Well done! We really got a good sense of the real-life performance of each. Of course, no matter how attractive the cover, paper rules so we were glad to get a frank opinion about these. We agree that 100% rag paper is worth the expense, because it brings colors to their best advantage. Great review from an artist who really knows the breadth and depth of this product category!
I no longer use sketchbooks as their high price meant I was mentally too afraid to use it for fear of wasting with an ugly or failed painting. After I discovered Baohong Academy, I started making my own A5 sketchbook out of 5 A4 sheets. Bought in loose sheets, Baohong is even cheaper. I don’t even bother with sewing, I just staple 5 sheets together (invest in a long stapler). I don’t make a cover either. Now I practise almost daily without guilt or stress, and enjoy watercolour painting so much more! I also make sketchbooks out of different paper for abstract paintings and mixed media work.
Good for you!!! I agree... I'm a bit nervous about painting on my Arches ... I'm a beginner, and cotton is very different to paint on! I thought I might have my Arches made into spiral bound... Thank 😊 you for sharing! Have a great day!
As a beginner, going from cheap paper to Arches paper was a game changer. I am sure there are good in-between alternatives, but I think there simply are some things you cannot do on cheap paper.
I agree. Watercolour media is hard enough to master and it can be so disheartening when you have to fight the paper on top of it. For me it is also Arches and it really was a game changer when I first bought it and tried it.
I can paint on cheap paper but I learned on Arches. I am grateful for that. I had played around on cheap stuff before I took classes an I had no idea that it was the paper that was the problem until I had to use Arches. I have given new students Arches during classes I was in because of the utter frustration they were having with cheapest Strathmore they could find. People spend money on paint and brushes but no one explains how paper is king'
Woah! As we say here in the South..."Bless your Heart!" I know this video was an undertaking but you created a great resource and you identified a few I didn't know existed. Thanks for all the research, effort and expense. Good stuff!
I didn't know there were this many either. And of course there are more not available from Amazon. I thought Bless your heart was a way for Southern people to dismiss you? Like a polite insult of sorts?
@@recoveringsoul755 Actually no, it’s usually used in more sincere, polite ways. Comedians make fun of it sometimes and anything can be sarcastic in certain contexts.
@@mindofwatercolor oh ok. Now I'm trying to remember if a comedian said it was an insult. Sounds like it could be a tricky thing to say if it's got different connotations for different people. My sister went to Tennessee and told me someone said that to her after asking if she and her friend needed help. But my sister is usually a pretty rude person, so I wasn't there and don't really know what happened.
This video is one for the WC Hall of Fame! So masterfully done, Ms Emily. I will be saving this and forwarding it to the people who ask me, " What kind of paper do I purchase for WC painting?" I REALLY appreciate the time and expense you undertook for this extensive task. WHEW! 😅 Thank you for such a fantastic resource to help Watercolour artists. ❤
Easiest thing I've found is buying paper in full sheets and cutting it down to make your own sketchbooks. It's a bit of a learning curve doing the binding but you could also take your cut sheets to stationery store to do a wire bind for you.
I make my own journals, to me it’s the perfect sketchbook, because I can choose my own favorite paper (arches) and theres just something about creating my own journal. It makes it more personal. It’s not hard to do and a lot cheaper!💖 Love this video! Thank you so much for testing all the journals!
Can you use both sides of that paper? And I heard Arches paper cracks or breaks where you fold it if you try to make your own journal. How do you bind yours? I looked into making my own books almost right away when I got interested in watercolor. Because it became clear I'd need good paper. So then I was distracted by bookbinding videos... Sigh I have a large arches block I'm afraid to use, but if I cut the paper then fold it, each sheet of paper could become 8 pages in a sketchbook!
@@recoveringsoul755 I have no problem with folding the paper from Arches. I buy very large sheets of 300gr satine paper and fold them into 4 pieces, from there I make the signatures. I learned bookbinding from a tutorial by followingthewhiterabbit here on youtube, she uses a very easy method. I use both sides of the paper. On side is more smoother than the other, but I can make it work.
Perfect reviews - I never thought you would get them all in the video in such a concise manner. Love the way you showed the price and star rating. Viewers could never know how much time, editing, devotion, and love goes into something like this!
I agree. The only thing she could have added maybe would be cost per Page, since the books have different numbers of pages, BUT, since they're ALSO different sizes, she'd need to adjust to compare apples to apples. Perhaps cost per square inch? But you lose space if you have borders I'm saving this video as a great resource.
@@EmilyOlsonArt I agree with the comment! I saved this video too. A great resource and lots of amazing painting samples. Honestly, I wondered the paints that you used in the palette. Are they Mijello mission gold paints?
Wow! the amount of work this video must have taken, I'm in awe! Thank you so much for this incredible resource! I just want to add that for those in regions more adjacent to asia, Baohong is incredible for the price, they're only like 15-20$ here for the journals; the 7"x10" blocks are like 11$, and the loose sheets go for even cheaper! I've seen more and more artists recognize how similar it is to Arches in recent years and it makes me so incredibly happy to see others enjoying this paper I love so much.
i might try the kadi sketchbook in the future. I don't mind it having no cover because that's easy fixable with some glue, cardstock and fabric. some of the nicer papers are spiralbound which sucks... I know it helps to make it lay flat, but it's much more difficult to do spreads (for me the spiral has too much give in many cases which makes it rather flimsy if you use 2 pages at ones) it makes it more prone to pages ripping or getting damaged at the edges when you take it with you in your backpack too. I just don't like the spiral binding. it means I am forced to use the book upside down or backwards (which is often not an option if the paper is not identical on both sides), because they're always made for right-handed people. Spirals just make painting so awkward and uncomfortable. it's a shame, but even with vary good paper the spiral would be an immediate reason to not buy a sketchbook. Maybe I should try making my own sketchbook.
