Moleskine notebook are known to have great quality sketchbooks. Conveniently shaped, with durable paper, the moleskine sketchbooks never let me down. I'm not sure about other artists, but I am the sort of person who has a thought process of the nicer the book looks the nicer my pictures inside have to be. This can act as a hindrance to those trying to get quick sketches in. For this these books are fantastic.
For these particular notebooks, it should be noted that I suggest these as sketchbooks if you're ONLY going to be sketching. The paper is smooth, but contrary to what you'd expect, graphite will not wander around the paper, even if you rub your finger over it. A school I hope to attend requires a sketchbook as part of the application process, and I have always hated sketchbook sketchbooks due to the simple fact that three days after starting one my first picture would be blurred. After carrying these around for well over a month, even purposefully rubbing two pages together, the only smudges I found were from unpressed graphite pencils.
Pen should be avoided if you wish to use both sides of the paper. It is extremely thin paper, and even pigmented ink that lays on the surface only of the page will show through simply because of how thin the paper actually is. Pens that bleed through paper you might as well forget about now. With how sensitive the paper is to pen, it goes without saying that this paper will support absolutely no wet media.
Please note that many, including these, Moleskine notebooks contain eggshell/off-white pages. This could pose a problem for those of you that use colored pencils, chalk, or markers in your work. These are not the hard-covered or even soft-covered imitation leather journals. Thin,natural, undecorated card stock is all you get.
These are by far some of my favorites, because they easily become personalized with the doodles you are tempted to draw on the cover and you are not 'scared of drawing' because of the price of the notebooks themselves. Knowing you have two more stashed away after opening the package just makes the experience more enjoyable. For all of you artists out there, enjoy!