensive, running between about seven dollars to about ten dollars, they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and their paper is very nice. The only bummer is that I have only ever been able to find them at Dick Blick. Nobody else seems to be even aware of them. But they absolutely give Moleskines a run for their money.

The last one, and the latest Sketchbook, is a Pentallic A La Modeskine. It's the cheapest of the lot by far. Mine cost about three dollars. It has all the features of a Moleskine Sketchbook - including paper that, while not as disappointing as the Moleskine Sketchbook's, is underwhelming. You get what you pay for.

So below (thanks to wonky formatting), are all the Sketchbooks ranked in order of my overall satisfaction. It's funny how Moleskines bookend the list.

The Handbook is the best economic choice, if you can find it. I highly recommend it. And if you can't die happy without using a Moleskine at least once, go for the Watercolor.

As sort of an addendum, I recently acquired this little oddity. It's the local version of the Moleskine City Notebook. I figured it'd be something like the

"Version Exclusive" sketchbooks sold at the Van Gogh Museum. (By the way, "Legendary Notebooks." "Version Exclusive" pads of blank paper. There are jokes to be made here. Mostly ones that only the "Pokemon" fandom would get.)

Well as you can see from the next picture, it's not a Sketchbook or Notebook. I really don't know what it is, but it isn't that. And if the blank pages are the same paper used in the Moleskine Notebook, yikes, that's thin!

So that's my opinion on various Moleskines and similar Sketchbooks. And there's my first Blog post! Yay!

Related Post: Further Sketchbook and Michael Jackson Auction Thoughts

Extremely belated addendum: Stuff White People Like (of all places) has a hilarious over-analysis of the Moleskine phenomenon.