I can't BELIEVE how inexpensive Arches is outside of Australia! I actively GAPED at how cheap that journal is, when it's 75 dollars over here! That aside, thank you so much for the lovely comparison video; it's extremely helpful to get an instant look at how each paper handles different watercolor techniques, masking fluid, and so on!
So pleased to find you today! Thank you, this tutorial is so helpful and I agree Arches & Saunders are the only two watercolour papers I always use, after trial and error buying every cotton paper (even Kaddie Rag) when I first started watercolour. Paper is so important. At the start I thought I could not paint, until I bought Arches when immediately the paint was laying washes exactly how I wanted and my pictures were suddenly good and the complements came flooding in and my confidence to paint rocketed, I never looked back.
Hullo Emily, I have a feeling that I have watched this video before, yet no comment. So here are my thoughts: I hope you consider doing a review of house brands! Yeah like Blick’s and Cheap Joes! I spent years looking for an alternative to Arches papers! I know so much is personal preferences, but Kilimanjaro is Joe’s house brand for watercolor and it is wonderful! They also have “workbooks” made of the same paper in natural or bright white! I have found these “workbooks” to be some of the best watercolor journals out there, but NOT on Amazon. You can get hot, cold, multiple sizes too! I hope you do consider looking at this paper and doing a real comparison. Including Blick’s house brand as well as Arches could be a truly amazing eye opener! I have even made my own watercolor journals from sheets of Kilimanjaro papers, I found they do rival Arches papers! Thank you for sharing all of your ideas and hard work finding and working in these books! Well done!
Amazon heard you on the Hahnemuhle Watercolor Book, 100% Cotton, Cold Press 250gsm, A6 Portrait book. Now under $20 with no shipping. Thanks for spending so much time (any money!) to review so many books. Really helpful information.
Wow! What a great review. I have quite a few Strathmore 500 journals because they're 100% cotton and inexpensive but I can't find them anymore. So I decided to buy a little binder machine and use Arches pads or full sheets to make my own with custom covers. 😊
Yes! I bought Arches at 75% off as a beginner... Staples Office Supply will bind your papers for around $5! Thank 😊 you for sharing! But a binder machine sounds like a great idea!
I've been trying to study this exact topic for a while, since I'm kind of lazy, kind of tired of making my own sketchbooks... Without the big budget it's been so hard. But not anymore! You are an absolute lifesaver!! A thank you and a hug from Italy 🤗
This was awesome! Thank you. I’ll never have that much money to test out journals to find out what I like, so I’m grateful beyond measure for your leg work. 😊
Yay! I'm still basically a beginner but it's abundantly clear how much difference good 100 percent cotton paper makes in the enjoyment of painting and the results.
Definitely a huge help for me to find a great study watercolor journal for a reasonable price. I do have the large A4 Landscape Perfect Sketchbook 100 % cotton cold press & the small Paul Rubens Hot Press ones but I don’t have any other 100% cotton journals. I have both the hard & soft covered Strathmore 400 Series sketchbooks, & the Speedball Travelog Handbook Journal that aren’t 100% cotton that I am loving for studys. I can upgrade to the Saunders or Arches though now that I know more about them. Thanks for sharing this thorough review of sketchbooks for us. I really appreciate it.
Emily, Thank you so much for providing us with such valuable information. It is very kind of you to share this very expensive undertaking. Your generosity is much appreciated.
I’m fairly certain the khaki paper block you bought is meant to be bound, a sort of short cut for those of us that want a hand bound book but hate the tedious task of stitching the pages together… I buy the block and then make my own covers. Incredible review! I too was surprised when I saw the lack of options on Amazon- thanks for making it easier to hone in on a good sketchbook!
Whohoo Emily. What a great video. I have been wanting to purchase a journal, and now I have some great suggestions. I even got a little sneak peak of the upcoming daily challenges. Can't wait to do them. Watercolor Mastery is the best. 😄
I wish the Paul Rubens made little journals in 100% cotton cold press like they do the hot press; I love the form factor of their pocket sketchbooks (I use the 3.8 x 5.2 inch ones for my daily watercolor exercises)...
I love Khadi paper because it’s affordable and stands up to everything I throw at it. It’s not quite Arches or Saunders Waterford, but it isn’t far off. This comparison is great, thanks for providing an awesome resource!
Those elastics are practical. Just add one more further to the back of the book so they sit parallell. Then you can use them to hold brushes. And about the one without a cover. It shouldn't be too hard to make one.
Dear Emily, bless your heart for the many hours of painting, gathering info, dollars invested on our behalf. I know, that I for one have been struggling to find a 100% cotton journal that would make me happy. I have had so, so many in my Amazon shopping cart forever. I do have one of the Paul Reubens with the pink cover. But I purchased it so long ago I am fairly certain that it is not 100% cotton and it only has oriental writing on the outside of the journal so I will never really know. It has never really impressed me anyway. For those here who may be interested in the Baohung paper, they do offer a sample pack that includes all of their different grades of paper at a very reasonable price (under $12 as I recall). So far, I am very happy with their artist grade, it is wonderful. The only journal that I had hoped you might have included was the Tuamaarte (sp). I have had their square journal in my shopping cart since forever. I am thinking that it must be good because the price keeps going up, 😂 For all of your hard work and time and money invested, I have finally decided to take the big leap and become a member of your monthly classes and tutorials. I am very pleased to say that you have a new avid student!!! And thank you for all that you do and sharing so much!!! Happy Spring my friend ! 👩🦳🖌️
uh, WOW! Thank you so much for doing this video (it can be so overwhelming looking at all the options), incredibly helpful. I'm glad to hear the Baohong journal got your approval! Looking forward to trying a some of these. Love getting a sneak peek at what's coming up for Watercolor Mastery, so exciting! :)
I have been looking for a watercolor journal for the first time, mostly on Amazon, and this was so helpful. Its obvious that you put a lot of work in off-camera to produce this video and it's very well done and informative. Thanks
I really enjoyed this video. While I make/bind my own cotton journals out of imperial sheets I buy in bulk it was really informative to see all these options available on Amazon that I hadn’t come across before.
