Strathmore 400 Series Toned Gray Sketch Pad

High quality paper. Easy to put in backpack, work on the bus or take to the park. I have several of various sizes. Works best with black and white colored pencil, or black ink.

This is a quality mid-tone sketchbook. I like it for quick sketches or urban sketching. I often use it with black and white charcoal and it works well with that. What I like: The tooth. This holds thick applications of charcoal or powdered graphite well. The color. This sits at a nice mid point, letting me evenly darken the shadows and brighten the highlights without anything seeming out of balance. The binding. This lays flat, as expected of a spiral bound. The binding does not catch on anything in my bag. The pages are sturdy and not prone to falling out. The sturdiness of the page. I am not very good and have to erase a lot. This tolerates that kind of abuse quite well. I recommend the Pentel Hi-Polymer Eraser even so, as that's really gentle on the page, but either way, this paper can take a lot of reworking. I've had paper lose its tooth after too much rework. Not an issue here. The size. This is just small enough to carry around easily and just large enough to give me a good surface to work on. In this too, it hits a nice midpoint. I would normally put a "what I don't like" section in a review, but here I can't. It would be empty.

The paper itself is great. Thankfully after 3 days in a dry room, it has recovered from the ambient moisture exposure and warping. 5 stars for Strathmore quality and surviving a disastrous set of circumstances. Billionaires will not allow me to elaborate any further on this, so check the image.

Wonderful paper. I have a lot of fun with this paper in several mediums; works well with my sharp fine-nib and black ink, which normally cuts through and ruins my drawing and my day, also works well with colored pencils, watercolour, whatever. Somehow grey paper is less threatening than white, so I definitely recommend toned paper for getting through artist’s block.

this paper is very thin and not ideal for drawing portraits The way I like to do them. I like thick paper that doesn’t need to be mounted. Plus, the texture of it is very smooth and I prefer some tooth to it

Strathmore is a good brand that has been around for a long time. I wanted to try the toned paper and have been pleased with it.

I had been wanting to try the toned sketchbooks but was hesitant because in the hobby store the paper felt thin & not very durable. It also felt like it had little to no "tooth", (for non drawing folk that means the roughness that allows the device you are writing or drawing with to be able to make the mark you wish & for drawing tooth allows for multiple layers of graphite, charcoal, or colored pencil. OKAY! Here's the good news! I was WRONG! (I really do not like to admit that, it's rare, so enjoy it😱) I have been doing product samples on this sketchbook as I do on all new paper that I'm trying for the first time. (you never want to be creating your masterpiece & discover that your luscious chocolate brown colored pencil looks more like something your dog created on your new paper!) So after some testing I have found that the paper is much more durable than it looks! Ballpoint pen, colored pencil, & graphite work fantastic. Erasing is not a problem if you are delicate about it. By delicate I mean normal erasing for art not grinding away with a rockhard old eraser. I tested this by erasing a 1" squared area then using the same pencil I created a smooth patch of color over that square & the one next to it. I couldn't tell a difference. I wouldn't try to erase pen, or a dark pencil mark. Using markers was a mixed deal. My pigma microns were great, sharpie's bled through. I am very pleased so far, it has created a new spark in my drawing having the additional value to work with. (I bought both the gray & tan) I bought the smallest size available because drawing on a toned background is new for me. If I have any new information in the future I will post it, as of now I am extremely pleased overall and am sure I will be buying more in the future. UPDATE: One thing I have found a little frustrating is the paper has multicolored fibers throughout. I didn't think that was a real issue at first until I was drawing a face, not really a portrait just an imaginary face & these dark fiber lines kept appearing in the most awkward places. I think the clearest description I can give is they look like eyelashes fell into the paper as it was being made. In one drawing it seriously looked like I had drawn a nose hair on this poor womans face! Not the look I was going for, and unless you are much better at changing your drawing midstream than I am you are then stuck with the nose hair or you will need to create some dramatic shadows. I could have done a "sex change" I guess, gave her a mustache... it was just a bit frustrating. I am by far not the greatest artist on the planet, I am really not even comfortable using the term artist to describe myself, I just like to draw. I still do like the sketchbooks but my paper preference is still Arches hot pressed watercolor paper in a bright white. I probably just need more work time with these.

Great paper. Colored pencils really stand out and look amazing on this paper.. Definitely recommend.