Strathmore Bristol Visual Journals Review

I received a package from Jeanette at Strathmore Artist Papers filled with all kinds of paper to review. There were quite a few types included so I will break them down into a couple of posts.

This first review is of the Strathmore Bristol Visual Journals. So what exactly is a Visual Journal? Quoting from the Strathmore website, "...it's whatever you imagine it to be. It’s an inviting canvas. An open and comfortable place where pens meet paintbrushes, colored pencils meet glued photos, markers meet magazine clippings, and found objects find a home." The Visual Journals come in three sizes, 3.5" x 5", 5.5" x 8" and 9" x 12". They also come in six types of paper; Bristol – Smooth and Vellum, Drawing, Mixed Media and 90lb and 140lb Watercolor.

(As always, click on any of the pictures for a larger view.)

For this review Frankie volunteered to help out.

The 9" x 12" Vellum Bristol.

The 5.5" x 8" Smooth Bristol.

This shows the thickness of the Bristol Visual Journals. The Vellum Bristol one has 24 sheets and the Smooth Bristol has 28 sheets.

All of the Strathmore Visual Journals have wire binding that allows the journal to lie flat and open up 360 degrees.

There is a nice looking hard cover under the paper one.

An inviting blank sheet of paper...

...waiting for ink.

This shows the line weight from different writing/drawing instruments on the Vellum Bristol.

Here is the same as above but on the Smooth Bristol.

This was done on a single sheet of the Vellum Bristol while still in the Visual Journal. I drew it up, inked it and quickly colored it with colored pencils. I then used an X-Acto knife to cut around the drawings and folded them up to make a scene from one of my favorite seasonal cartoons, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".

Halloween is only a couple of months away so I also did some quick monster drawings. These were drawn in the Smooth Bristol Visual Journal and inked with a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen size F.

The Strathmore Bristol Visual Journals have great quality paper, are very sturdy and look like they would hold up well under any creative endeavor. The 9" x 12" Vellum Bristol lists for $14.99 and the 5.5" x 8" Smooth Bristol lists for $8.59, but if you head over to Dick Blick you can purchase all of the Strathmore Visual Journals for 49% or more off the list price.

I want to thank Jeanette at Strathmore Artist Papers again for allowing me to try these out.

Check back for additional reviews of the remaining Strathmore Artist Papers, Faber - Castell Pitt Artist Pens/Brushes and of course more Cartoonist Surveys.