That said most of that stuff isn’t acid free or archival in anyway.

Now I’m not super hardcore about making sure that all my work is on acid free or archival materials. In my opinion, my sketches don’t need to last forever, just long enough for me to use them. The difficult part is that I often find myself wanting to make more final art on paper that has the same characteristics as that trash paper.

I recently discovered the Guerilla Painter Cartón panels. These panels are essentially a special archival version of carton cardboard. Fun!

But damn, expensive. Six sheets for $12, $2 a sheet. That’s a lost cheaper than a wood or canvas panel but feels super pricey for sketches that might not ever be used for anything. I can get similarly sized canvas wrapped panels on Amazon for $1 a panel.

I also use kraft colored paper with kids- it’s a great sketching tool. They add the darkest darks with black ink or charcoal and the lights with white charcoal or gouache. 

So I need cheap but okay quality.

The chipboard I ended up ordering is available (as of this writing) in 100 sheet packages, boasts being acid free, made in the USA of recycled materials, and is 22point in weight. It’s roughly 20 cents per sheet! The one downside to it is that it arrives packaged in clear plastic but with a hard plastic band around the stack. The band damages a few edges. I used the damaged sheets anyway.

I would estimate the weight of this paper to be about 120lb. Apparently cardboard and chipboard are measured by thickness not weight like paper. Which makes total sense given how it is used. They compare 22point to being the equivalent thickness of 6 sheets of standard copy paper.

This chipboard is not fully rigid. It’s a bit soft and flexible much like 140lb watercolor paper. Since I’m working with a clipboard this works for me. However if I were planning to work without my clipboard I’d pick up a package of 50 or 80 point. While still affordable, the cost does increase substantially. While the 22point is around 20 cents a sheet the 80 point is 90 cents a sheet. The 50 point is about 50 cents a sheet.

Why switch it up? Why not just use the kraft paper I get in packages? Well, when it comes to making art for myself or in sketchbooks I’m fine with drawing on trash and if it doesn’t last. However when I make art with the hopes of selling it or gifting it, I want it to last. That kraft paper is going to start to break down pretty quickly. The color will change when exposed to light and the paper will turn crispy and crumble fast.

I’m really loving this kinda rough pulpy chipboard and think it’s a decent alternative to the board that Guerilla Painter offers. However I would say that if you are planning on using chipboard for oils, oil pastels, or even acrylic paint it will need to be sealed with gesso or something like Golden’s GAC200. For oil pastels and even chalk pastels you can increase the amount of tooth with some Liquitex Clear Gesso.

Oils from oil paint and pastels will eventually eat away the fibers and break down even acid free paper. While the absorbency of the paper will make acrylics difficult to move around the paper until a layer of acrylic is built up and the paper is sealed.

Another thing to note for ordering chipboard, a lot of the offerings have additional sizes. These sizes do no correspond to typical art sizes. The card is used in manufacturing and packaging. The sizes available correspond to envelope and packaging sizes, no our more traditional art sizes.