Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Pad
Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Pad
A month or so ago, I received an email from Ann Kullberg, I write monthly reviews for Color Magazine and so Ann contacted me about a product they had been given to review. Clairefontaine had contacted Ann, asking if she could review the new paper by them and so Ann asked me if I would like to review it, which of course I was only too pleased to review.
After receiving this pad to review, taking into consideration the level of email and messages I get asking questions on different types of paper for various medium types and of course knowing the importance of using the right paper, I have decided to add more paper reviews into The Art Gear Guide schedule. I will be looking at mainly sketch pads, sketch journals, watercolor pads and journals and mixed media, all catering to specific medium types and demonstrating how various mediums react on the surfaces reviewed. As always, I will not be telling you which is the best paper or journal, I personally don’t think there is such a thing as an overall best paper, journal or medium for that matter, it is all subjective and very personal to the individual user. I will simply be supplying you with all the information and demonstrations, helping you to decide which paper might be best for the style of art you use and the medium type you prefer to use.
Clairefontaine is an incredibly popular name in the art world, however, I am sure if you have worked with pastels, you will absolutely be familiar with the name Clairefontaine. Clairefontaine are the masterminds behind Pastelmat surface for pastel artists and many colored pencil artists are also turning to on account of the many layers that can be achieved using this wonderful surface. Of course, Pastelmat is not the only product Clairefontaine produce, they cater to so many different artistic and stationary occasions, simply follow the link to see for yourself the wide array of Clairefontaine products.
Paint On Multi Techniques Pad Sizes and Specifics
The Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques pads come in quite a few different sizes, I was sent the A5, 5.8 x 8.3 inches, 14.8 x 21 cm, however I was really happy to discover that this pad comes in other sizes, most of which you are already familiar with, but I will explain my delight in discovering this further on in the review.
The other sizes available are A4, 8.3 x 11.7 inches, 21 x 29.7 cm / A3, 11.7 x 16.5 inches, 29.7 x 42 cm and the whopping A2, 16.5 x 23.1 inches, 42 x 59.4 cm. Each pad regardless of size comes with 40 pages, each page 115 lb, 250 GSM, incredibly sturdy paper, which I will demonstrate throughout this review, however, to actually see how the paper behaves when various mediums are applied, I have also included a video review and demonstration on my YouTube Channel, which might help you visually. Also, the paper is Acid Free, white and the binding of each pad is glued, which in my opinion makes for easy removal of the pages should you wish to frame your work once completed, or if you would like to open the pad flat on a surface and work on a two page spread, you can easily do this.
Clairefontaine Paint On Range
There are actually quite a few different pads in the Clairefontaine Paint On range, which I have to tell you, after testing and reviewing this particular Paint On Pad, I am definitely going to be trying. Given the quality of the paper that I will discuss in detail, the other pads in the Paint On range just look amazing.
The correct and full name of the pad in this review is the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques. Next in the Paint On range is Paint On Multi Techniques Naturel, the paper is Sand color, so like a Toned Tan color, lots of artists love using this color paper and although I can’t talk about this pad as I have not used it, the color looks gorgeous.
Next in the Paint On range is Paint On Multi Techniques à Grain, Paint On Multi Techniques Noir, Paint On Multi Techniques Gris, Paint On Multi Techniques Deckled Edge and they also have journal type pads in this range also. I know that is a lot of different papers to look at, but I think you will find it worth it once you finish reading this review. Obviously there are differences in each of the various pads as well as similarities, but I will talk more about those as and when I purchase the other pads and review them.
Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Testing
I’ve used Multi Media Pads before, by quite a few different companies and none of them compare to this Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques pad, but in fairness, technically, the pad I am reviewing is not really called a Multi Media Pad, more like Multi Media on steriods.
The paper itself is like thin card, you can immediately tell as soon as you take a piece of the paper between your fingers that it is hardy paper, ready to take and hold any medium fired at it. The surface of the paper is smooth, although you can clearly feel some texture when rubbing your finger over it. At first, you would be forgiven for describing the paper as smooth bristol board like, however, as you will come to see from my testing, this paper seems to react differently to each individual medium applied to it.
Alcohol Marker and Ink
If you have followed me for a while now, you will know that my own personal preference for art is alcohol markers, finalisers and colored pencils, however, due to the deceptively smooth surface of the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Technique paper, I wanted to see how it reacted to my Copic Markers.
