A Couple of Sketch Books

*I received these free for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own*

You may not know this about me but I do a lot of different types of art. I love to draw and paint, which has blended over nicely to the special effects makeup I've been doing. Now that I'm getting pretty good at the various techniques I wanted to dedicate a sketch book to just face looks. I wanted a hard cover one so it would survive being in my bag and going to photo shoots. So when US Art Supplies offered to send me two different sized of their hard bound sketch books I was over the moon.....until they arrived. Have you ever seen a product and eye rolled so hard you gave yourself a headache? That's exactly what I did when I opened the box up and saw these.

First, these are not hard cover books. These are "stiff cardboard embossed with a leather pattern" books. Now some people might not car about that, but if you want a hard cover book for durability anything less than an actual hard cover won't cut it. On the 8.5" by 11" book I can bend the cover pretty easily. I can almost guarantee that after a month in my bag this with be completely destroyed. The smaller book, which is 5.5" by 8.5 " feels a little tougher but that's just because it's a smaller size.

The actual pages aren't bad, a little rougher than I prefer but I can use them. My issue is how poorly the whole book is bound together. The wide holes around the wire mean that the page (and covers) shift around quite a bit and the edges will get tattered up. Imagine spending hours on a drawing only to have the design of the actual sketch book destroy it.

The smaller size has the exact same issues as the larger size, although it does feel a little more sturdy. But again, not hard bound, wiggly pages and cover, ect.

The pages are 70 lb pressed, which is pretty standard, but to give you an idea of how over priced and crappy these are, the Strathmore drawing pads in the same large size is a whole dollar cheaper. Strathmore is the brand I prefer, and I use their paper for all of my drawing and watercolor needs. They are so much nicer than these US Art supply books that it makes me cringe. And since the large size is $8.96 and the small is $6.96, you aren't saving any money at all. These are a total pass for me and I'll probably give them to my kiddo to draw in, they won't work for my needs at all.