Sketching with Whimsy: My Adventures in ArtFox's A5 Sketchbook

Hello everyone!

I've got a few sketchbooks with a unicorn design, and I'm really enjoying them. The covers are all different, but the paper inside is always the same.

Mythical Creature

Brand: ArtFox. Country of origin: Russia (although it's possible it's made in China, since this brand has a lot of Chinese products). Price varies depending on the store. On average, it's around 150 rubles, with the cheapest option being 83 rubles at Apotek plus. Where to buy: You can find it in most stationery stores, both online and offline. I didn't buy it myself, it was a gift. Sketchbook design

This is a small A5-sized sketchbook (about the size of a school notebook) with a vertical orientation. ArtFox is known for their creative covers, and this one's no exception. The front cover is made of thin, melamine-coated cardboard, with a black design featuring a unicorn and some fun phrases.

Here are the exact dimensions:

14.8 × 21 cm

Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Always be yourself" (Little joys), A5, 40 pagesIt came in a packet with a glue flap, and there was a label and a sticker with a barcode, so I know where I bought it.There's a signing window on the front cover, like in notebooks. I guess that's for kids. Either way, it's cute. And yes, the inside is non-glossy, so even a basic ballpoint pen writes fine.

Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Always be yourself" (Little joys), A5, 40 pagesThe back is made of thick cardstock, so you can use the notebook as a sketchpad. And that's cool. Because before, I'd only come across ArtFox notebooks with either a thin backing or no backing at all. So, I was pleasantly surprised. Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Always be yourself" (Little joys), A5, 40 pagesBindingMy favorite section - "name the spring and you'll be fine". Yeah, that's the spring. Or, as they're called these days, the euro spring. It's a type of binding where the wire is bent into half-circles, so you can pull out any page without losing it.

Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Be Yourself" (Little Joys), A5, 40 pagesNumber of pages: 40. This is a lot, but because the paper is super thin, the book doesn't feel thick - I'd say it's maybe even less than a centimeter thick, so the spiral binding is really easy to turn.

The holes for the binding are square and nice and tidy. You can see the worn-out edge of the book after a year of use in the photo below.

Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Be Yourself" (Little Joys), A5, 40 pages The wire binding is coated with a white enamel, and the half-rings are nice and even. You can't see any rough edges on the wire, so it won't hurt your hands or tear the paper. Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Be Yourself" (Little Joys), A5, 40 pagesPaper descriptionThe paper is super white - no blue or yellow undertones, just a clean white surface. And the pages are thin, so you can easily cut yourself on the edge. Although they feel pretty dense, the density is actually one of the lowest:

Paper density, g/m2 - 100

Thanks to all this, the surface of the paper feels super smooth. I'd love to use this paper for sketch markers or something similar.

Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Be Yourself" (Little Joys), A5, 40 pagesBut if you take a closer look, it becomes clear that this isn't just any ordinary paper. It's actually pretty textured, with tiny little grains. And that's exactly what you'd expect from a drawing paper.On paper this thin, you can't use watercolors or ink, even acrylic paint is a no-go unless it's not too diluted. So, I'll show you which materials I think work best in this sketchbook. Sketchbook ArtFox on spiral "Be Yourself" (Little Joys), A5, 40 pagesUsing the sketchbookI usually use sketchbooks like this for quick sketches. You can't really draw a full portrait here, and wet media is out of the question, so I mostly do rough outlines or drafts to try out new writing materials.

I won't show you every page, but I'll demonstrate the materials I used. There are a lot of these, by the way, that I meant to transfer to heavier paper but never got around to it:

I've found that drawing portraits with a simple pencil is always a breeze and looks great. The quality of a normal pencil really suits paper like this. To be honest, when I draw multiple faces in a row using just a pencil, it can get a bit repetitive, so I don't do it too often. Felix art If you need a reference: Lee Felix On a whim, I tried to replicate some of sangine's work. It's a bit trickier here. Sangine's ink flows really well on any surface and stays on my hands. However, these smooth sheets just can't hold much pigment, and the texture is a bit too fine. So, you either need to add some extra details or use a thicker line to make it more expressive.

A Horse with Anemia Ink markers sit a bit steeper. Thin paper is easily colored with these inks. The only condition for successful drawing with these markers is to use a blotting paper. I've still got blotting papers from Darknote, and I've been using them ever since. Without blotting paper, the black color doesn't reach, but it's better to be safe than sorry. To be honest, it depends on the marker. This only works with black. Because it'll stay black anyway. Colorful and lighter shades, on the other hand, need to be layered to avoid streaks. And in that case, the sheet might get soaked more.

Drawing with a marker I've gotta say, these sheets are a winner when it comes to not being too 'wet'. The paper texture is surprisingly not loose, even though it's supposed to be. So, the ink doesn't bleed too much off the lines. But for the best results, you'll want to either use a hard pencil first to leave a little impression, or get a layer down with another color to create a barrier. I also had a blast with the crayons. I dug out my old coloring books and found a ton of crayons: regular wax crayons, and even polymer ones. And with those, it's a breeze to create. There's plenty of room for imagination in bright colors. I didn't create anything significant with them, but I realized that you can easily color with pastel crayons, even on thin paper.Especially with thick pastel crayons, they're even brighter and lay down smoother, and you won't lose any of that texture. Not a single smudge in sight - plus it's super smooth. I've found that the colored markers are a bit more subtle, but they do help smooth out the paper. So, it's really up to you to decide which pastel color works best. I love combining this pastel with my regular colored pencils and pens. I actually do the opposite - I start with a sketch, add some details with my pencils, and then finish it off with the pastel for some extra brightness. Owl drawing with pastel For example, here I've got an owl drawn with a brown pencil, a bit of brown pen for some added texture, and then covered in pastel. The blue is done with a piece of charcoal, and I added a white outline to the feathers. It's a bit cartoonish, but I really like it. Thanks to the paper for holding up so well to all the layers. Anyone who's ever used kid's pastel will know how thick it is - it's almost like a layer of modeling clay. And yet, it's all on this tiny sheet of paper. As you can see from the photos, the pages haven't even buckled upwards. Although, to be fair, I wouldn't normally expect a thin sheet of paper to hold up to all that scratching and shading.

