Bancroft Technique

Cass Art Heavy Weight Pad- Best budget paper for beginners to professional Artists (hands down)

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This is a break down of the best….. in my opinion….the best budget fine art paper in the heavy weight class.

The Cass Art pad is delicious. Perfect for beginners who need a sturdier surface to create on.

To professional boogie ARTISTS…. (yassss boogie gang!!) who desire a dependability and reliabilty from their fine are paper.

Hun I really hope post you will provide you with all the deets you need to make the best choice for your requirements or next project.

Next time I do a fine art pad review I can drop the post into your inbox. Give me your email address. I’ll update you whenever I drop a new video review. To do that click right here.

Sweating + dry mouthed during the hottest and most stressful first few months of the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown….. I filmed this paper review.

Coz there wasn’t a single YouTube video review properly review, dedicated to breaking down this pad.

Not even Cass Art thought it necessary to inform their loyal paying patrons.

I know……cray cray!!

Honestly….. I’m offended.

So I ask every ARTIST who finds this video of value, to kindly share this post….here is the link to do just that.

Sharing really helps to boosts my motivation to do more reviews, puts a big old smile on my cute face lol…

….more importantly sharing this post helps peeps in the creative community get some useful information.

What’s most important to you??

Cost
Size
Weight
Tone of the paper
Grain
Media
How white the paper actually is??

In the video, I review all these attributes.

Don’t have time to read this whole post, here are some points to time stamps if you are in a rush

7.47 >> how this fine are paper handles Faber Castell polychromos pencils
8.07 >> how is this supa white sketch pad??
drawing ink junkie? Jump to 10.01 , this paper absorbs Indian ink so well.

COST/SIZE… if you broke, or prefer to be diligent with your monnies this paper might be the right bet for you.

When it comes to shopping for art supplies, I’m hella boogie… I buy from older than dirt- luxury brands.

STANDARD!! Lol.

However, I’m open to saving money. Especially if I’m gonna be producing a shit tone of art in one go.

Like say a large series of work.

And it was that very scenario, which led me to one of my favorite cartridge paper in the market.

In an effort to feel more confident self validating myself, to rewire some long term limiting beliefs about my art, I set myself a challenge.

To produce 1 painting / drawing each day for 100 days…..that’s 4 months for the math hatters in the back.

I named the challenge Mission 100.

You can watch some of the videos:

All 100 pieces of art laid out……click here

Work in progress of my Big cats, and my 100th day. Watch the playlist here.

I have another blog, it for the fashion label . Click here to see all the 100 days of my art.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to experiment with media I’d only heard about.

Okay…..I ONLY wanted to experiment with gouache….I wanted to gouache sooooo bad dude. I didn’t know gouache was even a thing before 2016.

When I became aware of how similar this shit is to my beloved watercolour….. in all ways….except you can layer it up….LAYER IT UP…..like acrylic pain? Essentially- being an opaque watercolour????

God damn yesssss, I wanted dip my brush in that mess- and slap it about 🙂

***Cough.

I digress…. ***** fans her hot flushe cheeks…

….so the mediums I also used during the 100 days….

Pencil -my ultimate jam! Especially my wood less graphite babies….owwwweee.

I love me some drawing inks, I’m married watercolour, (well we were married, until gouache gave me the eye and broke us up. But the true love never can never be broken.

Sooo all that art porn, meant I required a paper which could handle weight.

Fortunately- this cartridge paper from Cass Art held up, coz at the time I was even more broke , than I am now.

This beautiful paper is one of the cheapest, high quality surfaces in the game.

Depending on which format you prefer to work on, the cost of this paper can range from approx £4.50-£17.50 which works out to approx £0.18 – £0.74 per sheet.

You look faint….you want some water baby???

You can save a ton of money buy picking up a large size Heaveyweight sketch pad such as A3.

Even more savings if you purchase the largest size- which is A2.

The sheets are gummed, for easy clean removal and easel use. Each pad has 25 sheets of FSC paper.

Cass Art’s delivery time is pretty decent too.

Hold on, before you put this pad in your basket…

WEIGHT…..

