Review: Daler Rowney Cartridge Paper Pads

When I was an undergraduate and dabbling in art, I had a main sketchbook from Daler, where I would doodle. Fast forward 30 years later when I ventured back to drawing, I dug them up. The cover of the cartridge pad was yellow with age but the inside sheets were surprisingly intact. I used the remainder of the sketchbook for my Spain art project. 

This was right smack during the Circuit Breaker period where non-essential shops were closed, so when I finished up the last page of the cartridge pad, I was pretty desperate. Art Friend was closed, so was Popular Bookstore. 

After some searching online, I bought a new sketchbook from Jackson's Art Supplies in UK. At that point, I didn't know what sort of paper to get, so I stuck with what I knew. Daler is now Daler Rowney, and they have pretty much the same item from 30 years ago, just repackaged! Smooth cartridge paper, 130gsm.

Comparison: then and now

Since I was making a purchase, I also decided to try an upgrade: a 160gsm fine grain cartridge pad.

Price-wise, these pads are very affordable. They're slightly more expensive from Jackson's Art cos you have to pay for shipping, but in normal times, you can get them from Art Friend. The Fine Grain is only S$10.70 and the Smooth under $10, which make them great value considering they have 30 sheets each.

For ink and markers, these work well. I prefer the slight grain in Fine Grain as it gives a nicer texture to the drawings. The paper is also whiter than the Smooth Cartridge, which is off-white. For comparison's sake, I'm posting two pics here of the Eiffel Tower. The top is done on Smooth Cartridge and the bottom on Fine Grain. (The whiteness of the paper doesn't come through well in the photo).

They hold up well even with a few layers, though with the Smooth Cartridge, I would place a backing sheet underneath as it can bleed through. While these pads serve marker art well, they unfortunately falls short when it comes to coloured pencil. Coloured pencil ends up looking very flat on this paper. I tried a few times and each time, it turned out less than satisfactory.

So for me, this paper is a good budget choice if you're using pen and ink, pencil or markers.