I clicked this just to have background noise as I cleaned my studio/office/chaos and am so grateful to you. Thank you. This ended up being invaluable. (Not to my cleaning, lol -- it stopped me cold, and I actually just sat down and watched attention undivided) But Yay!! You are awesome!! Thanks for this. Wow.
@5:30 omg I love this brand!! I don't think I've ever had a horrible experience with them Clairefontaine makes some of my favourite mixed media sketchbooks. The only con like you said is they aren't pretty, and the ones with glue always separates but the paper itself is excellent!
Thank you, Emily! I just found your channel tonight. I will definitely be saving this one and have subscribed to your channel. The expense of all the journals you tried was mind-boggling. Thank you for taking the time and expense!❣️
Thanks a lot for putting so much work and $$$ into this video. It is of great value to a lot of water colour people worldwide. I have several time spent money on lousy water colour paper that created frustration instead of joy when painting. With your video I can now steer free of the bad ones.
Glad you liked the video! Yes, the artist I mentioned is Michael Solovyev. You can follow him on Instagram @michaelsolovyev or he has a website with online instruction as well! www.watercoloronline.com/
@@EmilyOlsonArt Thanks a lot, Emily for answering me so quick! I agree. His work is for sure impressing. But I like your work and painting style more. ❤
Thank you for testing the very many journals you bought. I found the comments most interesting. And will certainly take your advice when purchasing another journal. 👏🙏👏
Emily, Thank you for all the work you put into this video. I like to make my own journals. I purchase a Large sheet of good quality watercolor paper, cut it into whatever sizes I want, punch holes and put the pages in a three-ring binder. I can add to or replace pages as I go. Question: Have you ever tried painting on rice paper? Does it work?
Thank you for this informative video. I was watching the watercolor journals. But I was amazed at your painting quality. You paint really well. I am learning how to make my own watercolor sketchbooks.
Wow!!! Thank you for taking the time to review so many journals. I definitely learned quite a bit. I was also happy to see your positive reviews on the journals I love!!!
Thank you so much! I am just starting my watercolor journey (at age60!) and this was very helpful. There are so many products out there but, unfortunately, not that much income to experiment with! This has really set me on a good path to quality journaling.
Thank you- no one else has done this-a much needed cotton journal breakdown. Even finding out if any journals contain cotton in the first place is difficult.🤗
The Rustico Leather Journal is beautiful ! I love leather too and have purchased several leather journals just because of the cover and hoped for excellent paper to match the price. 🤷🏼♀️☹️ After leaving them to decorate my bookshelf, I replaced the paper with wonderful quality watercolor paper! Now the $80.00 journal is valued and used with love. 💁🏼♀️👩🏼🎨🖌️🎨 Thank you for sharing your experience with the $500 journals. I was disappointed to find how many of the makers didn’t make them better. I found out just on Aug 5th that just because it says the paper is cotton, it may be “cotton pulp” which, apparently, doesn’t have any cotton in it, it’s cellulose. ☹️ I used Strathmore from my early years. Thanks to Hobby Lobby putting it on clearance, I have a life time supply. I’ve been a Pen & Ink artist with some colored pencils, so the cotton wasn’t as important, to me, as it is with watercolors. It became important when my desire for color in my Black & White drawings jumped in my studio in the form of Derwent 😂 Inktense pencils. Thank you sending best wishes for a fantastic weekend from Tennessee, Fran
Incredibly helpful. I always apricate when reviewers actually work the product, pushing it to its limits. Your thoughts along the way were really helpful and I am saving this video for future reference. I'm stocked with various cotton journals and I use them for studies. Thanks, Emily!
Being in Canada I was happy to order the Wonderforest book and it is the only 100% cotton paper I have liked so far. So far I really enjoy it. I have also added others to my Amazon list. So so happy to hear your reviews on all of these. Thank you so much.
Khadi has options with hard covers too, jacksonart has them. I just picked one up one day because I was looking through cotton watercolour papers and it looked like a really good price comparatively, and yeah, I have and would buy more.
Great overview of 100% cotton sketchbooks. All cotton paper is not equal and it does take experience to figure what you like! My favorite paper of all is of course Arches! But for bound sketchbooks my favorite of all are the Bee Creative journals. They had fallen off the earth for over a year and yesterday I found them again on Amazon and Blick! I snatched them up and look forward to filling them. I love the square format journals which are hard to find in 100% cotton. I'm a happy painter again!!
Looking forward to viewing, thanks! I've been using Art-n-Fly wire bound, which seems to be good watercolor paper considering it's not from a big name company. However, my tape, no matter what kind, will now and then take off the first tissue layer of the paper with it. Which leads me here as it's about time I experiment with some other brands.
WOW! That's a lot of journals!! TYFS your experience with these notebooks. You answered some of my questions re: the various types I was interested in. Take Care. 🤗
What an extensive video. Great work- thank you! This was really helpful and I'll definitely send students this way since I get questions about sketchbooks all the time.
What a great video!! Perfect for beginners who don't know where to start or intermediate/experts who want to try something new. I'm making my way through my Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, and while I'm enjoying it, I think I'll come back to this video when I'm on the hunt for my next travel sketchbook. Thank you!
