11" x 17" Strathmore 500 Series Pad of 24 Sheets - Vellum Bristol

Strathmore's Vellum Surface has a toothy finish that is excellent for comic book artists and illustrators who use graphite pencil, colored pencil, sketching sticks and specialty pens and markers. It is also very good for charcoal, pen and ink, airbrush and light washes. Not recommended for traditional watercolor techniques.

11" x 17" Strathmore 500 Series Pad of 24 Sheets - Vellum Bristol.

2-Ply, Vellum Surface, Tape Bound Pad.

Created in 1893, this 100% cotton acid-free bristol is an industry standard!

Strathmore® fine art bristols and illustration boards have been the choice among sequential art professionals and award winning illustrators for years.

Strathmore is now offering those best selling bristols to consumers in convenient formats to fit the application. We are also introducing a new bristol surface and a new illustration board for wet media.

The Story Behind the Paper:

In 1892 Horace Moses, the founder of Strathmore, was asked by a friend if he could make a rag paper that was strong enough to hold up to the rigorous requirements of a professional artist. It seems it was difficult to produce quality work on the wood pulp papers of the day; they would not hold a solid line of ink, would fray when repeatedly erased, and at times contained an excess amount of dirt specs or surface blemishes.

Mr. Moses immediately went to work in his lab and began experimenting with different combinations of fibers, chemicals and surface sizing in an attempt to make the ultimate drawing surface. Once Mr. Moses was satisfied, he sent samples to an artist friend. His friend shared the paper with his colleagues who each tried to defeat the paper their most abusive techniques.

The paper withstood the myriad of artistic punishment, forcing the league of unblieving artists to admit that Mr. Moses had indeed created a surface that would be the hero of all illustrators. Those same and bristol surfaces are still used today by professional illustrators and sequential artists.