Looking for the best CHEAP unlined notebooks
March 9, 2018 8:57 AM   Subscribe

Consider someone practicing their drawing skills. Tons of studies and practice, no actual finished pieces. Think two hundred hands in a row done in pencil. This person is going to go through a lot of paper. What notebook is best for this person?
posted by FakeFreyja to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (11 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Depends on what they're using to draw with - pencil? Pens? What types of pens?
posted by dawkins_7 at 9:10 AM on March 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Good point!

Mostly 2B pencil, maybe a little softer or harder depending on the texture of the paper.
posted by FakeFreyja at 9:15 AM on March 9, 2018


A ream of printer paper and a clipboard folder.
posted by rollick at 9:25 AM on March 9, 2018 [5 favorites]


Michaels always has a sale on books of newsprint, which is what I use a lot. Sometimes they have them 3 for the price of 1.
posted by greermahoney at 9:45 AM on March 9, 2018 [2 favorites]


They'll have an easier time learning with better supplies. Sketch pads aren't cheap as printer paper but they don't have to be expensive either. Canson XL pads (sketchpads, newsprint) are pretty much designed for this sort of practice. Blick store brand will be fine too.
posted by yeahlikethat at 10:19 AM on March 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


I used to use unruled composition notebooks for this sort of thing when I needed portability over cheapness. But for cheapness, I just used pads of newsprint. Another option is a ream of laser paper, a discbound paper punch, and a set of discs.
posted by xyzzy at 10:29 AM on March 9, 2018


Flying Tiger has the cheapest notebooks and they are good enough that I recommend them for art students. Some of the time I use them for myself as well. Also Muji, I don't think they are quite as cheap as Flying Tiger, but they are lovely.

When I was a student, I had both very big pads and more practical notebooks. It's really good for your skills to go big, but obviously complicated to drag those big drawing pads around everywhere.
posted by mumimor at 11:26 AM on March 9, 2018


I use butter paper (NZ name) also Canadian afaik., Buy it by the team. Will take pencils, colour pencils, inks... Size avail as 300mm wide rolls and sheets about A2. Amazing stuff.

The roll is great if you're mobile.
posted by unearthed at 12:20 PM on March 9, 2018


Daiso also has cheap sketchpads.
posted by pinochiette at 1:04 PM on March 9, 2018


Student-grade sketchpads are a step up in robustness from newsprint. Go to a (non-Michael's: they are so expensive!) art store, preferably near a college with an art department. Get their own-brand sketchpad, which for me would be ~120 sheets of 229 × 305 mm of smooth white cartridge paper for $3-4.
posted by scruss at 4:54 PM on March 9, 2018


Daiso or Muji, if you happen to have one close by, would be my suggestion (I don't sketch, but I use fountain pens, and am very picky about notebook paper).

A good art supply store (Blick or Artist and Craftsman Supply) will have more options for size, pages per book, etc.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 8:08 PM on March 9, 2018


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