Sketch Pads & Books
- CREATIVE ART JOURNALING—Explore your imagination with a wide range of materials & techniques, layering colored pencil, watercolor paint, acrylic paint, ink, pastel, marker & more
- 11" x 14"
- Trusted by modern artists, professional illustrators, comicbook artists & cartoonists, these heavyweight sheets are a great option for projects requiring a mixture of wet & dry media
- 6" x 8"
- HEAVYWEIGHT DRAWING PAPER—Medium textured, all purpose, white surface made specifically to retain pigment from colored pencils, enhancing details & maintaining the sharpest lines
- 9" x 12"
- MADE FOR CHARCOAL, OIL PASTELS & CRAYONS—Paper retains pigment well & works for techniques like pressure strokes, blending, shading, lifting & scumbling
- 9" x 12"
- MADE FOR WATERCOLOR CHARCOAL, COLORED PENCIL, SKETCHING STICK & PASTEL—Paper retains pigment well & withstands techniques like pressure strokes, blending & shading
- 9" x 12"
- MADE FOR WATERCOLOR PENCIL, SKETCHING STICK & PASTEL—Created to retain pigment from traditional dry media & good for techniques like cross hatching, stippling, contour shading, blending & smudging
- 9" x 12"
- MADE FOR WATERCOLOR CHARCOAL, COLORED PENCIL, SKETCHING STICK & PASTEL—Paper retains pigment well & withstands techniques like pressure strokes, blending & shading
- 18" x 24"
- MADE FOR PENCIL, PEN & MARKER—Art paper ideal for tracing images, sketching, preliminary drawings & overlays
- 19" x 24"
- GENERAL PURPOSE, RECYCLED & HEAVYWEIGHT—Made with 30% post-consumer fiber! Tackle sketch projects like figure drawing, still life, urban landscape, perspective & preliminary character design
- 5.5" x 8.5"
- Sketch Paper Pad, Artist Sketch Book
- Spiral Bound
- Sketch Paper Pad, Artist Sketch Book
- Spiral Bound
- The 300 Series features our intermediate-level surface, recommended for art students & hobbyists looking to improve their creative skills, techniques & practice collegiate-level artwork
- Dimensions: 9" x 12"
- Designed to cater to the diverse needs of artists, the Canson Artist Series encompasses a range of high-quality papers specifically tailored for different artistic mediums. Whether it's watercolor, mixed media, or drawing, each paper within the Canson Artist Series is meticulously crafted to deliver superior performance & exceptional results.
- DESIGNED FOR ARTISTS—The Canson Artist Series range features premium art surfaces meticulously composed for professionals to create showcase-worthy pieces
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Whether you’re in an industry that is heavily influenced by visual design, like fashion, interior decorating or graphic design, or you’re looking for quality art supplies for school, Staples offers drawing pads to bring all your ideas to life.
What Are the Benefits of Using Drawing Pads?
Sketching pads or drawing pads are booklets of paper usually meant for illustration or painting. They’re well-suited for art projects, doodles and even works to be displayed. Most drawing pads have a perforated border near their binding, allowing you to easily remove the papers from the pad whenever you’re done with them. This clean line allows you to remove pages for display or scrap whatever you may want to throw away hassle-free.
Unlike notebook paper, drawing pad paper is intended for use in illustrative work. It’s more durable and heavier than typical printer paper in order to stand up to heavier mediums. Some sketching and drawing pads are specialized to specific mediums of art, like watercolor or charcoal. They may have heavier paper or textured paper to help facilitate the artist’s work.
What Features Should I Look for in a Drawing Pad?
Drawing pads have a wide variety of features that are useful for different art forms and might dictate which product is best for you. Take a look at the most common features below:
Compact Sizes
Most sketch pads fit easily into standard-sized backpacks or bags, so you can travel anywhere with them and pack them on the go. For comparison, a standard size for printer paper is 8.5 × 11 inches, so judge your sketchpads based on whether or not you want your pages to be larger or smaller than that.
Durable Covers
Resilient covers carefully shield artwork from dirt and debris while lending a contemporary look to the exterior of the book or pad. Covers also prevent the paper inside from easily becoming rumpled or damaged. Staples carries a variety of colors, from classic black to a clean white. Blue, green and multicolor are also popular options for drawing sketch pads.
Customizable Pages
Some drawing pad models provide accessories to personalize your pages such as templates and dyes. You can also enhance the look of your pages with adhesive border pads or glossy stickers.
Versatile Designs
Use sketch pads and books for your daily drawings, or choose books geared toward a specific holiday or occasion. Some books are filled with thick, durable cardstock, which makes it easy to transform the pages into stunning greeting cards or nostalgic scrapbook entries.
Are Drawing Pads and Sketch Pads the Same?
Not quite. Sketch pads and drawing pads are sometimes used interchangeably, but there are some differences. Drawing pads usually contain heavier, higher-quality paper, while sketch pads contain lighter paper. Sketch pad paper is generally intended for practicing while drawing pad paper is meant for a final version or works of art to be displayed.
If you’re planning on using a heavy medium like acrylic paint, watercolor, pastels or other painting supplies, then a drawing pad would be a better choice. If you’re using a lighter medium like markers, colored pencils, pens or graphite pencils, then a sketch pad should suit the majority of your needs.
Can I Purchase Eco-Friendly Sketching Pads?
Yes. Staples offers Eco Feature certified products, recycled content products and Sustainable Forestry Initiative sketch pads for drawing.