The Pink Pig: A Colourful UK Online Shop for Sketchbooks, Notebooks and Creative Supplies
There are two types of notebooks.
The first is the cheap one you buy because you desperately need somewhere to write down a phone number.
The second is so nice that you spend the first three weeks refusing to write in it because your handwriting doesn’t seem worthy.
The Pink Pig is very much in the second camp.
This distinctive British company specialises in sketchbooks, notebooks, scrapbooks, paper and creative accessories, with a particularly impressive choice of colours, formats and paper options. Pink Pig says there are more than 7,000 different ways to create across its range, so this isn’t a shop where every artist is expected to want precisely the same black A4 sketchbook.
If your idea of enjoyable UK online shopping involves beautiful stationery, British-made sketchbooks and enough colour choices to make a rainbow look slightly underprepared, The Pink Pig deserves a browse.
👉 Visit The Pink Pig and browse its colourful British-made sketchbooks, notebooks and art supplies
Who Is The Pink Pig?
Pink Pig was created in 1992, with the aim of offering artists and art students high-quality paper, lots of choice and affordable products wrapped up in a rather more colourful and quirky identity than traditional art stationery. More than 30 years later, those ideas remain central to the business.
The company says its handmade covers are produced in Yorkshire and that it uses acid-free paper made from sustainably sourced materials. In 2023, Pink Pig moved its headquarters to Otley, West Yorkshire, where its small team produces customer orders.
There is also an interesting little piece of company history behind the name. In 2015, the business announced that its company name was changing from the-pink-pig.co.uk Ltd to Pink Pig International, reflecting ambitions to take its sketchbooks into more international markets.
A British Sketchbook Specialist
What makes Pink Pig particularly interesting is its specialisation.
This isn’t a giant online department store that happens to have three sketchbooks hiding between printer paper and envelopes.
Sketchbooks are the point.
The company says its range extends from tiny 4 x 4-inch books all the way up to A2, with numerous combinations of size, orientation, colour and paper.
For artists who are particular about their materials — which is most artists once you get them talking — that level of choice is a major attraction.
What Does The Pink Pig Sell?
The current UK online shop revolves around several core categories:
- Sketchbooks
- Notebooks
- Scrapbooks and presentation-style books
- Paper and paper packs
- Art accessories
- Study essentials
The real variety, however, comes from all the combinations within those categories. Pink Pig currently advertises more than 7,000 product options.
You can choose different sizes, orientations, covers, paper types and page quantities depending on the particular book.
In other words, this is stationery for people with opinions.
Pink Pig Sketchbooks
The Product That Made the Brand Famous
Sketchbooks remain at the heart of Pink Pig.
The company’s current store actually introduces its sketchbook collection with the words “what we are famous for”, and it isn’t difficult to see why.
A typical Pink Pig sketchbook uses wire binding so the pages can lie flat or the book can fold back on itself. Its hard covers also provide a firmer surface when you’re drawing away from a desk.
That is a genuinely practical detail for:
artists,
students,
designers,
illustrators,
and anyone who has attempted to sketch outdoors while balancing a floppy pad on one knee.
Choose Your Paper
One particularly appealing feature is the ability to select different paper options on many sketchbooks.
For example, a current A4 portrait model offers choices including white, off-white, cappuccino brown, black and recycled white paper, as well as different numbers of leaves.
This matters because different paper can completely change the drawing experience.
White paper gives you a conventional bright starting point.
Black paper encourages you to think about highlights rather than simply shadows.
Brown or off-white papers can produce a warmer appearance.
Recycled papers may appeal to shoppers looking for alternatives to conventional stock.
Suddenly choosing a sketchbook becomes considerably more interesting than:
“A4 or A5?”
Colourful Sketchbooks
Pink Pig is also unusually enthusiastic about colour.
