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!

Thoughts on Recently Experienced Media!

Brief Reviews of Random Stuff!

Strathmore Windpower Watercolor Pad - Fantastic little Sketchbook. It's very short (only fifteen pages), but the small size is perfect for travel, and at just under three dollars at Dick Blick's, it can't be beat. Plays well with watercolors, pencils, and inks.

"9" - So this guy, animator Shane Acker, makes a really awesome short film that gets the attention of Tim Burton, who takes Shane under his sketchy, striped wing fresh out of art school to make his first feature-length film. So this film has a pretty awesome story behind it. The short film in question is fantastic and it is worth renting the DVD just to watch it. The sad thing is, the feature adaptation of the short is not remotely as interesting. The world and the creatures that inhabit it is cool, but the story is incredibly dull, confusing, and obvious and populated with bland, interchangeable characters. On top of that, and this is the mildest of spoilers, you may well rename the film, "Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: the Movie!"
Speaking of Tim Burton...

"Alice in Wonderland" - Um... it didn't suck as much as I thought it would, I guess.I wish there was more I could say here. I really do. I can't recommend this film, but I can't hate on it too hard either. Tell you what, it's better than "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". But if I'm going to watch a "takeoff of a beloved fantasy children's book where the hero returns to the magical land and saves it from a new evil" movie, I'm going for "Return to OZ". At least that one's weird as hell.

"Voyage of the Unicorn" - Ever run into an adaptation of a book you liked as a kid that's SO different from what you liked in the book, yet gets so much stuff right, that it just ends up being frustrating? Yeah. (And yes, this is apparently based off Voyage of the Basset; I guess unicorns are a bigger draw than historical puns.)

"127 Hours" - Stop being such a sissy and watch it already.
OK, seriously, this movie is very good and is currently running neck-and-neck with "Scott Pilgrim" as my favorite of the past year. (No, I'm not sure exactly why these films either.) My gore-disliking aunt and mom are both crazy about it. You will believe a half-finished bottle of orange-flavored Gatorade that has been sitting in the back of a car in the Utah heat and cold for days and days will look appealing.

"Black Swan" - I told you feathered dinosaurs were scary! But you didn't believe me! WHY didn't you believe me?!?
(OK, seriously. Not among my favorite movies this year, but very good.)

"Tales From Earthsea" - I know a little bit about the rather sad story behind this particular Studio Ghibli film although the special features skip over it entirely. The film itself is... decent. It isn't fantastic, but that's only because Goro's father has set the bar so damn high. Also, the Earthsea books (which I have a rather odd relationship with; maybe I'll tell that story later) are turned into a rather ordinary stereotypical fantasy/Anime plot. There are some neat moments towards the end, like an effectively monstrous bad guy. 

The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs, copyright 2010 written and illustrated by Gregory S. Paul and published by Princeton University Press - It is, I will state again, very sad to see a favorite artist of mine who influenced me so greatly suddenly turn into such a... yeah, I'm sticking with douche. (At least a douche is clean; younger readers, it means "shower" in French.) But let's ignore the deluge of controversy Greg Paul has stirred up in the past few months, because I am also sticking with my initial Clint Mansel-scored animated-in-a-rush-past-Midnight reaction. You need this book in your library. For an animal anatomy reference (yeah, I went there), it is indispensable.
And it is also... not quite as good as Predatory Dinosaur of the World. It doesn't have as many anatomical studies, has far, far fewer life restorations, and seems to have fewer skeletal studies (which is especially odd, as this book supposedly covers more species). And, yes, Paul gets... eh... just a little lump-happy. (In that people who misunderstand the Triceratops/Torosaurus thing would bleed out of their eyes reading this book.) That said, I read the whole shebang, cover-to-cover. There aren't many giant textbooks I can say that about.

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Art Of the Day!

I got a little hooked on watching this.

How to Personalize Your Sketchbook

This one's going to be a bit picture-heavy, but this is the first time I remembered to take pictures while I modified a Sketchbook. Let's get right into it. Pick out a spiral-bound Sketchbook you like.



You'll want to get a good collection of different cover papers going. Don't ever throw away any wrapping paper. Save the papers you like from any gifts you get, and collect free samples too.

Since this is going to be my Spring/Summer Sketchbook, I've picked out this nice garden-themed wrapping paper, with complimentary string and tissue paper.



Take your covers off and set one of them aside. Use the other as a template to cut the cover paper from your wrapping paper sheet. Give yourself no less than one inch extra around the cover.



Smear some glue all over one side of the cover. Most book-making instructions will tell you to use white glue and an old paintbrush here, but I've found that a glue stick works just as well if not better. Using liquid glue would get us into trouble later anyway.



Flip your cover over and apply glue to the corner paper. Fold it over and secure it with a strip of masking tape as shown. When you've finished the corners, do the same with the sides.



It should look something like this when you're almost finished. Go ahead and repeat all this for the other cover. Then cut your complimentary... we'll call them Fake Endpapers to fit.



