Clairefontaine Sketchbook Review

A couple of weeks ago the very nice Karen Doherty at Exaclair Inc. sent me a sketchbook to try out. It is the 8” x 8” Clairefontaine and it has 50 sheets of 120 g acid-free paper.

Click on all of the pictures to enlarge them.

I was amazed to find out that the paper used in Clairefontaine’s fine art paper is made by a mill almost 400 years old. Learn more here.


This is the back cover. Both the front and back have a nice thick plastic cover in case you get caught out in the rain.


I really like the thickness of the back because I’m usually not sketching on a flat surface.


A blank sketchbook waiting for some ink.

Various pen lines - Lamy Safari fountain pen, Faber Castell Pitt, Staedtler Pigment Liner, Rotring Art Pen, Pigma Micron, Prismacolor, Uni-Ball Vision Elite, Mars Professional

Watercolor pencils - Derwent and Staedtler Karat

Watercolors - Koi 24 color and Winsor Newton Sketchers' Box

Copic markers - they do bleed through, but they bleed through just about anything anyways.

Quick sketches to accompany some quotes from Homer...both of them.

I really like this sketchbook and look forward to filling it up. The paper takes a nice smooth pen line even though it is medium toothed and also handles watercolors well without much buckling. The heavy back cover is definitely a plus.

Head over to the Exaclair Inc. website to see more products from Clairefontaine as well as from Rhodia, Quo Vadis, J. Herbin and more. You can purchase your own Clairefontaine 8" x 8" sketchbook from any of the online retailers here or find a store near you that carries them.

Thanks again Karen!