Really appreciate the effort you’ve gone to, to find so many 100% cotton sketchbooks! I’ve always found them quite difficult to find but there’s definitely a lot on this list that I’ve not tried yet. I really love Khadi paper, it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves ❤
I found that with my Arches journal I preferred to cut the paper right at the binding and tape it down on my foam board. I probably wouldn't buy the journal again, but I do love their paper! Thank you for this in depth review Emily!
Oh my gosh!!! This was so helpful! You have no idea how much time I have spent reading reviews and going through all of the options! So sad the leather cover one that was so beautiful had sub par paper! Thank you so much for sharing this. This is my first video on your channel but I will absolutely be back for more!!!
Wow! thank you for this in depth video! it's so easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of the cover because they are beautiful. I will have to watch this again and take notes this time! thank you again for doing all the research!
A fantastic review and I completely agree with all your assessments but one. The Etchr Everyday sketchbook in COLD pressed (the one with the white cover) is SOOOO much better than the hot pressed. The Etchr hotpressed paper isn't great, as you said, but the white cover sketchbook has the same paper as the grey book, just at a lower GSM and lower price. Also just wanted to mention that the Etchr signature sketchbooks with Arches paper can't be beat, and are also sooo expensive. :) Worth it tho IMO, flat binding, the best paper, and great style for archival purposes. :) Thanks again, I appreciate all the work (and money) that went into this!
I am not a fan of carrying a journal on the go, but rather a get a small block, carry it around and can remove pages for proper storage. I’ve used the Clairfontaine paper postcard-size blocks. The paper is good, but feels “softer” than Arches. It’s not a bad thing, but I prefer the hard feel of Arches. A real issue with it, though, was that it was glued quite sloppily: it was extremely difficult to remove the sheets and the borders were covered in glue.
I have finally stopped drooling 🤤 over paint and now have paper in my wishlist. I feel I’ve grown 😅. Thank you for the review. I got three of the etchers perfect 5x7 I landed lucky because I bought it from them when they were launching something. As for the cover? I put as much in vinyl stickers as I did for the cost of the journal. Oops 😂
Well done! We really got a good sense of the real-life performance of each. Of course, no matter how attractive the cover, paper rules so we were glad to get a frank opinion about these. We agree that 100% rag paper is worth the expense, because it brings colors to their best advantage. Great review from an artist who really knows the breadth and depth of this product category!
Wow, you know you made it when Blick is sliding into your comment section 🥲🙌
Thank you so much! It was fun to do! Perhaps a review of cotton journals from Blick is next! 😉
I buy a lot a Blick and would like to see more of these journals on your excellent site.
I tried to buy from Blick but postage is huge to Aust. Anyway!
@@joykruczay Thanks very much, we will make sure to communicate your feedback to the buyers!
I no longer use sketchbooks as their high price meant I was mentally too afraid to use it for fear of wasting with an ugly or failed painting. After I discovered Baohong Academy, I started making my own A5 sketchbook out of 5 A4 sheets. Bought in loose sheets, Baohong is even cheaper. I don’t even bother with sewing, I just staple 5 sheets together (invest in a long stapler). I don’t make a cover either. Now I practise almost daily without guilt or stress, and enjoy watercolour painting so much more! I also make sketchbooks out of different paper for abstract paintings and mixed media work.
Good for you!!! I agree... I'm a bit nervous about painting on my Arches ... I'm a beginner, and cotton is very different to paint on! I thought I might have my Arches made into spiral bound... Thank 😊 you for sharing! Have a great day!
What a resourceful solution! 🙌
Omg thank you so so much for this idea. 🙏🏽🙏🏽
This was so helpful, Emily - thank you for all your hard work on this!
I thought baohong only came in block form. 😱
Ha ha I have my own stockpile…I’m like an arty Prepper. Doomsday may come but I’ll still be able to watercolor! 😂
😅
I really like that you actually made art in each journal
As a beginner, going from cheap paper to Arches paper was a game changer. I am sure there are good in-between alternatives, but I think there simply are some things you cannot do on cheap paper.
I agree. Watercolour media is hard enough to master and it can be so disheartening when you have to fight the paper on top of it. For me it is also Arches and it really was a game changer when I first bought it and tried it.
Yes! Good paper makes the world of difference!
I can paint on cheap paper but I learned on Arches. I am grateful for that. I had played around on cheap stuff before I took classes an I had no idea that it was the paper that was the problem until I had to use Arches. I have given new students Arches during classes I was in because of the utter frustration they were having with cheapest Strathmore they could find. People spend money on paint and brushes but no one explains how paper is king'
Great job thanks
Woah! As we say here in the South..."Bless your Heart!" I know this video was an undertaking but you created a great resource and you identified a few I didn't know existed. Thanks for all the research, effort and expense. Good stuff!
Thanks Steve! I hope it will be helpful! Of course Amazon is constantly morphing so I’m sure this video will be archaic in a few months. 😂
I didn't know there were this many either. And of course there are more not available from Amazon. I thought Bless your heart was a way for Southern people to dismiss you? Like a polite insult of sorts?
@@recoveringsoul755 Actually no, it’s usually used in more sincere, polite ways. Comedians make fun of it sometimes and anything can be sarcastic in certain contexts.
@@mindofwatercolor oh ok. Now I'm trying to remember if a comedian said it was an insult. Sounds like it could be a tricky thing to say if it's got different connotations for different people. My sister went to Tennessee and told me someone said that to her after asking if she and her friend needed help. But my sister is usually a pretty rude person, so I wasn't there and don't really know what happened.
