The Etcetra sketchbook.

It makes up for its lack of vowel with its presence of elastic closure.

Etcetra Sketchbook
Etcetra Sketchbook

Lots of product benefit bullet points in there. I picked this one up from Kinokuniya in Singapore some time back. I think the brand is available in Fully Booked here in Manila.

Cloth covers always say "artist"
Cloth covers always say "artist"

The cover isn’t attached to the spine of the sketchbook itself. That makes it a sketchpad with a notebook-like cover, for the technical-minded among you.

A stealth sketchpad
A stealth sketchpad

The paper is very absorbent, and forgiving of amateur watercolorists who cannot resist just one more wash.

Now we have serpents
Now we have serpents

Colors wash over each other cleanly – I think it’s because the paper absorbs the liquid quickly, so that another color layered on top doesn’t blend with the previous one.

It looks better like this I think
It looks better like this I think

I wouldn’t recommend this sketchbook for fountain pen and ink – there’s too much tooth, and a fine nib lifts fibers easily. That being said, sometimes ink looks beautiful when it feathers.

Tooth and drag
Tooth and feather

Or perhaps it is just me, the seeker of silver linings.