Hey guys! Hope all is well! This week I wanted to talk about how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE sketchbooks!
I’ve tried journaling, I’ve tried keeping loose leaf paper with me, or drawing on napkins, but there is just something about a sketchbook that always wins me over. They win me over so much so I tend to never finish things, they just go into my sketchbook, but hey that’s a me problem. Anyway, I absolutely love sketchbooks. You can practice stuff in them, you can do real life studies, study light and shadow, study form, practice things you don’t know how to draw, create characters, practice new mediums, type notes…
There’s so much you can do in and to a sketchbook that in my opinion, it’s the most important tool an artist can have, you know besides their own creativity!
The amount of times I’ve planned things in a sketchbook far outweighs my finished pieces, and there’s just something about a sketchbook that makes you be who you truly are as an artist. With a sketchbook, you are uncensored and unafraid. If you keep your sketchbook to yourself, you’re even more unafraid than those who show it off. You can write journal pieces in there with accompanying art, you can use it as stress relief, and you can practice practice practice!
My favorite thing to do in a sketchbook is practice drawing characters and testing watercolors on them, to see what colors work best with them. But I also love sitting in a cafe and just doodling to relief stress.
There are all kinds of sketchbooks too, so the collection is always growing!
My favorite right now is the Canson Mixed Media 9×12 (Although the price has been raised recently whyyyyy). I love to stock those up when they’re on sale though! You can do watercolor, pencils, pens, and even acrylics if you prime the pages with a light layer of gesso!
A sketchbook is really something that you should never be without. Sure, some people like to go unplanned into pieces, hell I’m one of them! But There’s something about just grabbing a pen and drawing what you see on the spot, or drawing something on paper without worry of judgement! It might even make a good portfolio if you’re caught off guard someday without a way to show someone what you can do!
I’ll always be pro-sketchbooks, and anyone who is an illustrator definitely should be too! If you’d like to see more of my sketches, I post them frequently on my instagram!
