#i think tevis and shin would've get along well

[sylenth-l]

May I ask what paper you are using, especially for ink and/or markers? I'm struggling to find some good paper that would be good for water shading & wouldn't make ink lines fuzzy and just can't seem to get it right. Hope I'm not bothering you ;w;

Now I mostly draw in my new Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook (almost everything I've posted starting from this candal is drawn there). I don't use it for that long as you can see, but I love this paper so far - it handles all kinds of pens, markers and light ink washes extremely well. For example, here's two headshots, on is done with Copic markers and the other with Diamine ink. Personally, I think they both look nice, even though the ink did feather a bit in some places where I used too much of it. But since my sketches are always a big mess to begin with, I'm like eh, whatever, as long as it's not a huge black blot right on the face, I'm good, lol

And here are some ink swatches I did in this sketchbook. I was pleasantly surprised that inks show sheen and chromatography on this paper (like Sailor Yamadori and Souten or Diamine Earl Grey and Sailor Shigure). It's not super bright, but it's clearly there. Believe me, it doesn't work on just any paper, a lot of paper I tried worked great with markers or general ink washes, but has eaten any ink's sheen and/or chromatography completely.

Epsilon paper is 150 gsm, but they have the exact same paper in 300 gsm, named Zeta. So if you're into a lot of layering and/or heavy washes, it'll probably be better for you. I have a small Zeta sketchbook as well; I used it here for the blue ink sketches, for example. I knew I'll have to use a lot of ink to get that red sheen showing up and it worked rather well. 

Before that I used a Clairefontaine Age Bag notebook - afaik it's meant for writing, not drawing, but it has very smooth, super pleasant paper perfect for any kind of pen. This paper is only 90 gsm though, so it can't be used for ink washes and it doesn't take a lot of marker layering well. But it's sooo good for simple sketches (kinda like this), I wish they had this paper available in at least 150 gsm and also in a stiched B5 sketchbook... Sigh.  

As for more ~serious~ ink artworks I use Baohong 300 gsm 100% cotton paper either cold pressed or hot pressed. If I need some fancy watercolor effects ilke this or this, I go for a cold press, and if I need smooth surface and clean flat washes like this, my choice will be hot press. I can recommend this paper wholeheartedly, it's very affordable for a 100% cotton paper and feels super good at work. They have some sketchbooks available as well, but mine is a custom made B5 sketchbook with a mix of cold and hot pressed paper inside. B5 is perfect for me, I can't really use any other size of sketchbook anymore OTL

For fun, here's a comparison of the exact same ink on Epsilon and Baohong cold pressed paper:

Out of cellulose paper, my favorite is Canson Montval 300 gsm watercolor paper, I drew at least half of Inktober 2019 stuff on it, I think, and it's also good with chromatographic inks, maybe even a bit better than Baohong. 

And don't worry, you're not bothering me at all! I love to talk about art materials 💙