Despite the smooth surface, I knew that this paper would not react the way true marker paper does, and that it would perhaps be quite absorbent. I wanted to try blending, and so I got three colors from he Copic range, and I only used these particular markers for the demonstration on account of their number system and ease of understanding the hue and saturation grades.
I started out with the darkest color, mid and then lightest, blending dark to light. I was incredibly surprised to see just how well the paper allowed the markers to blend. I was right a little bit about the absorbency of the paper, to finish a seamless blend, you do need to work a little bit fast than you would using true marker paper, but nothing too drastic. Never the less, the end results were gorgeous and quite unexpected.
When applying the marker, there was no featuring at all, which on almost every Multi Media paper I have used, there was some feathering. The marker ink did bleed through to the back of the paper a little bit, but not to the extent that it would stain the paper beneath.
I also tested marker over fine liner ink and this test was quite successful also, however, if you look at the image provided, you can see that where the pen line stops and excess ink is left while removing the pen, a little bit of smearing took place.
I tested a few different ink pens looking for bleeding or feathering, I tested Copic Multi liner 0.25, Copic Brush Pen, Sigma Brush Pen and a regular fountain pen. As you can see from the images, there was no feathering at all, the paper held the ink really well. When testing the brush pens, I really saturated the page with ink and still there was no feathering and very little bleeding through to the rear of the paper.
Pastel Blocks and Pastel Pencils
Given how smooth I considered the paper to be when I first inspected it, I really wasn’t expecting much in the way of results from testing pastel, how wrong was I? I tested a Unison block first, incredibly pigmented pastel, full of color and really soft. I applied the pastel expecting most of it to fall off as soon as the paper was lifted, I applied the Unison Pastel twice, one application simply applied and the other rubbed into the paper with a blending stump.
It is only really when the pastel was applied that you could see the texture of the paper and this is what I was referring to earlier in the review when I mentioned about the paper being deceptively smooth. Rubbing the pastel with the blending stump was easy and effortless yet the results were beautiful.
I next conducted the same type of tests using a Koh-I-Noor Pastel pencil, traditionally pastel pencils are not as pigmented as blocks, never the less it added another medium for you to see. Again the paper gripped hold of the pastel pencil beautifully and when rubbed in using a paper blending stump, nothing was lost. For those unfamiliar with pastels and how they behave, pastels tend to work best on a really textured surface, such as Clairefontaine Pastelmat which is a bit like fine sand paper. If you try to apply pastel to printer paper for example, once you have applied the pastel and then tried to rub it in, once you move the paper, you will most likely lose a lot of the pigment.
Colored Pencil
For so many of you reading this review, I am sure the most anticipated demonstration is that of the colored pencil, it was for me the medium I was most looking forward to testing. I wanted to try different types of pencils and I think I used to the two best pencils with regards to furthest apart on the spectrum of hardness and softness. I used the Prismacolor Premier and Faber Castell Polychromos, both highly pigmented pencils but the Prismacolor very soft and waxy whereas the Polychromos a much harder core and leaning more toward the oil side of pencils.
As you can see in the demonstrations, the Clairefontaine Pain On Multi Technique paper reacted perfectly with both pencil types. I applied six layers with both pencils and I have to say that I could have gone on applying layers with both pencils. I stopped at six because for those artists who like to use Odourless mineral Spirits, it is generally advised that after five or six layers you should use the OMS and then you can start to apply more layers once the paper is dry. I also applied heavy applications with both pencils and again, the paper reacted incredibly well.
Graphite and Charcoal
Next up was the Derwent 2B Graphite pencil as well as a Derwent Charcoal Pencil. By no I have tested colored pencils and pastel and so I am expecting decent results with both the graphite and charcoal, the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques paper did not disappoint.
The Graphite layered really really and once a heavier application was applied, I used a paper blending stump to push the graphite further along the paper and with desirable results. The charcoal obviously a much harder medium than pastel, never the less, the results of the Charcoal pencil were similar to that of the Koh-I-Noor Pastel Pencil.
Watercolor Pencil and Watercolor Crayon
Next up was the wet mediums, for this I started on a new piece of paper from the pad and started of with a Derwent Inktense Pencil, which if you have not used this type of pencil before, is a water soluble ink within a pencil format. As with the Pastel demonstration, I applied the Inktense pencil dry and then a second application which I activated with a watercolor brush. I felt by demonstrating certain mediums in their raw format so to speak and then in their desired format, those of you checking out the review would get to see the before and after effect.
