Having done digital art as a hobby for over 10 years, I've started doing art with physical mediums. I'm no expert and I have a narrow taste. I tend to draw/paint nature scenes, usually with mountains, and nighttime/space scenery. I do have some black canvases that I'm saving, since I'm finding painting with an actual brush and airbrush is very different compared to using a stylus. But I don't want to use up a bunch of black paint for nighttime/space scenery as I practice. This paper perfectly addresses that, and for the most part it works well with mediums. For writing utensils, I was shocked to find that watercolor colored pencils work VERY well on this paper. Charcoal colored pencils and pastels really pop on this paper when bright colors are used. I've got some calligraphy marker pens that I used in mixed medium art, and they show well on this paper, but they don't pop the way watercolor/charcoal colored pencils do. Like the marker pens, standard colored pencils do show, but don't pop. To my great disappointment though, my favored gel pens really don't show too well on this paper. I really have to scribble to get them to show on this paper, and I was looking forward to using my neon gel pens on this paper. Fineliner pens do not work at all on this paper. However, mine are largely dried up from lack of use, so I could be wrong about the fineliner pens. As for paint, again, you'll want to use brighter colors, though dark colors like blue and purple can really add some sweet, subtle depth on this paper when used right. I've only used my airbrush on this paper, and while the paper did curl and lift a little, none of the paint bled. Still, I'd be wary of using watercolor on this paper, especially if you prefer wet-on-wet painting. Heavily thinned acrylic or oil paints might soak and bleed through as well. Overall, I'm really happy with this paper. It's a true, semi-gloss black and the paper is fairly sturdy. Since I prefer corner-taping my paper to my desk for art, I appreciate the fact that the papers are perforated in the book, so with a bit of care, you can cleanly tear out pages from the pad. If I still need black paper once I use this up, I'll be back for more!