To the touch, the quality of this cartridge paper is undeniable

The thick acids free, archival sheets, are 200gms.

And in my experience, capable of handling light washes of acrylic. Yes the paper will try to buckle, but I do have a hack for keeping paper flat. I’m happy to share my hack with you. Give me your email address. Click right here to do that.

Later I’ll go a deeper into the how well Cass Art handles different media,but first….

….unlike designer brand say Daler & Rowney who always provides the ARTIST with an illustrated key of the numerous wet and dry media….smack bang on the top of the cover of all their pads.

Cass don’t have time for dis this noise.

Nope.

You have to visit their website to get these deets.

it’s excellent for drawing with pencils, charcoal and marker pens, but this thicker version also allows you to use watercolours and even acrylics.
Cass Art website – Cass Art Heavy weight pap description

TONE OF THE PAPER….

95% of my respect for this paper, is based on how fucking white it is.

Coz, my eternal search is for optically- a brilliant white, cartridge paper, I can safely draw my shit on, that gives me the option to sell as prints.

And if you’ve ever tried to scan artwork created on, warm toned paper, you know how grey-ish it looks when it’s scanned.

Optically white paper- doesn’t do grey- making it perfect for turning original art into prints….professionally printed by a company, or using your in house studio printer.

Colours lay niiiiiiiiice on this brilliant white paper.

In the video I demo this too.

Coz guessing about paper, is supa draining.

Maybe you’d like to know about other fine art papers I review? This is where you can sign up to read about the brands I use and review.

So I mentioned at the top of this post, that searching for brilliant white paper, during the first Covid Lockdown in 2020 , was and continues to be the inspiration for filming cartridge paper reviews for ARTISTS.

During filming I realized I needed a way to ARTISTS , how bright each companies’ paper was. Coz, again guessing, is a total drain on us ARTISTS.

So I devised a neat test to do just that. My ‘How White Is The Paper’ test is a simple system I feel an ARTIST can make sense of.

To see the results Jump to 8.07 in the video.

DRY/WET MEDIA….

On their official website, Cass Art explains what this paper is suitable for- here it is again

it’s excellent for drawing with pencils, charcoal and marker pens, but this thicker version also allows you to use watercolours and even acrylics.
Cass Art website – Cass Art Heavy weight pap description

During my Mission 100 – I used this paper for approximately the first 10 days.

Your girl went cray cray on this. I threw so much shit at it.

So satisfying.

In my personal experience along with the media stated by Cass, drawing inks , ink pens (such as biro), as well as Epson printer ink can also be supported by the heavy weight too.

At 7.17 I show you how this Cass Art sketch pad handles Epson inks + added with layers Windor & Newtons inks / watercolour paints.

These pencils are what I use to demo the grain of the paper . My old Galaxy Note 4 I used to film, the review, didn’t the high resolution of that of my trusty Samsung S7 Edge to capture great detail.

GRAIN

There is a tooth to this paper. I have an example of which makes this visible @ 3.57.

The grain, is why I think this paper would make, for visually striking work using deep dark graphite pencil tones.

My only issue with the Cass Art Heavy Weight paper….

….. is that I can’t buy it from Amazon, to get that sweeeeeeeeeeet sweeet next day Prime shipping.

What paper have you been thinking about using for your next project? Comment below dude!!

***FYI all links are affliates

Need to compare the pad from Cass Art to the Daler Rowney Heavy Weight pad??

Shantell.x

Are you caught up??

The only channel on YouTube on failure and running a clothing brand from the perspective of a Self-Compasionist . Click right here.

Daler Rowney sketchpad – What D+R won’t tell you about their HeavyWeight option

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FAILING IN YOUR BIZ? CLICK HERE FOR HELP ON HOW TO COPE WITH THOSE FEELINGS

In this review I break down everything the boogie ARTIST needs to know before she spends her hard earned monnies on a fresh pad of fine art Heavy Weight cartridge paper from Daler+Rowney.

Hun- I really hope this helps you make a decision on whether this is the right cartridge pad for your next project.

