I had given up drawing a long time ago, but I decided to get back into it, so I bought this wonderful sketchbook! Granted, the cover has a texture that does make it appear a bit cheap, but it is very nicely bound and has no issues laying flat, thereby making it far easier to draw and view your work!The paper is of fair thickness, but any inking will show through to the other side, so if you plan on doing anything other than pencil sketches, I would recommend placing a piece of scratch paper underneath the one that you are working on to prevent any potential seepage (although it hasn't happened yet! You would have to try pretty hard).Overall, great product! I'm excited to fill this baby up as time goes on.