The current website lets customers browse covers ranging through reds, oranges and yellows to purples, pinks, neutrals and blacks, with names including Ruby, Rooster Red, Tigerlilly, Sunshine Yellow, Beetroot Purple, Amethyst, Aubergine and Bright Pink.
There are even staff-selected collections built around the Pink Pig team’s favourite colours.
Why Does Sketchbook Colour Matter?
Technically?
Not very much.
Creatively?
Quite a lot.
Artists become attached to their sketchbooks. A distinctive cover makes a book easier to recognise and can help separate different projects.
Blue for landscapes.
Red for life drawing.
Yellow for ideas.
Black for the experimental project nobody else is allowed to see yet.
There. Organisation.
Posh or Classic?
Some Pink Pig sketchbooks offer a choice between Posh and Classic cover configurations.
The difference is wonderfully straightforward.
Classic books have a coloured front cover with grey board at the back, while Posh books have coloured covers at both front and back.
Is having colour on both sides absolutely necessary for artistic achievement?
No.
Does it look nice?
Yes.
Sometimes that is sufficient justification.
👉 Visit The Pink Pig and browse its colourful British-made sketchbooks, notebooks and art supplies
Sketchbooks for Artists and Art Students
Pink Pig’s origins are closely connected with the needs of artists and art students, and that remains obvious in the current range.
The store has a dedicated Study Essentials section selected by the team for students, while its sketchbooks span formats useful for drawing, coursework and creative projects.
Why Acid-Free Paper Matters
Pink Pig emphasises the use of acid-free paper in its books.
Acid-free paper matters when artwork is intended to last because acidic paper can deteriorate and discolour over time.
For quick shopping lists?
Not particularly crucial.
For drawings you hope somebody will still care about years from now?
Much more relevant.
Pink Pig Notebooks
Sketching isn’t the whole story.
Pink Pig also makes notebooks, with the current website highlighting the ability to choose notebooks in its broad range of colourful covers.
These could appeal to:
writers,
students,
journal keepers,
designers,
list makers,
meeting-note takers,
and those of us who purchase beautiful notebooks believing they will finally transform us into organised people.
Hope is important.
A Notebook Can Be a Creative Tool
A notebook doesn’t have to contain beautifully organised prose.
It can hold:
ideas,
rough diagrams,
quotes,
plans,
research,
to-do lists,
or the brilliant thought you had at 11:47pm that made considerably less sense the following morning.
The important thing is having somewhere to capture it.
Scrapbooks and Display Books
Pink Pig’s wider range also includes books suitable for presentation and display purposes. Its display books can use heavy black mounting card, with one example featuring 270gsm recycled black card intended for mounting artwork and presentation.
That makes these formats potentially useful for:
- Portfolios
- Photography
- Art presentation
- Scrapbooking
- Project work
The same example uses recycled board covers and wire binding, allowing the book to lie flat or fold back.
Art Accessories
The current Pink Pig shop also sells art accessories, including book bands and grouped accessory sets.
This gives shoppers the opportunity to add a few useful extras without moving to another retailer.
And we all know what happens when you move to another art-supply website.
You go in for one pencil.
Forty-five minutes later, you’re comparing twelve types of charcoal and considering an easel.
Sustainability at Pink Pig
Sustainability is a noticeable part of Pink Pig’s own company story.
The business says its handmade covers are made in Yorkshire, that its acid-free paper comes from sustainably sourced materials and that its products can be recycled after use, subject to local recycling arrangements.
Some individual products go further.
For example, Pink Pig’s recycled black cartridge paper is described as being made from 100% recycled materials, while one of its display-book card stocks is also made from entirely recycled material.
Durable Products Matter Too
Sustainability isn’t only about materials.
Durability matters.
Pink Pig highlights wire binding as more durable than glued construction because it avoids the deterioration that can eventually cause glued pages to come loose.
A sketchbook that survives being:
carried,
opened,
folded back,
stuffed into bags,
and generally treated like an actual working sketchbook
is obviously preferable to one that falls apart halfway through a project.
