Review on Strathmore 412 5 Toned Sketch Sheets by Kristen Reid

I really like these tinted paper books. The quality is very good and the price is great. I also like that they are made from 30% recycled fiber, making them more sustainable than the original sketchbooks. I have brown toned and gray toned books of various sizes. I mainly use them for sketching in the field with graphite pencils, colored pencils, oil pastels and micron pencils, ballpoint pens or quick drying markers. I use the paper tone for the midtone values and then create the shape by adding light and dark tones. Even sketches with quick gestures look more natural than on plain white paper. They offer a nice change from my usual white watercolor albums. The paper in these books weighs 118 gsm (80 lb), making it ideal for dry materials. The sides can be lightly sanded to give soft pastels/pencils more tooth, although I think oil pastels or art pencils work better as they tend to stay in place. The pages also lend themselves to very light watercolor, gouache or acrylic painting techniques such as dry brushing in small areas, but are guaranteed to warp if the paper gets too wet. Therefore, be careful when using damp media other than alcohol-based inks. In addition to these books I also have the Black Strathmore 400 Series Artagain Notebooks which contain an even higher percentage of recycled fiber (50%) and I also like them for working from dark to light. I prefer to work with oil pastels, colored pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paints and/or gouache. If these books were offered in other neutral colors, I would buy them too.