Next time I do a fine art pad review I can drop the post into your inbox. Give me your email address. I’ll update you whenever I drop a new video review. To do that click right here.

I find it offensive that the D+R company haven’t taken the initiative to make any vids or articles on this sketchpad.

This may also shock you….

….before I sat sweating + dry mouthed to film this review, during the hottest and most stressful first few months of the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown…..

…..there wasn’t a single YouTube video review, dedicated to breaking down this fine art paper

I know……cray cray!!

So I ask every ARTIST who finds this video of value, to kindly share this post….here is the link to do just that.

Sharing really helps to boosts my motivation to do more reviews, puts a big old smile on my cute face lol…

….more importantly sharing this post helps peeps in the creative community get some useful information.

What’s most important to you??

Cost
Size
Weight
Tone of the paper
Grain
Media
How white the paper actually is??

In the video, I review all these attributes. I also show how this fine are paper handles drawing inks and graphite pencil. Jump to 9.14 .

Are you in need of a supa white sketch pad??

Coz I devised a simple test to show you how ‘white’ Daler + Rowney Heavyweight paper really is. Jump to 12.20 in the video to watch that.

COST/SIZE…as long as you are not on a strict a budget, this paper might be the right bet for you.

When it comes to shopping for art supplies, I’m hella boogie… I buy from older than dirt- luxury brands.

STANDARD!! Lol.

However, I’m not above doing a small search for the best deals online when I need to restock.

That being said, I generally stick to purchasing fine art paper from Cass Art, as well as a couple other select art shops I have come to trust over time.

The Daler + Rowney brand is the Gucci of the art supply industry so don’t go wasting your time doing hours of surfing online for cheap cheap deals.

Depending on which format you prefer to work on, the cost of this paper can range from approx £8.00-£20.00 which works out to approx £0.32 – £0.80 per sheet. As this D+R are Gucci baby….. you can easily find the heavy weight online at big brands like Cass Art, Jackson Art, Great Art.

If you like free shipping….

….ha who doesn’t

At the mo Great Art is offering freeee-nesss on shipping over £34.95 on small items.

You can save a ton of money buy picking up a large size Heaveyweight sketch pad such as A3.

Even more savings if you purchase the largest size- which is A2.

The sheets are gummed, for easy clean removal and easel use. Each pad has 25 sheets of FSC paper.

Cutting larger sheets down to your preferred size is a quick money saving job!!

Cass Art’s delivery time is pretty decent. Prepping for Inktober, I purchased the A4 size pad from Amazon. That shit got to me in less than 48hrs. Well, that kinda speed can’t be beat.

Hold on, before you put this pad in your basket…

WEIGHT…..

To the touch the quality of this cartridge paper is undeniable.

The thick acids free sheets are 220gms /135bls.

In my experience, also capable of handling light washes of acrylic. Yes the paper will try to buckle, but I do have a hack for keeping paper flat. I’m happy to share my hack with you. Give me your email address. Click right here to do that.

Later I’ll cover exactly which media Daler + Rowney suggest, for this weight of paper but first….

….at the top of the pad, on the front cover, there are illustrations of the numerous wet and dry media you can play with on their HeavyWeight pad.

TONE OF THE PAPER….

The sharp contrast of dark Windsor&Newton Indian Ink on a clean white sheet of paper, is a beauty second to none.

Although this paper, isn’t quite white.

There is an old timey quality to it’s tone.

Less brilliant white, more archival. It makes me think of the warm, slightly yellow substrate Leonardo da Vinci would illustrate his inventions and life drawings on.

This will be a huge disappoint to you if a brilliant white pad is what you are searching for.

And…. if scanning your art work , to produce prints was also on your plans.

Forget it.

Scanning this paper will create a grey-ish, off white look to your scanned finished work.

(unless you okay with that, then scan away dude).

However, the tone of this paper is quite special, and will add a natural aged look to original artwork.

In the video I demo this too.

What first inspired my idea to make review vids on fine art cartridge paper, was my personal need for a brilliant white paper , in a very large format, with a soft/medium grain for pencil work.

Hours reading many terrible descriptions below many different brands of paper. I came to this conclusion.