The Pink Pig Review: Our Impressions from Browsing
An important disclaimer:
This isn’t a hands-on Pink Pig review.
We haven’t personally bought one of its sketchbooks for this article, filled it with drawings or subjected it to six months at the bottom of an art student’s backpack.
So we’re not going to pretend otherwise.
What we can assess is the brand history, product range, construction details and choices available through the current website.
The Choice Is a Major Selling Point
More than 7,000 possible product configurations is impressive.
Artists can be extremely particular about:
paper,
size,
orientation,
binding,
colour,
and page count.
Pink Pig appears to understand this rather well.
British Manufacturing Adds Character
The company says its covers are handmade in Yorkshire and its sketchbooks are made in Britain.
For shoppers specifically searching for British-made sketchbooks or UK-made art supplies, that is a meaningful point of difference.
👉 Visit The Pink Pig and browse its colourful British-made sketchbooks, notebooks and art supplies
The Products Look Designed for Actual Use
Hard covers, wire binding, multiple paper choices and acid-free stock are practical specifications rather than decorative marketing language.
The books are colourful, certainly.
But they aren’t merely colourful.
What Do Other People Say About Pink Pig?
Pink Pig says its independent customer feedback has earned Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Awards.
A recent independent 2026 discussion of the brand also described long-running loyalty among UK artists and repeated recommendations for Pink Pig sketchbooks.
Naturally, customer reviews are subjective, so it is still sensible to investigate the exact product you’re considering.
For sketchbooks, look particularly for comments about:
paper performance,
binding durability,
cover quality,
and suitability for your preferred medium.
Someone drawing in pencil may have very different requirements from somebody working with wet media.
Who Might Like The Pink Pig?
Pink Pig could be particularly interesting for art students, professional and hobby artists, illustrators, designers, scrapbookers, journal keepers, teachers and anyone looking for a creative gift.
It is especially appealing if you are searching for a specialist UK online shop rather than a general stationery retailer.
And with such a large combination of colours and formats, there is also plenty of potential for gift buying.
A sketchbook is one of those rare presents that says:
“I know you’re creative.”
rather than:
“I panicked in the toiletries aisle.”
The Pink Pig and UK Online Shopping
One of the pleasures of UK online shopping is finding specialist British businesses that are genuinely knowledgeable about a narrow category.
Pink Pig is a good example.
It has been developing sketchbooks since the early 1990s, makes its handmade covers in Yorkshire and now offers thousands of possible product configurations.
That specialisation is valuable.
If you’re serious about drawing, the difference between:
“Here’s a sketchbook.”
and:
“What size, orientation, paper, cover and number of leaves would you like?”
is considerable.
Is The Pink Pig Worth a Look?
Based on our research, yes — especially if you’re looking for British-made sketchbooks, colourful notebooks or art books with plenty of customisation choices.
We can’t give The Pink Pig a personal five-star review because we haven’t bought and tested the products ourselves.
But there are several compelling reasons to browse.
The brand has been around for more than 30 years.
Its products are made in Britain, with handmade covers produced in Yorkshire.
The range runs to more than 7,000 options.
And shoppers can choose between numerous colours, formats and paper types rather than settling for whatever generic sketchbook happens to be available.
For artists and stationery lovers, that makes this a particularly interesting stop on a UK online shopping journey.
Ready to Explore The Pink Pig?
Maybe you’re starting an art course.
Perhaps your current sketchbook has three blank pages remaining and mild structural problems.
Maybe you’re shopping for a creative friend.
Or perhaps you simply want a notebook so beautiful that you will spend several days deciding what deserves to go on page one.
All perfectly reasonable.
👉 Visit The Pink Pig and browse its colourful British-made sketchbooks, notebooks and art supplies
Choose your size.
Pick your paper.
Select a colour.
And then face the most difficult creative decision of all:
what on earth do you draw on the first page?