📝 Strathmore Gray Drawing Sketch Pad - 400 Series, Toned Paper, 11"x14", 24 Sheets Review

I love the grain and tone of this paper. I use black and white charcoal and the gray gives it a nice undertone.

I brought this as a recommendation when I was in college. The tone and quality of the paper are perfect for value training and helping your eyes understand the depth and perception they are seeing.

This is one of my favorite papers. I especially like the toned gray as I'm working with charcoal and pastel on this notebook. It has enough teeth to hold charcoal and pastel, but not enough to be sloppy. I find it easy to convey a drawing, be it a still life or a figure. I recommend this rug, at least try it. Some might think it's a little pricey, but it's worth it.

Thicker paper required. There is no force, the paper is easily damaged; As this product will be used to build my school portfolio this is an important missing piece. Also, the pillow was damaged before shipping. This is evident because the pages have been folded diagonally from top to bottom; This could not happen inside the box due to insufficient space. Now this notebook is useless and a waste of money.

I really love this brand. I use it for sketching with pencil, wax crayons, micron crayons and even used liquid watercolors (straight from the tube like gouache) and white pencils for extra detail and highlighting etc. After polishing with colored pencil it doesn't last anymore because it's not "intended" for crayons (teeth) but you can build up slowly and get phenomenal results if you buff your last coat (art style I like) 10/10 product. Can't wait to work in this larger size!

I haven't worked much with this paper, but I really like it so far. At first I thought it had some jags like the Strathmore 400 series carbon paper I've used in the past, but it's actually pretty smooth. This is the perfect shade of gray that makes it easy to create dark tones and really make the image stand out. Haven't tried charcoal yet, so I'm not sure how the paper will grip the charcoal since it's so smooth. Graphite crayons work great with this and blend well.

Although I have used colored paper for pastels before, this was my first experience with tinted sketch paper. I wasn't expecting this paper to have the same layering ability as a rougher pastel base since it's clearly labeled as a sketchbook, but I was able to apply a lot more layers than I expected. I've tried charcoal, pastel and pastels in various combinations and I have to say that paper is very versatile due to its smoothness. I would recommend it for sketches and expressive work that…