It’s Shark Week, which I weirdly look forward to every summer; I would be too terrified to swim with them so that’s not my fascination. I think it’s the fact that they’re such ancient creatures and are still roaming the seas!
In today’s video testing, I decided to create different types of sharks in different styles – and I’ll be making more sharks all week on social media so be sure to come join me!
Fundraiser!
I’m raising money this week for Sea Shepherd to save sharks and other marine wildlife – with a Great White Shark Pair printable! 100% of the proceeds will go to the charity this week!
Thanks to Etched for offering me a free sketchbook to test – and for providing a discount for YOU, too! I’m going to go buy more because this paper was a lot of fun.
Get 10% off your purchases at Etched with coupon code SANDY10
Tutorial/Testing: Etched Stone Paper Sketchbook
I’m grateful to Etched for sending me this sketchbook to test out, I love having new toys to play with! It’s going to be fun to continue the experiments in coming weeks, mostly on instagram. Stay tuned for more!
Watch the video below or click HERE to see it on YouTube and leave comments over there.
Test results
Graphite
Big win. I loved the smooth feel of the paper, ease of blending, and the richness that the paper pulls out from my 9B! And subtle tone changes are very possible too…..and it erases back to white just perfectly! It made my Great White Shark come out super.
Colored Pencil
…meh? I started with the blending solution (gamsol) and thought I’d create a bit of water around the shark but….that just looks dirty now. The eraser does work on things like the teeth – but not as well as with graphite. Maybe I overworked the heck out of it, I’m not really sure. But…that led to making this Mako Shark into Grandpa Mako! He just needed glasses to finish him off.
Copic Marker
Alcohol marker was pretty much a fail. I suspected that, and was proven right; alcohol markers blend within the fibers of paper, and this stone paper keeps all the medium up on the surface. If you’re one who’s bothered by your markers bleeding through your paper, that’s what makes them blend well! I’ve used some very thick papers in hopes of finding something that wouldn’t bleed, but that causes layers to start building up and getting sticky on the surface….so use papers that let the ink bleed. And not this stone paper. lol.
Alcohol Inks
Alcohol inks, however, LOVE papers like this! And unlike the Yupo I often use, I didn’t have to worry about the ink staining the paper in that first drop…it instantly moved the color without leaving a stain behind! I decided to combine the inks with fountain pen just to see what the pen feels like on this paper and dang.. ..so smooth! Just be careful since the ink stays wet a little longer than on absorbent papers. But you’ll get no feathering – which is fabby.
Watercolor
The final fail….eeep! One facet of this stone paper is that it repels water. So, uh, yeah, no dice! I did see another artist use gesso then acrylic, so figured I’d test out using Watercolor Grounds first, but….still not much of a success. But this test taught me a few things:
- Light heat gun can work, but keep it away from the surface. It’ll melt!
- I really want to paint this on paper.
What else should I test in this sketchbook? Let me know your ideas!
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
- Etched Stone Paper Sketchbook (use code SANDY10 for 10% off)
- Caran d’Ache Grafwood Pencil 9B
- Electric Eraser, Mont Marte
- Prismacolor pencils
- Prismacolor Hex Chart
- Gamsol Blending solution
- Copic Markers
- Copic Hex Chart
- Ranger Alcohol Inks
- TWSBI Eco Fountain Pen F
- Daniel Smith Watercolors
- Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Brush – Round 10
6 Comments
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I realy thought I commented here yesterday, don’t know what went wrong.
But if you deleted it because what I sayd about the enviroment, I’m sorry if I have offended you, that totally wasn’t my intention.
Love your awesome art you put in this book, especially the one with the alcohol ink and fountain pen.
Thank you so much for sharing your revieuw and the art, stay safe and have a wonderful day.
I didn’t delete it at all – it must not have saved the first time 🙂 Nothing about the environment would offend me…unless you say burning down our planet is fine. LOL
I thought so too Sandy but not a native English speaker so I can wrote something that was in my mind alright but in reality wasn’t. I never dare to ask you that and I don’t like fire LOL
I’ll be more careful from now on to make sure I’ve saved my post.
Have a wonderful day Sandy.
Love all of your sharks!
Thank you for testing all those mediums! I absolutely LOVE your alcohol ink page with your fountain pen. FANTASTIC!
I watched Vicky Papaioannou use a stone paper book for art journaling. It is amazing that acrylic paints do not bleed through the paper!
Hi, Sandy –
Have never heard of this type / brand of paper. Good video. Excellent shark drawings. I would say not to ruin any of these by pouring coffee or some other beverage on the sheet. However, I think the old Grandpa shark or the Copic shark would have to be the one to go…. if you MUST choose one. I think all five that you made are amazing and you remind me with each video that your talent is just incredible. You can always make an unbelievably good image on any surface using any medium. Just unreal.
Lori S in PA
p.s. THANK YOU for using “swum.” My students do not even believe me when I discuss various past tenses in language class and I sometimes use “swim / swam / has or have swum/ had swum,” etc. as examples. I regularly have them look it up because they’ve only heard “have swam.” (Blek! I get the willies just writing that, let alone hearing it aloud.)