Rania Hassan

What makes a good sketchbook? Etsy Find Tuesday : Shoofly

I've loved Rania Hassan's sketchbooks for years but never felt that my sketches deserved such beautiful covers. I feel differently now so I might have to treat myself to one of her sketchbooks this summer. I mostly use wirebound multimedia by Strathmore and flip them to make them left handed friendly, but I do like to keep a small soft bound Moleskin around for ideas and doodles. Moleskin does make high quality watercolor sketchbooks, but they are very expensive for very few pages. The biggest downside of using a wirebound sketchbook is storing them once they are full because the wire binding takes up so much space. I haven't had that problem yet since the sketchbook I had been working on for the past two months was stolen last week. But I am hoping that will not happen again and that I will have many sketchbooks to store. I currently have four sketchbooks going. One graph paper moleskin that stays in my (new) messenger bag with a small clip board, one small multi-media sketchbook to replace the one that was stolen, one small watercolor sketchbook, and one large multi-media sketchbook that I just started yesterday. Not exactly minimalist is it? I will probably drop the watercolor sketchbook once the one I have is full. The thicker paper is nice but not all that useful for me in a small format, plus it is harder to find and has fewer pages than the multi-media version. The artist is a natural hoarder yet a more streamlined home is more efficient for life. That is a blog post for another time. Now it is time to get back to my sketchbook(s)! 

I love how the tree image works with the craft paper cover. If I got this sketchbook I would probably embellish it with ink drawing.

I love how the tree image works with the craft paper cover. If I got this sketchbook I would probably embellish it with ink drawing.