Crescent Creative Products 12-00010 5.5 8.5-Inch RENDR Hardbound Sketchbook, 5.5" x 8.5"

Nice, heavy weight, bleed proof sheets.

I am not sure why so many people are complaining about this book not laying flat. I have never seen a flatter sketchbook. But so I wonder what they are comparing it to? It is not as flat as a piece of paper on a desk, or a spiral sketchbook where you're only having to contended with one side of the book at a time, but compared to other bound sketchbooks I have, this one is flat!I can easily open it up on my desk and don't have to fight with half the book closing on me, or having to clamp it open. The "bump in the middle" from the binding is very minimal compared to what I've dealt with in other journals where your arms are in some sort of pretzel position just to keep the book open and you're practically drawing sideways for those last few inches of page before your pen does a nose dive into the "binder abyss."This sketchbook has none of those issues.I've just started using it with POSCA markers and felt tip pens and there is zero bleed through. I am very impressed! The pages are smooth and quite inviting to work in. I love how my pens just glide over the pages. I'm only on page two and already thinking of buying another one. It just feels that. good.The cover is a soft suede(ish) feeling, although it is not suede.I have the 8.5" x 11", soft cover, sewn binding sketchbook.

Great quality

This book does one thing really really well. If you use alcohol based markers or paints then this could be the holy grail of sketchbooks for you. You can pour the ink on in layers and it will not bleed through to the other side. That is how I use it and that is the only way I will use it. Although it advertises that you can use all media, I don't think it gets the results that you would look for with any water based media. It may be good for some other dry media like pencil, colored pencil, and charcoal but I have plenty of other papers for that and I would feel like I was wasting this paper to use it for those purposes with the exception of maybe blending colored pencil with odorless mineral spirits. Don't expect it to hold up for watercolor, watercolor pencils, or ink washes well at all. Adding water immediately turns the page into this gray mess with no integrity. I'm still giving this book 5 stars because what it does with alcohol based products it does better than any that I have seen and I'll keep using it for that reason. If you want a mixed media paper capable of handling water based media then look elsewhere but if you need a good alcohol marker book where you can use both sides of the paper without fear of bleed through, then this is your ticket.

Disclaimer: I’m in no way sponsored by Rendr and am not a professional artist. I’m merely sharing my findings for other artists that may be interested in trying this product out.First thoughts:The price wasn’t bad for the sketchbook when I bought it back in early May, but the price has bumped up since then. (I think I got 2 sketchbooks for like $25-$30 but now they’re like $18 a piece for the 8inx8in) Paper seems REALLY thin to claim it can take a beating from alcohol markers on BOTH sides of the paper without bleeding. Has an almost glossy look/feel.Lineart to paper:-I was put off when the lineart smudged on the first two pages I used in the sketchbook. The first page I figured it was maybe because I should’ve waited longer for the lineart to dry completely. Then the second page I didn’t want to color at all when I found the lineart smudged after putting off coloring for two weeks. Thankfully, I was able to erase the smudges but had to be REALLY careful because I ended up smudging a little more of the lineart.-I then decided to try again but instead of using my newer Copic liners (which I used for the previous pages), I used my trusty micron liner pens instead and just outlined with the .005 fine liner to test it. No smudging while erasing, none before I colored, none when I touched it to test it, and very, very little smudging while coloring which I would expect even on regular card stock or mixed media paper sometimes. (I went back and finished outlining everything with thicker lines after I colored.) So I now know that as amazing as copic liners are, they’re not meant for the Rendr sketchbook.Coloring/blending:-I’m not the best at blending colors and I’m still trying to get the hang of using this paper, so just know that you may wanna take this part with a grain of salt. While it’s easy to put marker to paper, you should probably test colors out on the very first or last page before using them on your work. While the colors are beautiful and vibrant on the regular paper I use, the Rendr paper makes some of the colors lighter and less concentrated, which isn’t a bad thing per day, as it means less ink and you can layer up, but if you were hoping for a nice sea foam green, you might get something two times lighter or more depending on the color.-It’s also easy enough to revive colors you wanted to blend, but it’s probably best to remember to blend the colors while they’re still wet for a cleaner, smoother look.Is it Bleedproof like they say?-The paper in the sketchbook are INDEED bleedproof!! And I can use BOTH pages!! I’m amazed thus far but I still haven’t made a piece that’ll REALLY test the limits for this paper, but thus far, NOTHING is showing on the other side of the paper I used. The same cannot be said for watercolor, mixed media and card stock paper. Usually I’ll have to place a scrap piece under the page I’m working on. I didn’t and don’t have to do it with this sketchbook!Conclusion:The book lives up to what it claims to do. It is bleedproof and you can actually use both sides of the paper!Is it worth it? It depends on the person I think? While I love the fact that I can use both pages for my marker drawings, I’m still learning how to use the markers on the paper where the colors blend better or are smoother. Seeing as it’s not as porous as the other kinds of paper I use, it’s hard getting the smooth textures and colors I want. If the sketchbook was less than $15 a piece, I think it would be worth it, but any more, I would find it debatable. I may buy more in the future but until I get the hang of this one sketchbook, I’m just gonna keep buying the cheaper mixed media sketchbooks because the majority of my drawings aren’t complete with full blown color like I would want to do with a sketchbook like this. If you’re one that uses markers more than I do and make more pieces with said markers, I would look into this, but know there’s a learning curve ahead of you.

The media could not be loaded. I bought this based off an artist I follow, and when I got it in the mail I was curious because it was thinner than I expected. Most of the “marker” sketchbooks I’ve purchased had a lot of pages and were thick and this one wasn’t, so I was immediately skeptical of how it would hold up.I. Am. Impressed. I’m getting back into doing more traditional art and I haven’t used alcohol markers in a long time. The page I’m posting with this is a mixed media of alcohol markers, gouache, and ink using a calligraphy tool. I am not nice to my paper in sketchbooks. This is multiple layers of marker and being heavy handed with the ink. As you can see in the video there is no bleed, so I can utilize both sides of each page.I would highly recommend this product if you’re looking to do mixed media, although I have not tried using watercolor in it for accents, I am very impressed and happy with my purchase.