(not so) bleedproof papers

I’m always on the quest to find the perfect paper. Since I work in pen-and-ink, I want something smooth, but that doesn’t take too long to dry; something thick enough for lots of ink, but thin enough to work on a light table. So I’ve tried many different papers over the years. While I have rejected many papers based on tooth or thinness, these things reflect my personal preferences more than the quality of the papers themselves. However there are certain papers clearly labeled for pen-and-ink that are utterly useless for pen-and-ink. To add insult to injury, some of these papers even claim to be bleedproof. To be fair, I live next to the ocean so maybe there’s more moisture in the air and maybe my ink, Super Black, is a little watery. That said, it’s fairly temperate here and I’ve tried other inks on these papers with no success.

So here are three types of “pen-and-ink” papers that I recommend you avoid. All of these treat ink like the image above.