With the Derwent Inktense pencil applied, I applied a generous helping of water to activate the pigment, but keeping in mind that the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques is not a dedicated watercolor paper. Never the less, despite the generous application of water, the paper held up remarkably well.
Next up was the Caran d’Ache Neocolor II, a water soluble crayon and as with the Derwent Inktense pencil, I applied the crayon in both dry and wet formats. As with the Inktense test, I applied a fair amount of water and again the paper held its own.
Watercolor Pans and Wet on Wet Testing
Finally, I wanted to really put the paper through its paces and keeping in the back of my mind that the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques paper is not a traditional watercolor paper, I just wanted to see how much water this paper could take. So, the best way to demonstrate this was using some Winsor and Newton Watercolours and using Wet on Wet techniques.
To start off with I simply wet the Winsor and Newton pans with a lot of water, soaked my brush, mopped up some of the gorgeous pigment and applied it directly to the Clairefontaine paper. I repeated the process a few times until I had covered a significant area of the paper, much to my surprise, there was practically no buckle.
Before letting the paper dry completely and testing properly for any buckling, I tried a Wet on Wet technique on the lower section of the page. For this demonstration I applied a lot of clean water to the paper, really soaking the paper and making sure that the brush was filled with water for each application.
Once the paper was wet, I wet my brush again and picked up some pigment, applying it to the saturated the paper, the pigment burst on impact with the wet surface, fanning out like the ripples of pebble entering a still lake.
After letting the paper dry, which I find is when most of the buckling will occur, there was a slight amount of buckle, however, I have used the same techniques on gene watercolor paper with a much more vigorous buckle effect.
Oil Paint and Acrylic
Unfortunately, not being an oil painter or Acrylic artist, I wasn’t able to test and demonstrate either of these mediums on the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques paper, however, on their website there is information regarding both mediums.
Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Pricing
From what I am able to tell, the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques pad is readily available in the UK, US and Europe.
UK Price list - For the smallest pad in the Clairefontaine Pain On Multi Techniques line the A5 size will cost you £4.40, for the A4 pad it will cost £8.88, the A3 pad it will cost £15.22 and for the largest A2 pad, it will cost you £25.68. Considering the quality of this paper and the various mediums that you can use, I personally think the prices are incredibly reasonable.
In the U.S. artists wanting to get their hands on this particular Clairefontaine pad it will cost as follows. For the smallest 5.8 x 8.3 inches A5 Pad $4.82, for the largest A2 16.5 x 23.1 inches it will cost you $28.27. I wasn’t able to locate the A4 and A3 pads, however, as and when they become available in the US Amazon, I will amend this post.
In Europe, for the smallest Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques A5 pad, it will cost you approximately €5.47, for the A4 pad it will cost you €9.80 , for the A3 pad, it will approximately cost you €16.40. Unfortunately I was unable to locate the A2 pad on the European Amazon, however, as always, as and when this changes and becomes available, I will of course update the post.
Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Conclusion
I have to say, in the three and half years that I have been reviewing and testing art supplies, mainly colored pencils, alcohol markers, watercolors, graphite, charcoal and pastels, I have used a lot of different surfaces. Some of the papers that I have used have been of the Mixed Media variety and when I received the Clairefontaine Paint On Multi Techniques Pad, I assumed it was another Mixed Media type of paper; however this was not really my experience.
Granted, I have not tested every Mixed Media type pad, though the ones I have tested have always fallen short on a certain media type and this is what I expected to be the case for this review. I was really impressed with the durability of the Clairefontaine Paint On pad and the fact that of all the medium type I tested, not one of them fell short.
If I had to nit pick and select one medium that could cause the odd challenge, I would say the Alcohol Markers. I would say for those of you used to blending with alcohol markers, blending of the Clairefontaine Paint On pad will be fine. However for those of you knew to the medium, you may find it a bit challenging and only in the sense that you need to blend a little faster than you would on traditional marker paper. The Clairefontaine Paint On Pad is a little bit more absorbent and so when blending, time is of the essence.
I am really looking forward to testing and demonstrating the other pads and journals in the Clairefontaine Paint On range. I throughly enjoyed using this pad and have to say, of all the mediums I tested, the Pastel was the most surprising, the results blew me away. Don’t forget you can check out my YouTube review of this pad and actually see the tests being demonstrated