The companies which sell art paper, don’t give two flying monkeys about the need of the ARTIST.

Unless the paper, was black, coloured, or made by Strathmore,

the description of the fine art paper read as ‘white paper’….

….but us boogie ARTISTS, we know better, we know there is….

…..white, white, and then white paper.

And that’s why we make our scared trips to our chosen art shop, to spend hours poring over paper.

So we can truly determine the ‘white’ for ourselves, and leave with the items we need.

Online leaves to much guess work.

Guessing is draining.

Our art is only as good as the quality of the products we invest our hard earned monnies into.

It’s necessary to the success of our art, that online retailers take more careful consideration, to write product descriptions in mind of the artists requirements.

Coz Art ain’t a cheap interest.

Some shit be real pricey.

A mediocre product description is a both a time and money waster.

Sigh.

There is something so un-natural to an ARTIST about shopping online, for paper we have had no prior experience with.

Maybe you’d like to know about other fine art paper I review? This is where you can sign up to read about the brands I use and review.

Feeling dishearten by my time sucking online searches for a clear indication of the brightness of D+R papers (and of other brands too) , I included in the video exactly which ‘white’ the HeavyWeight would be giving you to work with, with a simple test.

My ‘How White Is The Paper’ test is a simple system I devised to demo the tone this fine art paper.

To see the results Jump to 12.24 in the video.

DRY/WET MEDIA….

The illustrations, at the top of the front cover, of the pad, are of a Pencil Nib, Fountain Nib, Head of a Brush , and a Block of, what in all my years of buying paper from Daler & Rowney, I’ve thought, to be, a block of Charcoal.

Recently I discovered the block is supposed to indicate pastel.

Ha!

On their official website, D+R explain that this paper is suitable for- and I qoute

pencil, brush,pen and pastel…..and takes light watercolour and acrylic work extremely well…..

The following is how I have always thought of as media I could play with using the Heavyweight.

PENCIL= pencil, coloured pencil

BRUSH= Light wash , this may include watercolour, gouache, diluted ink

RRETANGLE BLOCK = charcoal, pastel

NIB = fine liner, drawing inks

Also at 10.28 I show you how this Daler + Rowney HeavyWeight sketch pad handles my awesome-suace graphite pencils.

These pencils are what I use to demo the surface of the paper . My old Galaxy Note 4 I used to film, the review, didn’t the high resolution of that of my trusty Samsung S7 Edge to capture great detail.

However, this point in the review where I do a pencil test to make out the grain, is still worth a watch….

….coz, to the touch, it’s possible to mistake this cartridge paper as having no tooth to it at all.

It’s smooth, with the slightest texture. A pencil rubbing makes this visible @ 10.28.

And is also the reason why I think this paper would make for visually striking work using deep dark graphite pencil tones.

Are a drawing ink junkie? Jump to 10.01 , this paper absorbs Indian ink so well.

As I was finishing up writing this post, I made a few visits to D+R offical website, to see how the company describes this paper option.

I noticed two things.

1# this section….jumped out at me…

backed by a sturdy 2mm grey board so there’s no need for an additional drawing board.

Who are they getting feed back from, to make such a claim???

No need for an additional drawing board??

C’mon, really??

Yes the grey board is thick, with some sturdy-ness, but how would using the board for support, be convenient for the every day ARTIST?

So what, tear of a sheet, then turn the whole pad over??

Proper drawing support, happens at an angle. This is to ensure that the subject being drawn doesn’t end up as a distorted mess on your paper. Correct proportions are achieved with the paper supported by stiff board, on a slight upward angle.

A drawing board’s whole purpose.

Grey board is not adequate support by itself because the board will bend or bow in the middle if lent at an angle on say a stack of books.

2# Ha, this is new….

…off-white cartridge paper…

My whole entire beef with D+R rests on their lack of providing adequate attention to writing detailed info of its fine art paper, or providing video demos of the papers being used. I have visited their website multiple times in 2020.

I’ve never seen any explanation on the tone of the HeavyWeight pad…. until now.

Ha, well maybe someone official watched my video and felt a touch of remorse.