This is why we're using a glue stick. This is probably the easiest way to do your fake endpapers if you've for some reason chosen to use a really thin paper for them, like I have.
Set your covers aside to dry for a while. This should take less than an hour and a half, but if you've got an hour and a half, go watch "Sita Sings the Blues". You can watch it for free in, like, twenty different places online and this is all approved by the creator of the movie. Do it. I'm not going to write a big long review, but trust me, the film is absolutely delightful.



Now there comes the tedious part: uncovering the holes we've covered up. Get a sewing needle (and keep it around because we'll need it soon), and use it to find, by touch the holes that attached the cover to the spiral binding. Then take a sheet of paper from your book's "innards" and use it to mark off where to punch the holes. Cover this area with clear packing tape to reinforce it, if you wish.



You don't want to use a normal, sissy-poo hole punch for this. Head to the office supply store of your choice, and invest in a 2-hole punch like the one you see (upside-down) above. Your hands will thank you.



We're almost done, so give your Sketchbook a title! I stick an address label in the inside front cover as well. If you want, you can wrap the covers in clear tape. Do whatever, just make sure you've re-attached the front cover first.



Note how the back cover is attached in the above photo. Thread the needle from earlier and use your string to tie the spiral-binding together to secure it.



Here's the finished Sketchbook, with all the supplies I used to create it!

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Sketch of the Day!
Here's the first thing I drew in my new Sketchbook:


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By the way, "Heroes" is canceled. And it's a little sad that my reaction to this news was, "Oh. Huh."
Just a head's-up, tonight and Sunday are the last "Lost" episodes ever. I expect to be a bit more torn up about that.
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There is also a magnificent Frank Frazetta tribute at Something Awful (of all places). Not safe for work, but that should be a given.

Tree-Free and other Green Sketchbook Options

The sad, sorry state of affairs for the ecologically (and economically)-minded artist like myself is that there were never that many good green Sketchbook options. Thankfully, most chain arts and crafts stores have recently started carry at least one tree-friendly Sketchbook brand. Still, it's much easier to find a wide variety of green Sketchbooks in specialty stores (ie, locally, Dick Blick and Bob Smith Stationers). Here are a few that I've used over the years.

Aquabee Tree-Free Hempdraw. I got this for under ten dollars at Dick Blick. It was an absolute joy to draw in. Great texture, loved watercolors and colored pencils, and it scanned nicely. Here's an example:

There's a noticeable texture with some natural fibers showing in the pages.
The only thing that bugs me actually isn't the book's fault, but the fact that certain people may freak out at the giant pot plant on the cover (seen on newer versions of the Hempdraw). Methinks Aquabee should have taken a few more things into consideration when choosing the cover art. Most of the people us art-types hang out with wouldn't care, but we all have to deal with the "Hey, are you drawing?!" crowd once in a while.

Pentalic Nature Sketch and Cachet Earthbound. Nature Sketch (after heavily modifying the cover) has great, heavy paper for watercolors. The large size does not play well with scanners, and I'm not sure if it's recycled. You'd think it would be. A percentage goes to the American Wildlife Fund so... there's that. Here's an example of what mine looks like inside:

The Cachet Earthbound is practically iconic by now. It's got unbleached, natural fiber, brown recycled paper that's durable as hell. It'd be perfect for outdoor sketching... if I could ever find a spiral-bound version. That said, the standard hardbound Earthbound can be found at WallMart and the like. Here's a drawing from mine:

 
Canson (and others) Recycled wire-bound Sketchbooks.
I won't get too detailed here. This is the first Sketchbook I ever drew in. I get all sentimental about it.

Lokta paper:
This is paper made out of a variety of natural and recycled fibers. That means you've got a weird variety of textures to draw on. Now, if you're the kind of artist who just draws for the sake of drawing, then this is fine. If, however, you ever want to look at your sketches a second time for reference -- or you want to not have to break out the hair dryer every time your Sketchbook gets mildly damp (seriously), it's not the best choice.
Which brings us, inevitably, to...

Elephant Poo Paper!
Take a minute. Let it all sink in.
Now, I may have mentioned before that I have a bit of the OCD. So my reaction to this is, "no. Just no."
But for those of you who aren't big babies who go 😱 at animal feces, knock yourselves out. Just remember what I said about natural fiber papers. You don't get much more natural fiber-y than this. I like how there's the option of Panda poo, cow poo, and horse poo.
That's a good place to end this; horse poo.
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Out of nowhere, there is an excellent Onion AV Club Blog post that takes the announcement of the long-in-development-limbo "Mighty Mouse" movie as an incentive to make some wonderfully astute comments on this "Lets turn every animated series into a movie" thing. Or as they describe them, "remaking of some childhood cartoon into a disingenuously winking, cacophonous, computer-sculpted hybrid that neither satisfies nostalgic adults nor placates their mewling, ADD-afflicted children." True that.

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.