I’m cheap. Probably one of the reasons why I love drawing so much is that it’s a really cheap medium. Anyway, I’ve never wanted to hand over the money for a Moleskine Journal even though everyone goes on and on about how wonderful they are. To give myself a reward for living through an anxiety filled summer with as much grace as possible, I decided to buy myself a new sketchbook. There are many different brands to choose from, but I’m very picky about my paper so that narrows down the selection quite a bit. I’d heard a few good things about the paper in Moleskines, so I decided to part with the money and try one.
I bought a “Plain Notebook” Moleskine, and I honestly really do love it. It came with an attached ribbon for marking my place, an elastic band to keep it shut, and a little paper pocket inside the back cover to keep tidbits in. The pages have a sensual quality that’s hard to describe, but just running a finger across the surface of one makes me want to grab a pencil and sketch and write. The paper is lovely for pencil drawing and I’ve been able to create great dark values with just an HB pencil.
My only complaint is that the pages could be thicker. They’re fine for writing, but drawings show through from the other side a little bit. That’s just my own preference, though. In fact, Moleskine does make notebooks with “art” paper but I haven’t tried one of those yet.