100% cotton sketchbooks are very hard to come by. In fact, I made the trip to ARTiculations in Toronto to buy an Etchr cotton sketchbook for this review. It costs the same as the non-cotton sketchbook I was not happy with. If you have not used a sketchbook yet, you may want to read this before you buy one.
Packaging and Specs
Etchr sketchbooks come in several sizes, formats and textures; I bought mine in A5 (5.9×8.3″), cold press and portrait orientation. By the way, there is also a Signature series that is archival, about CAD$10 more than this one.
Moreover, please note that the paper is 230g, not the 300g I usually use from Arches, Winsor & Newton and Strathmore.
As seen in the pictures above, the sketchbook came factory-sealed in a thin paper box.
Paper Quality
The cold press texture is quite standard like most of my other 100% cotton paper. In addition, the binding is well done with no damage or pages falling off.
A bit of damage…
Since this paper is not as heavyweight as my regular cotton paper, nor is it sized (not mentioned anywhere), I do find that it is slightly less durable. While it withstood the washi tapes I used, a bit of erasing did some damage to the paper on the right. I didn’t erase hard but the fibre came off a bit. It was not obvious until the paint went on.
However, I had no trouble after that. I used only a knead eraser to lift the graphite pencil.
Performance of Etchr Cotton Sketchbook
The paper is very nice. I don’t think it is sized, as it is listed as vegan, so the paint won’t stay wet as long as it will on Arches paper. It is definitely much better than the Speedball Handbook Journal I used, and the two cost exactly the same.
Since the paper is 100% cotton, the paint will still stay wet longer than it will on cellulose paper.
I really enjoyed using this sketchbook.
All in all, the Etchr cotton sketchbook is a quality product, and I am happy to recommend it in this review.
