{"id":62718,"date":"2022-04-06T14:20:17","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T14:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/?p=62718"},"modified":"2022-04-06T14:20:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T14:20:17","slug":"how-to-choose-an-artists-drawing-pad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/blog\/how-to-choose-an-artists-drawing-pad\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Choose an Artist&#8217;s Drawing Pad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GWf6te6n3M0?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe>Art pads come in a wide range of materials and styles. There are even special paper pads for charcoal, pastel and other drawing mediums. It is important to choose a pad based on the artist&#8217;s medium that you use.<\/p>\n<p>The following are some common artpad choices and recommendations for each medium used by artists:<\/p>\n<p>Paper: Inexpensive. Smooth. Good for pencil, pen, charcoal and ink wash. Will not buckle under heavy washes of paint or watercolor.<\/p>\n<p>Medium: Good for painting with a variety of media from acrylics to oils. Durable enough to last through many sketches and paintings.<\/p>\n<p>Cloth: Comes in both cotton and synthetic blend fabric. Cloth pads work well with oil paints and allow the paper to be removed easily if more room is needed on the surface. These pads are also more economical than their paper counterparts so they are good budget options if you&#8217;re just starting out.<\/p>\n<p>There are many different kinds of artist&#8217;s drawing pads. Some artists use their pads for sketching, others for doodling and yet others for creating full-fledged paintings. Each medium has its own requirements and needs when it comes to choosing a pad.<\/p>\n<p>This guide will help you choose the right one. It is divided into sections that correspond to each type of medium along with a description of what makes each medium unique.<\/p>\n<p>After you have gone through this guide, you should have a better understanding of the various types of pads available and which one will best suit your needs.<\/p>\n<p>We have also included general tips on how to make your pad last longer by keeping it in good condition. Make sure to consider these tips while using your new drawing pad.*<\/p>\n<p>Some of the best materials to use for artist&#8217;s drawing pads are clay board, water color board, and soft pastel board. If you&#8217;re looking for something that is more durable or has a higher quality finish, you may want to go with velour paper or a cotton rag.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re an artist who loves working in colored pencils, then you&#8217;ll probably enjoy working on surface texture drawing pads as well. These are available in a variety of different finishes and textures including smooth, vellum, and sketch. The smoother surfaces are perfect if you&#8217;re working on details, while the rougher surfaces can add texture to your artwork. You might also be interested in surface texture pads that include one side that&#8217;s smooth and one that&#8217;s rough \u2013 this gives you the option of switching between the two depending on what effect you&#8217;re going for.<\/p>\n<p>Information about how to choose an artist&#8217;s pad can help when deciding which surface will work best for your needs. Pads are available in many different sizes so it&#8217;s also important to know how big you need it to be so that there will be enough space for your artwork. If your pad is too small then there won&#8217;t be enough room for all of your sketches or drawings, but if it&#8217;s too big then<\/p>\n<p>The right drawing pad can play a big role in the way your art looks. The materials you use must be compatible with the paper or board you will be working on, and it&#8217;s important to keep that in mind when choosing an artist&#8217;s pad.<\/p>\n<p>I recommend buying a pad made of sturdy paperboard. I don&#8217;t like using warp-prone watercolor paper for ink and pencil work because it&#8217;s too challenging to get a uniform surface if you&#8217;re pressing down hard, which is how I like to work.<\/p>\n<p>The drawing surface should be thick enough that the paper won&#8217;t break easily when you&#8217;re drawing on it. Some people like to sketch with soft pencils, which can leave an indentation in thinner boards. My favorite size is 11\u00d714\u2033, but feel free to go even larger if you want more room to spread out your tools or art materials.<\/p>\n<p>An artist&#8217;s pad with a spiral binding is far easier to use than one secured by staples or tape, because it lies flat as soon as it&#8217;s opened. If you&#8217;re worried about the pages falling out mid-sketch, just fold the front and back covers over onto each other and they&#8217;ll stay put while you work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Choosing the right kind of pad is a lot like choosing the right kind of ink. There are many differences, but there are some basic rules that apply to all kinds and that can help you figure out what you need.<\/p>\n<p>Glossy paper is great for quick sketches and charcoal drawings. It&#8217;s not recommended for watercolor because the water will soak in, but it isn&#8217;t necessarily a bad thing either.<\/p>\n<p>Rough paper is good for pencil and charcoal because it holds up to erasing and rubbing. If you&#8217;re working with watercolors or acrylics, it might be a good idea to keep a rough sketchbook for preliminary work and then transfer it to a nice paper when you&#8217;re ready to finish.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s important to remember that no matter what you put on the paper, your final piece will not look like the pad itself. You have to layer thick rough paper with acrylic paint to get the same texture as light smooth paper with watercolor washes.<\/p>\n<p>I can draw on just about any surface. I&#8217;ve drawn on glass, chalkboard, tile, film (great for animation), dry erase boards, mirrors&#8230;but my favorite is still paper.<\/p>\n<p>The kind of paper you use to draw on has a huge effect on how your work comes out. The wrong kind can totally ruin your picture. Here are some tips to help you pick the best drawing pad:<\/p>\n<p>1. Don&#8217;t use notebook paper or printer paper. They&#8217;re not heavy enough and they don&#8217;t have a solid backing. They tend to buckle when you draw on them and the ink bleeds through the page. The pages will also curl up if you try to lay the pictures flat in a book and will tear easily if you try to cut them out or frame them.*<\/p>\n<p>2. Use bristol board instead of regular white drawing pads.*<\/p>\n<p>3. Buy an artist&#8217;s pad, not a student&#8217;s pad or a sketchpad.*<\/p>\n<p>4. Look for at least 100 lbs of weight.*<\/p>\n<p>5. Look for a solid backing&#8211;anything that says it has a &#8220;solid backing&#8221; is good, but &#8220;wood free&#8221; is even better.*<\/p>\n<p>6. If you see &#8220;100% rag&#8221; or &#8220;100% cotton&#8221; make sure those are the<\/p>\n<p>The best way to choose the right pad is to consider your needs and then choose a pad that fits them. The wrong pad will slow you down, cost you time and money, and cause you frustration.<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7OLiFb1JoFM?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5MEcfcap5l8?autoplay=1&#038;mute=1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Art pads come in a wide range of materials and styles. There are even special paper pads for charcoal, pastel and other drawing mediums. It is important to choose a pad based on the artist&#8217;s medium that you use. The following are some common artpad choices and recommendations for each medium used by artists: Paper: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62719,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62718\/revisions\/62719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artspainter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}