This video is one for the WC Hall of Fame! So masterfully done, Ms Emily. I will be saving this and forwarding it to the people who ask me, " What kind of paper do I purchase for WC painting?" I REALLY appreciate the time and expense you undertook for this extensive task. WHEW! 😅 Thank you for such a fantastic resource to help Watercolour artists. ❤
Easiest thing I've found is buying paper in full sheets and cutting it down to make your own sketchbooks. It's a bit of a learning curve doing the binding but you could also take your cut sheets to stationery store to do a wire bind for you.
I've been hot gluing them together and just making my own blocks! it works good and saves so much money
Such a great solution if you have the time and are willing to learn the process! 🙌
I make my own journals, to me it’s the perfect sketchbook, because I can choose my own favorite paper (arches) and theres just something about creating my own journal. It makes it more personal. It’s not hard to do and a lot cheaper!💖
Love this video! Thank you so much for testing all the journals!
Can you use both sides of that paper? And I heard Arches paper cracks or breaks where you fold it if you try to make your own journal. How do you bind yours? I looked into making my own books almost right away when I got interested in watercolor. Because it became clear I'd need good paper. So then I was distracted by bookbinding videos... Sigh
I have a large arches block I'm afraid to use, but if I cut the paper then fold it, each sheet of paper could become 8 pages in a sketchbook!
I make my own too. Sea Lemon’s book binding tutorials helped big time!
@@recoveringsoul755I don’t have an issue folding the 300gsm paper. Just score it first or dampen where you’re going to fold it to make it soft.
@@geckonia was it Arches specifically? I've seen people make sketchbooks from Fabriano Artistico because they said it folded better than Arches
@@recoveringsoul755 I have no problem with folding the paper from Arches. I buy very large sheets of 300gr satine paper and fold them into 4 pieces, from there I make the signatures. I learned bookbinding from a tutorial by followingthewhiterabbit here on youtube, she uses a very easy method.
I use both sides of the paper. On side is more smoother than the other, but I can make it work.
Perfect reviews - I never thought you would get them all in the video in such a concise manner. Love the way you showed the price and star rating. Viewers could never know how much time, editing, devotion, and love goes into something like this!
I agree. The only thing she could have added maybe would be cost per Page, since the books have different numbers of pages, BUT, since they're ALSO different sizes, she'd need to adjust to compare apples to apples. Perhaps cost per square inch? But you lose space if you have borders
I'm saving this video as a great resource.
Joy this is such a kind comment, thank you! It was a lot of work, hah hah! 😅
@@EmilyOlsonArt I agree with the comment! I saved this video too. A great resource and lots of amazing painting samples. Honestly, I wondered the paints that you used in the palette. Are they Mijello mission gold paints?
Wow! the amount of work this video must have taken, I'm in awe! Thank you so much for this incredible resource!
I just want to add that for those in regions more adjacent to asia, Baohong is incredible for the price, they're only like 15-20$ here for the journals; the 7"x10" blocks are like 11$, and the loose sheets go for even cheaper! I've seen more and more artists recognize how similar it is to Arches in recent years and it makes me so incredibly happy to see others enjoying this paper I love so much.
Thanks Amanda!
i might try the kadi sketchbook in the future. I don't mind it having no cover because that's easy fixable with some glue, cardstock and fabric.
some of the nicer papers are spiralbound which sucks... I know it helps to make it lay flat, but it's much more difficult to do spreads (for me the spiral has too much give in many cases which makes it rather flimsy if you use 2 pages at ones)
it makes it more prone to pages ripping or getting damaged at the edges when you take it with you in your backpack too.
I just don't like the spiral binding. it means I am forced to use the book upside down or backwards (which is often not an option if the paper is not identical on both sides), because they're always made for right-handed people. Spirals just make painting so awkward and uncomfortable.
it's a shame, but even with vary good paper the spiral would be an immediate reason to not buy a sketchbook.
Maybe I should try making my own sketchbook.
I can't BELIEVE how inexpensive Arches is outside of Australia! I actively GAPED at how cheap that journal is, when it's 75 dollars over here!
That aside, thank you so much for the lovely comparison video; it's extremely helpful to get an instant look at how each paper handles different watercolor techniques, masking fluid, and so on!
Arches is very expensive in belgium
Arches is also very expensive in the Netherlands and Germany.
Thanks! I appreciate that the money you spent will save us. Thank you. Had wanted to change amount to give you more. Again thank you.
Thanks so much Eileen! That’s super sweet of you. ❤️
Would love a video on how to get the most out of 20-30% cotton paper. This was a great video! Thanks!
So pleased to find you today! Thank you, this tutorial is so helpful and I agree Arches & Saunders are the only two watercolour papers I always use, after trial and error buying every cotton paper (even Kaddie Rag) when I first started watercolour. Paper is so important. At the start I thought I could not paint, until I bought Arches when immediately the paint was laying washes exactly how I wanted and my pictures were suddenly good and the complements came flooding in and my confidence to paint rocketed, I never looked back.
Thanks for stopping by my channel and for the nice comment!
I thought I'd found all the cotton books on Amazon... wow, there were a bunch that I'd never heard of. I'm shocked you found 20!
I'm kinda lucky that I enjoy bookbinding and my local art store has Saunders and Waterford on sale
Yes! Making your own journals if you have the time and interest in it is a GREAT option!
Hullo Emily, I have a feeling that I have watched this video before, yet no comment. So here are my thoughts: I hope you consider doing a review of house brands! Yeah like Blick’s and Cheap Joes! I spent years looking for an alternative to Arches papers! I know so much is personal preferences, but Kilimanjaro is Joe’s house brand for watercolor and it is wonderful! They also have “workbooks” made of the same paper in natural or bright white! I have found these “workbooks” to be some of the best watercolor journals out there, but NOT on Amazon. You can get hot, cold, multiple sizes too! I hope you do consider looking at this paper and doing a real comparison. Including Blick’s house brand as well as Arches could be a truly amazing eye opener! I have even made my own watercolor journals from sheets of Kilimanjaro papers, I found they do rival Arches papers! Thank you for sharing all of your ideas and hard work finding and working in these books! Well done!
