Project: Botanical Patterns in a Sketchbook: Conquer the Blank Page course

I enjoyed this course a lot! I started out with the wrong sketchbook paper, but once I switched, it was so much easier to work with the paint pens. I do worry a bit about the drawings being too much Polina's style, but in my experience, the more I work with the medium and the technique, the more it will change and "become me"! :) So all I need to do is just keep drawing! :D

Note regarding materials: I used Posca pens. I started with a Midori passport-size sketchbook insert for my Traveler's Notebook. Do not do this :) That paper EATS Posca ink, and made the pen tips all fuzzy. (The fuzz wipes off, though.) I switched to a Moleskine Volant in XS, figuring it would have similar paper to Polina's older Moleskines. It was so much better than the Midori (I love Midori, otherwise -- but not for this project!). The paper IS thin but works well and the Poscas just glide over it. You can see darker colors a bit on the back, but that gets covered up by the next illustration anyway, so it's not an issue at all.

The only flaws with the Volant are that it has fewer pages and a soft cover, and each page is perforated, which can let a little ink through. I didn't find it to be a huge problem, though. The Volants are inexpensive and I am happy with them.

Another thing about the XS notebooks -- they are tiny, like Polina's notebooks. This is good because you don't have to use as much paint! Those pens are expensive, so get as many drawings as you can out of them! :D