{"id":40850,"date":"2023-07-12T07:18:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T11:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=40850"},"modified":"2023-07-12T07:18:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T11:18:48","slug":"done-with-another-discount-sketchbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/07\/12\/done-with-another-discount-sketchbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Done With Another Discount Sketchbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nI finished off the HQ Fine Stroke Sketch Draw<\/em> that I picked up from Philadelphia based discounter Five Below. <\/em>The price was right, and I liked the pad’s size of 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches as well as the wire binding being placed along one of the short ends, but the paper wasn’t anything to write home about. It is probably repurposed copier paper that seemed to have a slightly slick surface that resisted really rich blacks from my pencils. It was a disaster with ink and other wet media. It was fine for notes, thumbnails and gestural drawings.<\/p>\n

As I do with most of my sketchbooks, I encrusted this one with stickers. This pad had a particularly odious manga<\/em> style illustration adorning its cover that begged to be buried or defaced. Fortunately I eat a lot of fruit and had access to plenty of stickers.<\/p>\n

\"Nora <\/a>
Nora the Explorer travels backwards in time <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Vampire <\/a>
Vampire head <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Trying <\/a>
Trying to get that 3\/4 rear shot of the werewolf <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Alien <\/a>
Alien Skull <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I punched the images up a bit with an image editor after I scanned them. Usually pencil particularly in this sketchbook needs a little levels adjustment to increase the contrast.<\/p>\n

It definitely wasn’t a Sketchbook from Heaven<\/em><\/a>. I felt no pangs of loss as I exhausted its last few pages. It did not have that weird, joyous energy baked into its pages as the other sketchbooks had. It was merely a utilitarian scratch pad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I finished off the HQ Fine Stroke Sketch Draw that I picked up from Philadelphia based discounter Five Below. The price was right, and I liked the pad’s size of 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches as well as the wire … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49,16],"tags":[4274,312,9,5323,310,907,5597,3661,5,5655,25,5482,5457,480],"class_list":["post-40850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-it-came-from-the-sketchbook","category-sketch","tag-cheap","tag-comic","tag-comics","tag-discount","tag-doodle","tag-drawing","tag-five-below","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-scratch-pad","tag-sketchbook","tag-sketchbook-from-heaven","tag-sketchbook-from-hell","tag-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-aCS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37574,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2022\/05\/17\/heaven-on-5-a-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":0},"title":"Heaven on $5 a day?","author":"Joe","date":"May 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever since my wife picked up a cheap, wire-bound, scratch pad from a Target store for me as a Christmas gift, I now take cheap sketchbooks seriously. Throughout the years I may have bought every name brand of artist drawing pads available in art supply stores, but nothing has brought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Illustration"","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/18x12-pad-cheap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/18x12-pad-cheap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/18x12-pad-cheap.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":40370,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/04\/04\/a-sketchbook-not-from-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":1},"title":"A Sketchbook Not from Heaven","author":"Joe","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The sketchbook made for the shelves of Philadelphia based discount chain Five Below is coming in below my expectations. I've had a lot of luck with the cheap, juvenile sketchbooks that I have received as gifts from Target, but they have not carried them in years. I think the Out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/IMG_0908-205x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40314,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/03\/28\/arrivederci-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":2},"title":"Arrivederci Sketchbook","author":"Joe","date":"March 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Out of This World Sketch Pad October 17, 2022 - March 26, 2023 I have put to rest what is probably the last of the novelty sketchpads distributed by the Horizon Group USA to Target stores. At least it was the last that I had, and I haven't been able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/I-eat-a-lot-of-Oranges.jpg?fit=640%2C424&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/I-eat-a-lot-of-Oranges.jpg?fit=640%2C424&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/I-eat-a-lot-of-Oranges.jpg?fit=640%2C424&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45103,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/05\/13\/tiptoe-through-the-sketchbooks\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":3},"title":"Tiptoe through the Sketchbooks","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"May 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Having finished up the Canson XL Mixed Media Sketchbook, I am working here and there in a few different sketchbooks. The subject is still The Teenage Beast. As far as discount sketchbooks, the Ucreate sketchbook from Ticonderoga is a pretty decent pad of paper. I like how it takes inks.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/detail-Coming-Through-Part-Two.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/detail-Coming-Through-Part-Two.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/detail-Coming-Through-Part-Two.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":43849,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/10\/04\/so-long-cursed-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":4},"title":"So Long, Cursed Sketchbook","author":"Joe","date":"October 4, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Fuxi Sketchbook No. 2 of 2 5\/16\/23 - 10\/3\/24 I was finally able to put this disappointing sketchbook out of my misery. Why was it disappointing? Well, the size, price and the binding were right. It measured 5.5 inches by 8.5 inches and it was bound along the short side.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/psycho-apple-guy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":40404,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2023\/04\/11\/second-thoughts-on-a-cheap-sketchbook\/","url_meta":{"origin":40850,"position":5},"title":"Second Thoughts on a Cheap Sketchbook…","author":"Joe","date":"April 11, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I may get my $3.25 worth out of the terrible little sketchbook from discount chain Five Below after all. I have stubbornly refused to put it aside, and I continue to doodle in it as I sit on the couch with a cat and a spouse. It's been more miss\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Teenage-Werewolf-at-the-Reunion.jpg?fit=640%2C578&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Teenage-Werewolf-at-the-Reunion.jpg?fit=640%2C578&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Teenage-Werewolf-at-the-Reunion.jpg?fit=640%2C578&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}