Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Use your sketchbook for all it's worth!

Every once in a while I like to show random sketchbook pages from my Studio Book and my Out of the Studio Book (yes, one lives in the studio and one lives outside of it, go figure). These are my workhorses, my notebooks, my try out pages and the holdalls for leftover stuff and random things.

I think it's important to show these pages so people realize that not all spreads in a sketchbook should be masterpieces and that it's perfectly okay to have ugly pages with just scribbles or notes on them. A sketchbook is an instrument, a tool, it's not a pretty art book.

So here's another selection from my two big sketchbooks, some are nice, some are just rubbish. But all of them were useful to me at the time (and some still are).

What happens when you spray felt tip pens with water. / Questions I wanted to ponder about concerning my artsy endeavours.

The first ribbon drawing I tried. / Bad sketches from The Dark Knight on tv.

The notebook paper with the ribbon drawing idea on it. / Trying out some oil pastels and taking notes about them.

Planning the ROD Square cover and airing some frustration. / My Sketchbook Challenge contribution.

Pan Pastel information and trying some spray inks. / Notes on the Sketchbook Challenge.

Trying to save an abstract drawing gone wrong by planting a flower garden over it with paint markers.

Some quick notes and a girl in ballpoint pen. / My printer ran out of ink while printing, so I pasted the pictures in here.

Simple line drawings coloured in with gouache. The ultimate relaxation.

Now the last picture I'm just including because it made me laugh. While I was taking the photograph of the above spread my assistant felt the need to jump right on top of it. The funny part was that he did it at the exact moment I clicked so I didn't see him do it. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and there was a cat on top of my book! This shows that cats are faster than the eye!


I hope you liked this peek in my sketchbooks and that it inspires you to really use your own sketchbooks for other things than just trying to make pretty pages. Use them for practice, for notes, for scribbling, for everything. Use them for all they're worth!

Wishing you all a wonderful and artsy Wednesday!