Choosing the Perfect Sketchbook for Urban Sketching

Thanks Cecile, for your smart and funny narration, love your collection and love your paintings. So fresh, beautiful, clear 😊

Thank you for this video!! would love to see some more videos on your urban sketching process, they're so interesting ❤

your sketchbooks all look beautiful and interesting, I would love to see a tour of all of them😍😍😍

Regarding pockets - I've just glued one in. Have you tried the Stablo Easel? It's a lovely, portable lap easel which holds water & brushes, and has magnets which hold a metal WC palette. And it also holds a sketchbook, offering stability to a paper sketchbook.

this was a fun video, cecile .. so many choices lol after trying at least ten or more brands , stillman and birn and hahnemuhle are my faves !! arteza is surprisingly good too ( and cheaper than many other brands) .. thank you so much for this , as always!! Nora Kag 😬😬

Moleskine is getting very expensive, I agree. I was a big fan of Daler-Rowney sketchbooks, but I cannot find them anymore. I have the first one and I cannot wait to use it! Very cheap brands are also Sakura and Royal Talens (with so many colored covers).

Thank you for this video, you always give us so much helpful information,. You're paintings are beautiful and you're very encouraging to me, I'm just starting to use the gouache medium. God Bless

Thank you for this video! I think I really liked that tan toned Hahnemule from the beginning. I also think the Moleskine line is overrated, but in part because other brands have provided all the same luxury at lower prices more recently. I feel like thirty years ago, Moleskine was the only option for really high quality paper with the ribbon and elastic and pocket and a cover that wasn't going to warp over time. People were willing to pay for that kind of detail-rich quality, so now all the other brands provide it at more affordable prices, and Moleskine skates by on the reputation of having been the best once upon a time.

Bonjour Cecile ! Thank you for this video, I love to see comparisons like this, and it's so interesting to me to see what works best for different artists. I am somewhat new to gouache and urban sketching and just bought my first sketchbook with beige-toned paper, a Stillman & Birn Nova Series softcover. I really like it for gouache and I think I must find one with a hardcover now. Like you I also prefer the elastic, ribbon & pocket. For white paper I love Etchr, both hot and cold press and a nice selection of sizes! 🙂

Bonjour Cecile, thank you for another lovely video. I never really gave it as much thought as you have given such a comprehensive take on sketch books. I am inspired by all your beautiful illustrations and hope I can be a good as you are someday! Keep up the great work and you are doing amazing things for us!

Wow that’s a great collection of sketchbooks, many that are new to me. I love 2 of your top 3. I haven’t heard of the Daley-Rowney one. I also use the Strathmore 400 Series soft cover sketchbook. I also use the it in the hardcover too. I just recently got a Etchr Perfect Sketchbook that I am going to try out to see how I like it. Thanks for sharing this wonderful information with us.

Thank you! Great comparison!

Very good video, thank you very useful, I'm a stillman and birn user but am always on the lookout for something different 😊

Thank you Cecile

This is so helpful! I like the Hahnemule watercolor sketchbook and Stilton & Burns Beta. :)

Thanks for all testing and sharing of your experiences! 😊 I think moleskin is overrated too. Not that it is totally bad but I think the brand is more focused on calendars and journals not on artists supplys. I think I will get the Strathomore, because I like the watercolor paper and the landscape format and I really love softcover. 😊

I found a new way a make my own watercolour sketchbooks. Buy a watercolour block and separate the sheets. Then get it spiral-bound at stationer's shop. The paper obviously buckles but is remedied when closed for day or two. Cheap, effective and yet high quality (I mean the paper).

Love your art❤

I’d love to see some of your sketch books!

Cecile, this is way off topic, but surely you’ve been told how much you resemble Isabella Rossellini! You’re a beautiful artist who makes beautiful art!