Review: Top 7 Journals and how they respond to watercolor!

This was a really fun experiment. Personally, I am an avid watercolourist (watercolorist for our american friends who spell colour wrong :P), anyway! Finding a journal that works well with heavy water or watercolor has been challenging! SO SO Challenging. So – I took a page of the top journals I have and thought ok – lets see how they really go!

I conducted the watercolor tests with the wettest mediums I could find, ones that would purposely bleed really badly. SO I used the following, Watercolor pencils, Ecoline liquid watercolor, Ecoline brushpens, Prima Confections Watercolor, and finally Jane Davenport Watercolor Brushpens. I checked for how they bled, how they ghosted and how they buckled the page. Also a critical item to look at was how they looked on the page.

I decided to test the Rhodia Goalbook, The Lemome, Scribbles that matter, Fabriano, Moleskine, Kikki K Grid Journal, and finally they Leuchtturm.

If you were wanting the items I used in the test – they were available here from Amazon:

So lets get straight into it!

1. The Rhodia Goal Book

I found the paper very yellow in this, but really loved how it handled the wet ink, there was limited to no bleeding or ghosting.

2. Fabriano Note Book

I really like this, but the dots are much smaller than in spacing than the 0.5cm we are all used to. I am amazed that at 85gsm the paper did so well. Id say this was in my top 3 favorites and I really liked how the colours looked on the page too

3. Scribbles that matter

This was my first journal that I really liked, and overall it fares well but it buckles significantly under the water.

4. Leuchtturm

I actually really liked how the colour looked on the pages of the Leachtturm. It holds the colour well. The paper didnt love the water colour pencils and while it didnt buckle, the paper itself pilled somewhat.

5. Kikki.K Grid Journal

If you had read my previous review on this, it follows though here. Don’t love it. I wish I did. But I don’t.

6. Lemome

I got the Lemomes last week and I am in-love. Bit was actually surprised at how this faired. It is the highest quality paper in the group at 125gsm. While less yellow than the Rhodia it still faired really well.

7. Moleskine

oooooof. This was horrific. The bleed was insane. It just came straight through the paper. Unhelpfully so. Like a sieve. Would have to say this was my least favorite! BUT It ahs redeeming qualities (while being on the expensive side) it didnt buckle to much under the paper.

Overall?

Other than the page colour I would say its a close tie between the Rhodia Goal Book and the Lemome. I am now looking even more forward to using them!

So in order of preference our winners are:

1. Lemome
2. Rhodia Goal Book (it would have totally won if it wasn’t so yellow!)
3. Fabriano
4. Scribbles that Matter
5. Leuchtturm
6. Kikki K
7. Moleskine

If you want to have a look at them to buy – you can do so here: