Written by Paul Worrall — Discount Art Supplies
Our Rating: 9.2 / 10 — Outstanding ★★★★★
In short: The most genuinely sustainable sketchbook on the UK market — and it draws beautifully. 200gsm cotton rag paper, unique denim hardback cover, from £4.16. If you don’t want to read the full review, just buy it.
Buy the Artway Recycled Denim Sketchbook:
I’ve been writing and reviewing art materials for a long time. I spent nearly a decade at ARTdiscount, one of the UK’s largest online art retailers, and I’ve tested more sketchbooks than I care to count. Most of them are variations on the same theme — different paper weights, different bindings, different cover materials, fundamentally the same product. The Artway Recycled Denim Sketchbook is not that. This is something genuinely different, and I’d be doing you a disservice if I reviewed it like just another sketchbook.
The cover is made from pre-consumer denim factory offcuts — fabric waste intercepted before it ever entered the supply chain, pulped and formed into a hardback casing with its own natural character. No two covers are identical. The paper inside is 200gsm cotton rag — made from clean textile off-cuts from garment factories in India using a chemical-free process. There’s no wood pulp anywhere in this sketchbook. No trees were involved in its production.
But here’s the thing that matters most as an artist: it draws beautifully. The sustainability story is remarkable, but it would be irrelevant if the performance wasn’t there but it is!
What Is the Artway Denim Sketchbook?
The Artway Denim Sketchbook is a casebound sketchbook made entirely from pre-consumer waste. The denim hardback cover comes from factory offcuts — fabric that never made it into a garment, intercepted before it could become landfill. Synthetic threads are removed, the cotton-rich fabric is pulped, and the resulting material is formed into hardback covers with a natural denim tone that requires no dyes or bleach. Every cover has its own character thanks to natural variation in the source material — you won’t get the same sketchbook twice.
The 200gsm paper inside is cotton rag — made from clean textile waste from garment factories in India using the same pre-consumer interception model. The production process is chemical-free and water-efficient, supporting skilled artisans in India and giving material purpose that would otherwise be wasted.
Traditional paper production accounts for 40% of all industrially harvested wood globally. The Artway Denim Sketchbook sidesteps that entirely. Having spent years in the art supplies industry watching sustainable products come and go, I can tell you that genuinely sustainable art materials are harder to find than the marketing suggests. This is one of them. There’s no greenwashing here — the product is sustainable because of how it’s actually made, not because of how it’s described.
The Paper — 200gsm Cotton Rag
Cotton rag paper has been prized for centuries — by scribes, mapmakers, and artists — precisely because of what it does under a pencil. Naturally acid-free, archival quality, long cotton fibres that provide exceptional strength and durability that wood-pulp paper can’t match. The Artway denim sketchbook reminded me why.
The 200gsm weight gives the paper genuine substance without stiffness. The tooth is confident but not aggressive — responsive to graphite and charcoal, accepting of ink, and capable of handling light watercolour washes without buckling in a way that would embarrass paper twice the price from a conventional manufacturer. The acid-free quality is natural rather than chemically treated, which means this sketchbook won’t yellow over decades. What you draw in it today will look the same in twenty years.
For artists working with Derwent or Faber-Castell pencils specifically, the cotton rag surface is a genuine revelation — the grip and tooth complement high-quality graphite in a way that standard wood-pulp sketchbook paper simply doesn’t match. I’ve been sharing deals and reviews for 36,000 UK artists at Discount Art Supplies since 2022 and cotton rag surface quality at this price point is not something I expected to find in a sketchbook starting at £4.16.
Performance Across Different Media
Graphite and pencil — exceptional. The cotton rag surface grips graphite predictably across all grades. Fine detail and broad tonal work both perform well. No unexpected grain or inconsistency across the sheet. Our highest rating for any sketchbook paper in this weight range.
Charcoal and soft pastel — very strong. The surface holds charcoal and soft pastel with excellent layering capability — you can build up multiple applications without the paper becoming slick or losing its tooth. Fixative takes well and doesn’t cause surface deterioration. A better performance than most dedicated pastel papers at this price.
Ink and fineliner — excellent. Pitt Artist Pens, fineliners, and dip pen work all perform well. Very wet inks may take marginally longer to dry than on a hot-pressed surface, but bleed-through is minimal and there’s no feathering on standard ink applications.
Watercolour — good for sketching. Handles light washes and sketching washes very well. Not a dedicated watercolour paper — heavy wet-on-wet work will cause some cockling and this isn’t a replacement for an Arches or Fabriano watercolour block. For watercolour sketching and mixed media, excellent. For sustained multiple-wash watercolour painting, use a dedicated watercolour paper alongside.
Alcohol markers — good. Minimal bleed. The 200gsm weight provides enough substance to prevent significant show-through on light to medium marker applications. Recommended for layout and concept work rather than heavy blending techniques.
Mixed media — where it genuinely excels. The combination of cotton rag strength and 200gsm weight makes it ideal for mixed media work — combining graphite underdrawing with ink and light washes is particularly effective. A versatile all-rounder for artists who work across multiple media in one piece.
The Build — Casebound and Properly Made
The casebound construction means the book lies flat when open, which matters enormously for sustained drawing sessions. No hand holding the cover down. No spine fighting your wrist. It’s the binding format that serious sketchbooks use and it works exactly as it should here.
Each sketchbook contains 40 pages — 80 sides — which is a reasonable count at this price point. Some artists will want more pages and that’s a fair observation, but 40 proper 200gsm cotton rag pages is a more meaningful quantity than 80 pages of thin wood-pulp paper in a cheaper sketchbook.
The denim cover is durable and distinctive. The natural variation in the source material means no two covers look identical — some will be lighter, some darker, some with more visible texture than others. It’s the kind of individuality you usually only get in handmade products, which in a sense this is.
Available Sizes and Pricing
The Artway Recycled Denim Sketchbook is available in four sizes. The A5 is the right size to start with if you haven’t tried the range before — large enough to draw seriously in, small enough to carry. Once you’ve fallen for the paper quality, you’ll understand why the A4 exists.
A6 (105 × 148mm) — the pocket size. Perfect for location drawing, quick observation sketches, and carrying every day. From £4.16.
A5 (148 × 210mm) — the sweet spot and our recommended starting point. From £5.83.
A4 (210 × 297mm) — the studio size. Serious drawing room, serious paper. This is where the 200gsm cotton rag really comes into its own. From £7.49.
A3 (297 × 420mm) — for artists who need space. The full A3 format on cotton rag paper is genuinely impressive for larger observational drawing and mixed media work. From £12.49.
Who Is the Artway Denim Sketchbook For?
Any artist who works primarily in dry media — graphite, charcoal, pastel, ink — and wants a sketchbook that performs above its price point. The cotton rag surface is particularly well suited to life drawing, observational sketching, and mixed media work where you’re combining multiple dry and semi-wet media in the same piece.
Artists who care about sustainability will find this the most genuinely sustainable sketchbook on the UK market. Based on conversations in our Facebook community of 36,000 UK artists, that’s an increasing number — and this product delivers on its environmental claims in a way that most can’t.
It’s also suitable for art students who want better quality paper than their standard college-issue pads without spending professional money. At £4.16 for an A6 and £7.49 for an A4, the pricing is accessible in a way that proper cotton rag paper usually isn’t.
What it’s not ideal for: sustained, heavy wet-on-wet watercolour painting. For that you want a dedicated watercolour block. But for the vast majority of sketching and drawing applications, this paper delivers.
Verdict — 9.2 / 10
One of the most interesting art materials I’ve reviewed in sixteen years in this industry. Artway have done something genuinely worth noticing — they’ve taken the most unglamorous raw material (factory waste) and turned it into one of the most characterful, genuinely high-performing sketchbooks available in the UK at this price point.
The sustainability credentials are real. The drawing performance is real. The build quality is real. The price is right. There’s very little to complain about and a great deal to recommend.
What we love: Exceptional 200gsm cotton rag surface. Genuinely sustainable — no greenwashing. Unique denim cover on every book. Naturally acid-free and archival. Lies flat when open. Excellent mixed media performance. Pricing that makes it accessible to students and professionals alike.
Worth knowing: Not a dedicated watercolour paper. 40 pages — some artists will want more.
Our score: 9.2 out of 10 — outstanding.
Where to Buy
The best place to buy direct is Artway.co.uk — the full range of sizes is available and buying direct from the maker supports the brand properly. We also track Artway deals and promotions at our dedicated Artway deals page on Discount Art Supplies — worth checking before you buy to make sure you’re getting the best current price.
More Sketchbook and Paper Reviews
- Best Watercolour Paper for Artists — The Honest Guide
- Pink Pig Sketchbooks — Honest Review
- Fabriano Art Paper — Deals and Price Comparison
- Arches Watercolour Paper — Deals and Price Comparison
- Sustainable Art Supplies — The Honest Guide
- All Artway Deals at Discount Art Supplies
Have you tried the Artway Denim Sketchbook? Let us know what you think in our Facebook community of 36,000 UK artists.