Amazon heard you on the Hahnemuhle Watercolor Book, 100% Cotton, Cold Press 250gsm, A6 Portrait book. Now under $20 with no shipping. Thanks for spending so much time (any money!) to review so many books. Really helpful information.
Wonderful!
Wow! What a great review. I have quite a few Strathmore 500 journals because they're 100% cotton and inexpensive but I can't find them anymore. So I decided to buy a little binder machine and use Arches pads or full sheets to make my own with custom covers. 😊
Ok, wow! That’s a great idea! Thank you for sharing.
Yes! I bought Arches at 75% off as a beginner... Staples Office Supply will bind your papers for around $5! Thank 😊 you for sharing! But a binder machine sounds like a great idea!
That's fantastic and resourceful!
I've been trying to study this exact topic for a while, since I'm kind of lazy, kind of tired of making my own sketchbooks... Without the big budget it's been so hard. But not anymore! You are an absolute lifesaver!! A thank you and a hug from Italy 🤗
Thank you so much!
This was awesome! Thank you. I’ll never have that much money to test out journals to find out what I like, so I’m grateful beyond measure for your leg work. 😊
My pleasure, and thank you so much for watching and commenting!
I was so lost trying to find the right next journal to get and this video saved me hours and likely many dollars of testing. Tysm!
You are very welcome! I'm so glad it helped!
Yay! I'm still basically a beginner but it's abundantly clear how much difference good 100 percent cotton paper makes in the enjoyment of painting and the results.
The embroided one is cute. I guess you can do your own version of embroidery and cloth it over the harder base cover.
Definitely a huge help for me to find a great study watercolor journal for a reasonable price. I do have the large A4 Landscape Perfect Sketchbook 100 % cotton cold press & the small Paul Rubens Hot Press ones but I don’t have any other 100% cotton journals. I have both the hard & soft covered Strathmore 400 Series sketchbooks, & the Speedball Travelog Handbook Journal that aren’t 100% cotton that I am loving for studys. I can upgrade to the Saunders or Arches though now that I know more about them. Thanks for sharing this thorough review of sketchbooks for us. I really appreciate it.
My pleasure!
Emily, Thank you so much for providing us with such valuable information. It is very kind of you to share this very expensive undertaking. Your generosity is much appreciated.
It's my pleasure!
I’m fairly certain the khaki paper block you bought is meant to be bound, a sort of short cut for those of us that want a hand bound book but hate the tedious task of stitching the pages together… I buy the block and then make my own covers.
Incredible review! I too was surprised when I saw the lack of options on Amazon- thanks for making it easier to hone in on a good sketchbook!
Whohoo Emily. What a great video. I have been wanting to purchase a journal, and now I have some great suggestions. I even got a little sneak peak of the upcoming daily challenges. Can't wait to do them. Watercolor Mastery is the best. 😄
You are so welcome, and I'm thrilled you love the membership!
I wish the Paul Rubens made little journals in 100% cotton cold press like they do the hot press; I love the form factor of their pocket sketchbooks (I use the 3.8 x 5.2 inch ones for my daily watercolor exercises)...
I love Khadi paper because it’s affordable and stands up to everything I throw at it. It’s not quite Arches or Saunders Waterford, but it isn’t far off. This comparison is great, thanks for providing an awesome resource!
You bet!
Good to know. Thanks!
@@stinar37 you're very welcome!
Those elastics are practical. Just add one more further to the back of the book so they sit parallell. Then you can use them to hold brushes.
And about the one without a cover. It shouldn't be too hard to make one.
Dear Emily, bless your heart for the many hours of painting, gathering info, dollars invested on our behalf. I know, that I for one have been struggling to find a 100% cotton journal that would make me happy. I have had so, so many in my Amazon shopping cart forever. I do have one of the Paul Reubens with the pink cover. But I purchased it so long ago I am fairly certain that it is not 100% cotton and it only has oriental writing on the outside of the journal so I will never really know. It has never really impressed me anyway.
For those here who may be interested in the Baohung paper, they do offer a sample pack that includes all of their different grades of paper at a very reasonable price (under $12 as I recall). So far, I am very happy with their artist grade, it is wonderful.
The only journal that I had hoped you might have included was the Tuamaarte (sp). I have had their square journal in my shopping cart since forever. I am thinking that it must be good because the price keeps going up, 😂
For all of your hard work and time and money invested, I have finally decided to take the big leap and become a member of your monthly classes and tutorials.
I am very pleased to say that you have a new avid student!!! And thank you for all that you do and sharing so much!!!
Happy Spring my friend ! 👩🦳🖌️
There, I am officially signed up for one year of your Watercolor Mastery course!☺️
How exciting, Deborah! Welcome and enjoy! ☺️
uh, WOW! Thank you so much for doing this video (it can be so overwhelming looking at all the options), incredibly helpful. I'm glad to hear the Baohong journal got your approval! Looking forward to trying a some of these. Love getting a sneak peek at what's coming up for Watercolor Mastery, so exciting! :)
You are so welcome!
Excellent review Emily. Thanks for sharing your purchases and results. Really useful information.
So glad!
I have been looking for a watercolor journal for the first time, mostly on Amazon, and this was so helpful. Its obvious that you put a lot of work in off-camera to produce this video and it's very well done and informative. Thanks
I appreciate the kind comment, and so glad this was helpful!
