It's intimidating! I'm not an artist, just a doodler but I'd heard these papers were really smooth and a dream to work with in pen. I mostly use Micron, Staedtler and Pitt pens and wow.... drawing is smooth and fluid, no bleed. The paper also takes colored pencils pretty well but not heavy duty. I use Prismacolor pencils and paint thinner to blend colors and this paper can handle a few layers decently. Blending chalks look fantastic on this paper as well.