A5 Sketchbook, Lay Flat Softcover Sketch Book for Everyone, Ideal for Ink, Water Color, Pen, Pencils, 160 Tear Resistant Pages, Size: Medium, Leda Art Supply

I love that the pages are thin but still will take a wash of watercolor or acrylic just fineIt does get crinkly but I also love that.I love that the paper is off white and not stark. It has rounded edges and a pocket at the back AND comes in b5 size. I love that it feels nice to work on but not precious.If I could change one thing about this sketchbook.. I would get a bit more texture. Just a little bit more but it does take colored pencils pretty well. Still, 5 stars.Will update with photos

Sketchbook for artists, large softbound cover (7x10), Leda Odyssey's 160 pages of beige-colored, high quality paper is designed for pencil, ink, pen, pastel, charcoal and light water color wash. Ideal sketch pad, travel journal or notebook to express your creative inspirations.I’ve been testing this product out for a while now and I adore its simplicity and functionality. While at first surprised by it’s soft-bound pages, I hadn’t been expecting this type of material, I found this to be a real asset while sketching. The material definitely seems to hold up just as well as, or even better, than soft leather bound books I have had in the past. I tend to like folding back the front cover so the book can be positioned on my knee while I work. It’s been a couple weeks now and it has held up amazingly. The supple cover also aids in the book looking new despite extensive use or wear. It’s been thrown around in my book bag, car, and gone on a cross-country debate trip.Right off the bat I noticed the quality of the pages. I use a variety of black ink pens to sketch most of my work and have had issues with bleeding through the pages in the past. With this product, not only is there no threat of bleeding, the back of my sketches look almost like a clean page. I also really appreciated the inclusion of the pocket on the back page. Super useful for storing finished pieces I intend to hang on the wall or give away. Though I just draw for fun, this book makes me feel like a professional.The size is also perfect for my lifestyle. While smaller than some of the other sketchbooks I have tended to go for, Leda Art Supply’s debut product has proven to be not only easier to manage (I can more easily position it while drawing out and about), but also easy to travel with. This coming December I am traveling to Greece and this book will definitely be going with me (The myth travels home!)!I’m thrilled to have it and will definitely be purchasing another when this one is full. The quality is top notch, as is the vision for the company. I can’t wait to see what else they come up with!

I found this sketchbook about 8 years ago, and fell in love!!! Throughout the years, I've tried other sketchbooks, but always came back to this sketchbook. The sketchbook lays flat, which works great for drawing across the 2 pages. I love that the color of the paper is not stark white, it makes the pages easier to look at(in my opinion.) I have used acrylic, gouache, watercolor on this paper, and it holds up pretty well. 12/10 recommend🌟🌟🌟

I bought this sketchbook specifically because I was looking for a budget Moleskine. I've used Moleskine sketchbooks for years, but I feel that their brand quality has been slipping on their sketchbooks and that they're generally overpriced. The Leda sketchbook was a bit more than I was planning to spend, but the reviews and the idea of supporting a small business were enough for me to give it a shot.I primarily use my sketchbook for small drawings, doodles, planning other drawings, taking notes. I carry it around and I don't typically plan on doing any polished work in it. I use mostly pen in my sketchbook; I like pencil too but find that it tends to get smeared and ruined in sketchbooks that get carried around. Some of these things make the Leda perfect for me; others not so much.The pens and markers I typically use hold well in the Leda. They don't bleed more than they would on decent paper, and they rarely bleed through. In this matter, the Leda actually outperforms Moleskine paper, which I find frequently lets marker/pen bleed through to the other side. I did find that for some reason, Leda paper disagrees with ballpoint pens. It seems to cause them to skip and blot more frequently; I thought it was the pens but after testing several on Leda paper and printer paper, it seems to be the sketchbook. Weird, but not a big deal to me. If you frequently draw in ballpoint, though, you may want to keep it in mind.I haven't really tried water media (ink wash, watercolor) on the Leda but I am fairly sure it would warp the paper significantly just from the results of my couple test strokes. This isn't a problem for me, but if your sketchbook is mostly water media, this may not be the book for you.The paper is actually the kind of paper I really like for pencil sketching--it's very very smooth and takes pencil readily. However it also smears extremely easily, whether from touch or just getting bounced around in travel. Unless you use fixative in your sketchbook, I would give graphite a pass. (The colored-lead mechanical pencils I sometimes use don't have this problem as their lead is much waxier; they're a good choice if you're just sketching and not creating finished pieces.)The pocket in the back seems sturdy enough and is sized well for scraps and bits you want to hold on to.The cover is, to my mind, the biggest drawback to the Leda for several reasons, some admittedly petty. It's softcovered, so you can't rely on your sketchbook itself as a hard surface. And the cover material itself is not my favorite. The texture doesn't bother me to touch, but it won't hold stickers. Told you it was a petty complaint--but decorating a new sketchbook with stickers is one of my favorite things, and not being able to do that is kind of a bummer. The cover is also already curling up (I've been using my Leda for about a month now). The elastic band also does make a dent in the cover, as other reviewers noted. I would prefer to have a bookmark to the elastic, but that's just me. My sketchbook has the updated, smaller logo on the front. I think the size is fine, but in combination with the placement (towards the bottom, centered, on the front cover) instinctively makes me think the front cover is the back sometimes.Overall, I think the Leda's a good sketchbook. It has some drawbacks (the most significant of which to me are the soft cover and inability to decorate it) and isn't quite as sturdy as a Moleskine, but the paper quality is great and I feel better buying from a smaller company, especially since that company seems to be really responsive to customer feedback. If I hadn't gotten another sketchbook for my birthday, I'd probably plan on buying another Leda when I'm finished this one. As it stands, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this company. :)