Stilman and Burn sketchbook review

 In March I attended my sister's wedding in Washington DC. It was my first trip back to the US in a while and along with visiting a number of museums and spending time with my family, it was a priority for me to go to a local art store. I have realized that a lot of the brands flogged by artists on YouTube are available in the US but not here. I was interested in trying them to see if I would find any new favorites as well as to compare them with my available materials. I listed the items I brought back in a post at the time, but it has been several months and I have had the opportunity to try several of the products out and form an opinion of some of them. As this sketchbook is nearly full, and summer is high season for urban sketchers I thought I would share my thoughts on it first.

Stillman and  Burn is a brand that I have heard of but never had the opportunity to try as it is not one of the normal products available in my area. I bought the small, landscape format, pocket sized book as a tester. The cover is flexible, soft and feels like a sort of fake leather. It is quite pleasant to hold in the hand. The pages are cream colored and relatively thick. There are also quite a few of them in the book- always a plus.

   I saved the paper band that the sketchbook was wrapped in so that I could order another one if need be. Now that I am writing this review I am glad I did. Here it is:

 My general impression of the sketchbook is positive although there is a negative element that I think I ought to mention first. The pages don't do well with pencil or graphite. It tends to smear around and generally make a mess. I tried several different techniques but none of the graphite ones were very satisfactory. I believe the reason is that they have some sort of slippery coating, (maybe latex?), which repels slippery mediums but absorbs liquid ones.


   Here are a few of the pencil sketches I did, on the first you can see that the graphite transfered over to the opposite page. This occurred despite the fact that the pencil used was hard with a fine point.

 Here is a quick sketch of my laundry baskets done in polychromos. They reacted similarly to pencil- ie, they smeared.

 Now it is possible that when they say mixed media on the cover they don't include any type of pencil at all. If that is the case- which would be odd, then the pages perform quite well indeed. They accept a large amount of water without warping. Something that the surface texture led me to doubt.

 Below are two types of watercolor sketches, the first one being a more layered affair. This is a true mixed media sketch with a pencil base and fine liner added at the end. It is a lamp at the 'Harry Potter Cafe' in Klagenfurt. The second, oil, vinegar, and pepper at a local Italian restaurant is a quick, fluid sketch were the color is an after thought and flows across the page.

 I also tried a watercolor sketch where the paint was applied a lot thicked and took on a more 'painterly' aspect. This also adhered to the pages without a problem. I was testing how much could be added to the slick pages. It seems that the answer is quite a bit.

 Ink works well too, although it takes a bit longer to dry than it normally does with my other sketchbooks. In case it isnt clear what you are seeing, that is one of those sinks at the dentist's with a cup at the top.

   As I mentioned at the top of the post, this sketchbook really has a lot of pages for it's size. This makes it a great book to take along on a trip.

   Would I use it again? Definitely! But it will never compare with Hahnemühle or Fabriano in my opinion.

Do you have a favorite sketchbook or a fun one you recently tested? Let me know in the comments.

If you liked this post you might like these as well:

- Artist Holiday Gift Guide 2018
- The Pastel Plant 
- Everyday sketching book review
- Art Inc.
-Views of Paris
- Venice



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