My Pro-Art Sketch Book that I Never Sketched In

I have an item that I am very fond of. It's a simple sketch book. I take great pride in saying that I never actually sketched in it because I'm one of those annoying anti-everything people that you see at protests against something.

I use this book to write my articles and creative writings stories in that I think can definitely be one of the best friends a writer could have as it is one of my best friends. Sounds pretty said I know but let me tell you the story of how and why this book is so special to me.

This was during my last year of college when I always used to a friend of mine, who was an art education major, walking around with this textbook-sized black book. It wasn't odd-looking or anything like that. It just had a bulky look to it.

He'd always pull it out during meetings we would attend and either scribble notes or doodle in it. I sometimes thought he'd be paying me no mind as I conducted a meeting but he wasn't. He'd just be sitting there doodling caricatures of me and everyone else there as a way to take notes.

Then one day, he noticed that I was writing on a sketch pad myself because I personally hate writing on lined paper. It's too restricting. He then introduced me to his infamous black book. It turned out to be nothing more than a sketch book but as I was starting to run out of sheets and it irritated me to write on 11" x 14" paper, I decided to go out and buy one from our campus bookstore (though you can find them at any store that deals in art supplies or stationery).

It cost me about 13 dollars and I couldn't wait until to scribe my thoughts in its snow-white pages that will almost blind you if you look at it in the sun.

Produced by Pro-Art, its official title is Heavyweight Sketch Book and it weighs about 5 pounds, give or take one or two pounds. It has 110 sheets of 8.5" x 11" 70# paper. For those who are paper-illiterate like I am... I couldn't find the definition of 70# paper so I'll just leave you with the general idea that it's pretty strong. As the little caption on the sticker on the front of the states:

"Acid free/Neutral PH. Hardbound for permanency with improved lay-flat binding. Accepts all dry media and light washes/brushwork with wet media. Use for classwork, sketching, concepting, and finished drawings."

I personally use gel-ink pens to write in it since the paper is a little too thick for ballpoint to write smoothly on but thick enough so that even if the pen bleeds it won't go through to the next sheet like with standard-style paper.

So, yeah, this book is really cool.

I've only had a couple of problems with it. The first is that after 3 or 4 months I had to line the binding with electric tape because the front cover was coming off. I don't blame the makers of Pro-Art. I used it almost everyday since I first bought it so I guess I kind of had it coming.

The other is that since the paper is so thick it really tends to weigh the book down and therefore make it a bit more difficult to write towards the edge of the page.

Now the sticker is faded from rain water and all kinds of phenomena both natural and man-made. The corners don't exist anymore and sadly, I only have 11 sheets left in it. So as I get ready to hit up my local comic book store to buy another one (at a lower price, too), I suggest to all the writers out there who are tired of using lined paper to go out and buy a sketch book.

(After looking through it, I actually did doodle some designs for t-shirts for my organization... but that doesn't count, does it?)