I really enjoyed this video. While I make/bind my own cotton journals out of imperial sheets I buy in bulk it was really informative to see all these options available on Amazon that I hadn’t come across before.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you. I’ve been looking for a cotton watercolour journal.
1:26 minutes is my favourite
Thanks for doing that research! I like painting on Arches paper, so I think I’ll stick to that one journal. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks for stopping by--and it's my pleasure!
I found this very helpful. I have been looking for a 100% cotton journal and this answered a lot of my questions.
Glad it was helpful!
I clicked this just to have background noise as I cleaned my studio/office/chaos and am so grateful to you. Thank you. This ended up being invaluable. (Not to my cleaning, lol -- it stopped me cold, and I actually just sat down and watched attention undivided) But Yay!! You are awesome!! Thanks for this. Wow.
You're so welcome!
Wow, thank you so much for your service!!
wauw, great review and very helpful, thank you for taking the effort to make it so visible, warm greetings out of amsterdam
I just love that sketch of the at minute 1.26. If you could do more like that in your school, that would be so great!! Thank you!
@5:30 omg I love this brand!! I don't think I've ever had a horrible experience with them Clairefontaine makes some of my favourite mixed media sketchbooks. The only con like you said is they aren't pretty, and the ones with glue always separates but the paper itself is excellent!
Thanks!
Thanks, Elizabeth!
Yes 🙌 great info, thank you!!
You are such a good artist. I love watching you paint.
Thank you, Diane!
Excellent. I so wanted to get one and was overwhelmed.
Glad this was helpful!
Thank you for all of the work you put into this video. It was very helpful, and I loved seeing your beautiful art! 💕💕
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you, Emily! I just found your channel tonight. I will definitely be saving this one and have subscribed to your channel. The expense of all the journals you tried was mind-boggling. Thank you for taking the time and expense!❣️
Thanks a lot for putting so much work and $$$ into this video. It is of great value to a lot of water colour people worldwide.
I have several time spent money on lousy water colour paper that created frustration instead of joy when painting. With your video I can now steer free of the bad ones.
Glad you liked the video! Yes, the artist I mentioned is Michael Solovyev. You can follow him on Instagram @michaelsolovyev or he has a website with online instruction as well! www.watercoloronline.com/
@@EmilyOlsonArt Thanks a lot, Emily for answering me so quick! I agree. His work is for sure impressing. But I like your work and painting style more. ❤
That’s very sweet of you. 💕
Thank you for testing the very many journals you bought. I found the comments most interesting. And will certainly take your advice when purchasing another journal. 👏🙏👏
Super! Thanks for watching!
I love Khadi Papers. I’ve tried very few other cottons, just Artway Indigo but my test sheet wasn’t great.
So helpful. Thanks for doing the homework for us.
You bet!
Emily, Thank you for all the work you put into this video. I like to make my own journals. I purchase a Large sheet of good quality watercolor paper, cut it into whatever sizes I want, punch holes and put the pages in a three-ring binder. I can add to or replace pages as I go.
Question: Have you ever tried painting on rice paper? Does it work?
I have not tried rice paper--sounds like a fun experiment!
Thank you for this informative video. I was watching the watercolor journals. But I was amazed at your painting quality. You paint really well. I am learning how to make my own watercolor sketchbooks.
Wow!!! Thank you for taking the time to review so many journals. I definitely learned quite a bit. I was also happy to see your positive reviews on the journals I love!!!
So glad you enjoyed the video!
I’m happy that I just ordered the Arches travel journal! Taking it with me on a trip in June.
Woohoo! You'll love painting in it!
Thank you so much! I am just starting my watercolor journey (at age60!) and this was very helpful. There are so many products out there but, unfortunately, not that much income to experiment with! This has really set me on a good path to quality journaling.
I'm so glad!
My local art store carries that stone paper journal, and I've been curious about it. Nice to see a review of it! :)
Great review of a touchy subject. I bought what I liked painting on…Arches journal…and I’m not disappointed. Thank you and more reviews please.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you so much for doing this video. Enjoyed watching it and found it very helpful!
I'm so glad!
So so helpful...thanks so much. Enjoyed watching😊
You are so welcome!
Thank you- no one else has done this-a much needed cotton journal breakdown. Even finding out if any journals contain cotton in the first place is difficult.🤗
Glad you found this useful!
Great review! Thank you for sharing! Love Arches!
Thanks for watching!
The Rustico Leather Journal is beautiful ! I love leather too and have purchased several leather journals just because of the cover and hoped for excellent paper to match the price. 🤷🏼♀️☹️ After leaving them to decorate my bookshelf, I replaced the paper with wonderful quality watercolor paper! Now the $80.00 journal is valued and used with love. 💁🏼♀️👩🏼🎨🖌️🎨 Thank you for sharing your experience with the $500 journals. I was disappointed to find how many of the makers didn’t make them better. I found out just on Aug 5th that just because it says the paper is cotton, it may be “cotton pulp” which, apparently, doesn’t have any cotton in it, it’s cellulose. ☹️ I used Strathmore from my early years. Thanks to Hobby Lobby putting it on clearance, I have a life time supply. I’ve been a Pen & Ink artist with some colored pencils, so the cotton wasn’t as important, to me, as it is with watercolors. It became important when my desire for color in my Black & White drawings jumped in my studio in the form of Derwent 😂 Inktense pencils. Thank you sending best wishes for a fantastic weekend from Tennessee, Fran
Incredibly helpful. I always apricate when reviewers actually work the product, pushing it to its limits. Your thoughts along the way were really helpful and I am saving this video for future reference. I'm stocked with various cotton journals and I use them for studies. Thanks, Emily!
I'm so glad this was helpful!
Being in Canada I was happy to order the Wonderforest book and it is the only 100% cotton paper I have liked so far. So far I really enjoy it. I have also added others to my Amazon list. So so happy to hear your reviews on all of these. Thank you so much.
