REVIEW: Hahnemühle Report & Art Book

The first word that came to mind when I received my Report & Art Book from Hahnemühle was ‘sturdy’.  It’s thick with a fine-grained black hardcover, contrasting red stitching and a natural white paper.

I’ve been using one for several months, and I’ve found that this sketchbook doesn’t just look sturdy. It IS sturdy and the paper is suitable for almost any medium.  Let’s look closer at that.  I’ve made a video as well as written it all out for you. 

And after you read the review, you might want to hop over to my blog and look at the giveaway I’m holding, since it includes a Report & Art book.

Forgive the state of my fingers.  They’re stained and marked more often than not, I’m afraid.  I’m an artist, so I wear it like a badge of honor.

Specs

• Pages: 64 sheets; 128 pages
• Size: A5 (5.8 x 8.3″) & A6(4.1 x 5.8″)
• Weight: 130 gsm
• Cover: Fine-grain, hard bound, black, reporter style
• Paper color: Natural-white, acid free, age resistant
• Binding: Sewn signatures
• Elastic Band, Elastic pencil holder, back pocket
• Paper described as ‘hard-wearing’

Report & Art Book – Look and Feel

The sketchbook has a fine-grain black cover with a contrasting red stitching on three sides and rounded edges at the bottom.  It comes in two sizes, A5 and A6.

The elastic band fits snugly, keeping the book closed securely, but not cutting into the edges.  It’s a cosmetic thing, but it always disturbs me when you get those dents where the band squeezes the cover.

The band is inset into the back of the book.  The Hahnemühle rooster is debossed on the back of the Report & Art Book as well – the only decoration other than the red stitching.

You can see the grain highlighted in this photo.

The pen band is a good size to carry most pens and pencils, stretching enough to carry a water brush or a fat pen, though if you did that for long, I think it would stretch permanently.

There is a back pocket with the opening toward the inside edge, making it very deep and very secure.

The binding is sewn with even stitching, and like the rest of the book it’s sturdy.  Because the paper is sewn into signatures, if you decide to cut out a page, the other half may come out as well.  This isn’t really a book meant for you to remove pages.  That said, I did it, just to see if I could.  The paper tears easily enough with care, but it isn’t likely to tear accidentally.

Because the book is thick, it doesn’t fold over completely flat, but with a reporter-style book you don’t really need to fold it over completely. 

You can let it hang free, or just push down a bit with a finger while you sketch in portrait orientation.

It also makes it easy to use the book in landscape. The pages have a bit of spring to them but the book lies flat.

The cover’s edges extend past the body.  I like that for carry because it helps protect the paper, but I admit that I like the look when the cover’s edge is flush with the text.

The paper in the Report & Art Book is a natural white, acid free, and age resistant with enough tooth for pencil and paint, but smooth enough for pen. It’s 130 gsm and fairly stiff, like a cardstock, though the surface texture is nothing like cardstock. It’s more likely to crease than to wrinkle if bent sharply.

All though it is called a sketchbook, the paper works well for many mediums.  It isn’t quite as heavy as many mixed media papers are, but it can certainly be used for mixed media.

Performance

The first thing I do with a book I intend to review, is try out as many mediums as I have on hand.  The paper did well with all of them.  It even worked with masking fluid.

Only the permanent marker and alcohol marker bled through. Those are the usual culprits and I would have been very surprised if they hadn’t. The fountain pen did not bleed through, and I would call this paper fountain pen friendly. Having said that, some inks in some pens will bleed through – this I know from experience – and there is enough tooth that writing with a fountain pen would not be as smooth as some people prefer.

This kind of test is limited, of course.  The real proof of the pudding comes from doing art! So, I did art!

Technical pen in various point sizes. 

Technical pen and milk-colored gel pens.

Technical pen and colored pencils.

Technical pen, fineliners and water-based markers.

Watercolor sketches.

Watercolor with several glazes.  If the paper gets too wet some pilling (little bits of paper coming loose) occurs and the painting becomes overworked very quickly.  Both are to be expected since this isn’t a true watercolor paper.  The paper curls while wet, but doesn’t dimple as much as I expected, and it dries quite flat if you weight it down afterward.  Simply closing the book and using the band is enough to do that.

Fountain pen ink.

 

This is another fountain pen ink painting that I did as an example on the video.

 

Even where I saturated the ink, wet-into-wet, there was almost no buckling or wrinkling.  There was some curling, but not enough to make the ink pool.

After the ink dried, I drew on it with a fountain pen.  The nib didn’t catch or tear even though the paper had been very wet.

Overall

The Hahnemühle Report & Art book is a great choice for sketching, art journaling, tangling and light watercolor.  The top-fold format makes it convenient to sketch while standing.  It looks sturdy and it is sturdy.

I’m having a giveaway at my blog for a Hahnemühle A6 Report & Art Book, a sampler pack of Hahnemühle Bamboo mixed media paper and a 6-pack of Zebra Zensations Technical Pens and last week’s winner donated the copy of Alice Hendon’s Tangle Planner:Into the Future, because she had a copy.

Art supplies used in this review:

• Hahnemühle Report & Art sketchbook A5
• Jacques Herbin 1798 Anniversary Ink – Cornaline D’Egypt
• J. Herbin 1798 Anniversary Ink – Amethyste de L’Oural 
• J. Herbin Fountain Pen Ink – 30 ml Bottled – Vert Olive
• Molotow GRAFX Masking Fluid Pump Marker, 4mm
• Zebra Zensations Fineliners
• Zebra Zensations Technical Pen
• Zebra Zensations Mechanical Colored Pencils
• Zebra Milk Colored Gel Pens
• Zebra Pen PM-701 Permanent Marker
• Zebra Zensations Fountain Pen
• Zebra Zensations Brush Pen, Medium Brush Tip, Black
• Zebra Mildliner Highlighter
• Zebra Mechanical Pencil, Tect 2way, 0.3mm
• Uniball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
• Schmincke Horadam Aquarell Half-Pan – 12 colors
• Sakura Gelly Roll Pen Set
• Tombow Dual Brush Pen Set, 9 Pastel Colors
• Higgins Black Magic Ink Pump Marker, Waterproof, 1mm 

Hahnemühle has been producing paper at the same place for more than 430 years. They have a high commitment to sustainability.  You can follow their blog for alerts to giveaways, contests, events, artists and new releases.

Disclaimer: I received the A5 copy of the Hahnemühle Report & Art Book for the purposes of this review.  Another A6 copy was sent for the giveaway at my blog.  I received no other considerations, though this post contains affiliate links which help support the Doodlewash Community features. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Sandra Strait

I’m a self-taught artist who dances about with all sorts of artistic mediums. My main loves are Watercolor, Zentangle and Ballpoint pen. The subjects of my work are many and varied and change at whim. I’m a little bit crazy, but doesn’t that come with being an artist? I post Reviews and Tutorials here on Doodlewash.

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