Mythical Bird I was itching to draw something weird from mythology and urban legends lately. The same system: sketch, coloring, pastel, liner, highlights. Just like with the owl, there were tons of layers, the drawing was thick, the paper didn't buckle, warp, or show any feathering.

Mythical CreatureHere's the correction - the white is the eraser. And check out the thickness of the paper, it's still the same, and the pages haven't been affected. Mythical CreatureThat forest creature was way more fun to draw: Mythical CreatureOkay, so here's the feathers again, which I stuck on with super glue. The page didn't get soggy at all. Mythical CreatureThat one was a bit trickier, but it turned out great with charcoal. I used a mixture of powder (I collected the charcoal dust in a matchbox) and a charcoal pencil - I used more of that.First, I erased with a match, then I outlined with a gel pen, and finally I added a thick layer of white charcoal. Drawing an owl with charcoal I was going for a sketchy vibe, so I didn't worry too much about the background. I just roughed it in with some charcoal and then smoothed it out with a brush. The dust flying off the edges made it easy to erase any mistakes. Later on, I added some fixative, but if I was working on a thicker paper, I'd probably use hairspray instead – it's way more effective at keeping things in place.

My favorite part of the art process didn't get left out – I used a range of tools, from pencils and charcoal to permanent markers and disc markers, along with some trusty ballpoint pens. Bang Chan art These simple, monochromatic drawings were a fun experiment. I tried to see how quickly I could draw a face – I think I managed it in under two minutes. Sketching with a pen and pencil Sketching with a pen and pencilHonestly, there's not much to say here. The pen glides smoothly over regular paper, and even a faint layer of colored pencil shows up on a white background. That's all you really need. You can see from these photos that the paper doesn't warp, which is already half the battle.

Sketching with a pen and pencilIt's the same with the blue pen. By the way, the blue ink bleeds, leaves dots at the end of lines, and on the sketch, it's visible in some places. But even such ink didn't soak the paper through. Sketching with a pen and pencil Sketching with a pen and pencilI repeated my favorite sketch markers Touch. It was a bit unusual, I'd probably gotten used to them by now. I haven't used anything similar in a while. So, the first try was weird, adding pens and pencils. The paper, of course, didn't change, but I made some conclusions:

Dark sketch markers on this paper will lighten up over time, and in a portrait, that can be crucialIf you use colored jumbo pencils with sketch markers, they'll be 'on point', so either you need to blend better or replace them with regular pencils

I noticed that the markers in this sketchbook dry out way faster than the ones in thicker ones. And check out this notebook - it's the same size as a spiral binder, 20 cm. As I'm drawing with the marker from top to bottom, the top is already drying out. That can lead to smudging. So if you're buying this density for a kid who comes with these markers, grab a couple of zero-blend markers to smooth out the smudges.

Seo ChangbinForest creatureBog creatureWinter landscape with sketch markersWinter landscape with sketch markersDrawing with sketch markersReferenceI've been experimenting with this sketchbook, and I've got to say, it's a blast. I tried a new technique - I filled the entire page with a solid color background, any color I wanted, even pink. Then I used dark C or W markers to draw some wavy trees. Finally, I grabbed a big brush and splattered some acrylic paint onto the page. Add a few more details, and it looks like a scene from a park. I've also been creating winter landscapes with a holiday vibe - this one's my favorite. I've done a few more with sketch markers, and I'm really loving the results. The Magical Five-Horned DeerThere are only 6 layers of marker ink, and they vary everywhere. To be honest, that's still pretty modest compared to other sketches I've seen.I'm saying this because the paper gets a bit soggy, but it doesn't get completely ruined. You can still see the color from the other side, it's almost 100% transparent. But the next sheet doesn't seem to suffer from it for some reason. My eraser is almost completely clean. This is what I'll be in the future: Mythical creature And here's my BFF :D: Sketchbook doodle Just kidding, of course. These mythical creatures are actually super easy to draw. I've even gotten hooked - I want to make some of them into cards, but I'm not sure why. Mythical creature The most "vibrant" character drawn with sketch markers in this album: Forest creature My take on this sketchbook: "Be yourself" There's a saying - "There's no bad weather, just bad clothing." If we adapt that to our theme, it's "There are no bad sketchbooks, just the wrong pens." That's my take on it, and I've come to realize this a while back. If a piece of paper only works with one writing tool, then that paper was made for that tool.

This sketchbook has some obvious advantages:

I love the cover design, especially since it features unicorns!The hardcover is a great touch.There are plenty of pages to work with.The binding is super easy to use.The paper is smooth and bright.It's compatible with all sorts of writing tools, from pens to pencils.And of course, the price is a factor, especially when buying these notebooks for kids.

I didn't find any major downsides, but I do have one suggestion. Since Aet Fox is all about whimsical stationery, why not take it a step further? Maybe add some fun inserts, like stickers or a bookmark?

As it stands, I'm really happy with this notebook, and at this price point, it's a solid 5-star recommendation. If you're looking for a simple sketchbook, this is a great choice.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end! All good here.