Moleskines have been a staple of the scribbling, sketching and café-going set for a while now, but recent etching trends have made them a lot more stylish. And as arts collectives start devoting their attention to the new medium, the result is a lot of very good stuff.

Case in point: this Clint-inspired sketchpad with more than enough glower power to balance out the coffeehouse vibe the notebooks usually suggest. The collective is Modofly, and they’re turning all their attention to moleskine creations like this one. (Canvas is so 18th century.)

More on the new generation of moleskines»

We lose little things all the time without realizing, but the feel of pencil on paper has to be one of the most overlooked casualties of the digital age. We’re not complaining—this is a blog, after all—but we will make a suggestion. Next time you have an idea, don’t send yourself an email. Take out a notebook and write it down. It makes a difference, even if you can’t say exactly how.

This Hlaska notebook isn’t more than a bunch of blank sheets in cloth binding, but the little change may do a lot more for your creative juices than you think.

(Thanks to acquire for the dig.)

We still love the analog life, but we might have been a little premature when we urged you to snag a clothbound notebook. After all, sometimes you want something a little bit more flexible.

These notebooks come from BillyKirk and Norwegian designer Ryder Robinson. We aren’t sure about the bee, but we’ve always thought there was something elegant about a writing pad with a bird on it.

We were scanning over ACL’s American List when we ran across this Portland-made notebook. We’ve gushed about notebooks before, but this one has the added advantage of fitting in your back pocket…particularly useful for capturing those occasional flashes of brilliance.

And everything looks better on graph paper.

By now, we bet you’re looking for a gift or two, so we thought we’d open up our archives for any last minute seekers. A tie may not be breaking much new ground, but a well-kept notebook or a well-bound book is always enough to raise a few eyebrows, especially if you choose the right one.

With that in mind, we present: the Kempt gift guide, a handful of very good ideas for any refined gentleman on your list. And you’ll have just enough time to get them to your door for the main event.

Just don’t sweat the shipping charge.

After a while, the Sartorialist-style shots start to blend together, so it was about time someone brought a more personal touch to people watching.

Our candidate is What I Saw Today, which throws a few colored pencils and a playfully sketchy style into the mix. Street style blogs have always aspired to be a kind of notebook for designers, so making one that actually looks like a notebook brings a certain authenticity to the project.

And if it helps a few more people appreciate the subtle texture of a Chesterfield coat…all the better.

Paul Smith’s fashion empire just got a little more diverse, with a new line of Moleskine competitors bearing a few proprietary doodles from Sir Smith. The lucky brand is a French marque called Rhodia, which has been making notebooks for just over 75 years. The cover’s a little less satisfying to touch…but we’re hoping it makes up for it in artistic cred.

A lot of pocket notebooks have popped up in the past year, ranging from the slim to the bulky. But for all the new styles, the stuff between the covers has stayed pretty much the same.

Well, Doane Paper has a few ideas. Specifically, they combine the two most common pages (lined and grid) into a multipurpose sheet ready for anything from accounting tables to the first verse of your accountant-oriented battle rap. (“Sucka CPAs”?) You might even find yourself coming up with more organized musings. Or at least more organized doodles.