Reading the numbers on the cover
Paper weight explained: which pad for which medium
Every pad we make has two numbers on the cover, one in pounds and one in gsm. They tell you how much the paper can take before it buckles, bleeds or gives up. Here is how we match them to what you hold in your hand.
What lb and gsm mean
Gsm is grams per square meter: the weight of one sheet if it were a meter on each side. It is the simplest number to compare, since higher always means a heavier, sturdier sheet. Pounds measure a ream of the paper at its mill size, and that size differs between paper types, so lb figures only compare well within one kind of paper.
When in doubt, read the gsm. Our range runs from 100 gsm sketch paper to 400 gsm mixed media board.
Dry media: 68 lb, 100 gsm
Graphite, charcoal, colored pencil, pastel and crayon ask for tooth more than weight. Our 68 lb sketch paper has a fine texture that catches pigment and stands up to an eraser, and at 100 sheets per pad it is the paper to practice on freely.
If you press hard, layer heavily or want a page that feels closer to card, step up to the 150 gsm hardcover sketchbook.
Markers: coated 120 gsm or 200 gsm
Alcohol ink goes straight through uncoated paper however thick it is. Marker paper solves that with a surface treatment. Our 73 lb, 120 gsm marker pad is coated so both sides can be used. The 200 gsm hardcover marker pad adds stiffness for heavy layering and takes pencil under-drawing that erases cleanly.
Water-based brush pens are less demanding. They work on sketch paper for lettering practice, though marker paper still gives a crisper edge.
Watercolor: 140 lb, 300 gsm cold press
Water swells paper fibers, and a thin sheet will ripple. At 140 lb, cold press paper holds a wash, lets you lift colour with a damp brush and dries close to flat. The slight texture also gives watercolor its familiar sparkle where the brush skips over the surface.
We make it as a 40-sheet spiral pad and as 32-sheet hardcover pads in three sizes.
Acrylic and mixed media: 160 to 400 gsm
For light washes over pencil or ink, our 98 lb, 160 gsm mixed media sketchbook takes both wet and dry work on a fine-tooth sheet. For acrylic, gouache and heavy layering, the white hardcover paint pads carry 400 gsm paper, twenty sheets that feel closer to board than to a page.
A simple rule from our own bench: the wetter the medium, the higher the gsm.