So glad you are enjoying your journal!
I like the Cheap Joes Kilaminjaro white paper journals.
I have a couple--still need to try them!
@@EmilyOlsonArthave you tried them now? Wondering where you would put the Kilamanjaro journals as compared to these now?
I'm so very happy you did this! I have wanted to know this information for so long! Thank you!
You are so welcome!
Khadi has options with hard covers too, jacksonart has them. I just picked one up one day because I was looking through cotton watercolour papers and it looked like a really good price comparatively, and yeah, I have and would buy more.
I think I'll bind my own journal. It's quite easy to do.
Wow! Super helpful - thanks so much!!
Great overview of 100% cotton sketchbooks. All cotton paper is not equal and it does take experience to figure what you like! My favorite paper of all is of course Arches! But for bound sketchbooks my favorite of all are the Bee Creative journals. They had fallen off the earth for over a year and yesterday I found them again on Amazon and Blick! I snatched them up and look forward to filling them. I love the square format journals which are hard to find in 100% cotton. I'm a happy painter again!!
Yes, Bee Paper journals were impossible to get for a while! It's a nice option for a great price!
So glad you did this video!! Thank you thank you thank you!!! This is really going help to make some decisions. 😊
🙌🙌🙌
Thank you for your dedication! 😊
Emily - Thank you for this. This list is so large and so many to chose from. I'm not a watercolor painter, but I want to learn. Thanks.
You are so welcome!
Emily! What a helpful public service announcement! Thanks so much for your work on this. Super helpful.
I'm so glad this was helpful!
Super helpful! Thanks for all the work you put in.
You bet!
Looking forward to viewing, thanks! I've been using Art-n-Fly wire bound, which seems to be good watercolor paper considering it's not from a big name company. However, my tape, no matter what kind, will now and then take off the first tissue layer of the paper with it. Which leads me here as it's about time I experiment with some other brands.
I love the etchr sketchbooks, the cold press paper is awesome.
Love this video, thank you very much! Unfortunately, most of those aren’t sold in my country (Canada). What a shame…
WOW! That's a lot of journals!! TYFS your experience with these notebooks. You answered some of my questions re: the various types I was interested in. Take Care. 🤗
Glad this was helpful!
Thank you for this great review…and the moral is…the paper and how it handles the water/paint, etc. is the key.😊
What an extensive video. Great work- thank you! This was really helpful and I'll definitely send students this way since I get questions about sketchbooks all the time.
Thanks Jared! So glad you found it useful!
What a great video!! Perfect for beginners who don't know where to start or intermediate/experts who want to try something new. I'm making my way through my Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, and while I'm enjoying it, I think I'll come back to this video when I'm on the hunt for my next travel sketchbook. Thank you!
Thank you😊 I love and use Cheap Joe's house made watercolor paint books and journals. Sorry they aren't on Amazon to see how they stacked up for you!
I’ll have to try those! 🙂
Really appreciate the effort you’ve gone to, to find so many 100% cotton sketchbooks! I’ve always found them quite difficult to find but there’s definitely a lot on this list that I’ve not tried yet. I really love Khadi paper, it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves ❤
You're so welcome!
I found that with my Arches journal I preferred to cut the paper right at the binding and tape it down on my foam board. I probably wouldn't buy the journal again, but I do love their paper! Thank you for this in depth review Emily!
Yep, if you're cutting it up you might as well just buy the big sheets. :) It's hard not to love Arches.
You put so much work and time into this video with all the testing and then entering all that information with websites!! Thank you so much!
My pleasure!
Oh my gosh!!! This was so helpful! You have no idea how much time I have spent reading reviews and going through all of the options! So sad the leather cover one that was so beautiful had sub par paper! Thank you so much for sharing this. This is my first video on your channel but I will absolutely be back for more!!!
I'm so glad! Thanks for watching!
What a wonderful resource! Thank you so much for the time and work you put into these reviews. What a great tool for the community.
Glad it was helpful!
Wow! thank you for this in depth video! it's so easy to get caught up in the aesthetics of the cover because they are beautiful. I will have to watch this again and take notes this time! thank you again for doing all the research!
My pleasure!
A fantastic review and I completely agree with all your assessments but one. The Etchr Everyday sketchbook in COLD pressed (the one with the white cover) is SOOOO much better than the hot pressed. The Etchr hotpressed paper isn't great, as you said, but the white cover sketchbook has the same paper as the grey book, just at a lower GSM and lower price. Also just wanted to mention that the Etchr signature sketchbooks with Arches paper can't be beat, and are also sooo expensive. :) Worth it tho IMO, flat binding, the best paper, and great style for archival purposes. :) Thanks again, I appreciate all the work (and money) that went into this!
Ooh good to know! I'll have to give the cold pressed a try!
Thank you!!!! I really appreciate this!
Great video. Thanks Emily!
I am not a fan of carrying a journal on the go, but rather a get a small block, carry it around and can remove pages for proper storage.
I’ve used the Clairfontaine paper postcard-size blocks. The paper is good, but feels “softer” than Arches. It’s not a bad thing, but I prefer the hard feel of Arches. A real issue with it, though, was that it was glued quite sloppily: it was extremely difficult to remove the sheets and the borders were covered in glue.
I often take blocks with me too. Good to know about the glue on those Clairfontaine blocks! Thanks for the comment!
I have finally stopped drooling 🤤 over paint and now have paper in my wishlist. I feel I’ve grown 😅. Thank you for the review. I got three of the etchers perfect 5x7 I landed lucky because I bought it from them when they were launching something. As for the cover? I put as much in vinyl stickers as I did for the cost of the journal. Oops 😂