This exercise deals with the first question one should ask himself before opening their first sketchbook page, which is... “What sort of sketchbook should I use?”
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| My collection of sketchbooks... |
Do I get intimidated by the blank pages of an expensive sketchbook?
Yes! I currently own 2 types of sketchbooks, one expensive and a cheap one. What I usually do is to use the cheap one for my studies (anatomy, figure drawing, poses, technical drawing with a few written notes on the mixture) along with some doodles, thumbnails,some (failed) attempts of making a finished picture and observational drawing.
I subconsciously avoid using the expensive sketchbook and face the blank page thinking that my skills “aren’t there yet” and therefore I would be wasting paper so I resort it to future occasions once I feel more confident on drawing the human figure accurately from imagination or have a better compositional awareness.
On the few occasions that I’ve used an expensive sketchbook was to do paid commissions or make more well refined drawings, something made with more thought and care.
In order to keep the expensive sketchbook pages in good use, I do print digital artwork on a paper like Bristol board, which is not quite a sketchbook paper but expensive nonetheless.
What i think I might use my sketchbooks for?
- I'm using a small sketchbook (A6) that I learned to carry around with me everytime I go out, I'll use it to sketch people, places, objects, imaginative drawing, anything that I find interesting or that I need to practice on.
- An A4 hardback sketchbook that I'll use for my anatomy studies and technical drawing, with some experiments using the knowledge acquired during these studies in the form of Character design. I use it also to do outdoor sketching and random drawings.
- I have an Ipad pro with a drawing app but I don't use it much to do sketching, instead, I use it to develop and finish sketches which I thought to be more successful.
- For this course I'm likely to use an A3 sketchbook for coursework, and there along with the exercise tasks (sketches and drawings) there will be annotations (description of the creative process) + I’ll use the little sketchbook to annotate some ideas that might occur unexpectedly and will probably use the iPad to those sketches which would look nice with some colour.
Do I need something on my page already?
I like my pages blank without any lines,squares and patterns, I like to do perspective lines hand-drawn whenever I sketch people/objects/building. My interpretation of this question was “when I buy a new sketchbook, do I need to add something straight away?”, based on this interpretation, what I do on my first page of the sketchbook is just scribble it out without much thought on the outcome with the intention of reminding me that the sketchbook isn’t for finished and refined drawings, but is instead a place to add ideas no matter how good or bad they might be.
“...the sketchbook
Do I get intimidated by the blank pages of an expensive sketchbook?
Yes! I currently own 2 types of sketchbooks, one expensive and a cheap one. What I usually do is to use the cheap one for my studies (anatomy, figure drawing, poses, technical drawing with a few written notes on the mixture) along with some doodles, thumbnails,some (failed) attempts of making a finished picture and observational drawing.
I subconsciously avoid using the expensive sketchbook and face the blank page thinking that my skills “aren’t there yet” and therefore I would be wasting paper so I resort it to future occasions once I feel more confident on drawing the human figure accurately from imagination or have a better compositional awareness.
On the few occasions that I’ve used an expensive sketchbook was to do paid commissions or make more well refined drawings, something made with more thought and care.
In order to keep the expensive sketchbook pages in good use, I do print digital artwork on a paper like Bristol board, which is not quite a sketchbook paper but expensive nonetheless.
What i think I might use my sketchbooks for?
- I'm using a small sketchbook (A6) that I learned to carry around with me everytime I go out, I'll use it to sketch people, places, objects, imaginative drawing, anything that I find interesting or that I need to practice on.
- An A4 hardback sketchbook that I'll use for my anatomy studies and technical drawing, with some experiments using the knowledge acquired during these studies in the form of Character design. I use it also to do outdoor sketching and random drawings.
- I have an Ipad pro with a drawing app but I don't use it much to do sketching, instead, I use it to develop and finish sketches which I thought to be more successful.
- For this course I'm likely to use an A3 sketchbook for coursework, and there along with the exercise tasks (sketches and drawings) there will be annotations (description of the creative process) + I’ll use the little sketchbook to annotate some ideas that might occur unexpectedly and will probably use the iPad to those sketches which would look nice with some colour.
Do I need something on my page already?
I like my pages blank without any lines,squares and patterns, I like to do perspective lines hand-drawn whenever I sketch people/objects/building. My interpretation of this question was “when I buy a new sketchbook, do I need to add something straight away?”, based on this interpretation, what I do on my first page of the sketchbook is just scribble it out without much thought on the outcome with the intention of reminding me that the sketchbook isn’t for finished and refined drawings, but is instead a place to add ideas no matter how good or bad they might be.
“...the sketchbook
To achieve that answer, I was given a series of deceivingly simple questions that helped me gain more clarity towards my choice of sketchbook by looking into my own experience, what I drew in them, why I did it and where I did it. It becomes hard to summarise those answers in just a few lines since the reasons are so diversified.
Below you will find the questions and answers made during this exercisein a kind of interview format.
Do I get intimidated by the blank pages of an expensive sketchbook?
Yes! I currently own 2 types of sketchbooks, one expensive and a cheap one. What I usually do is to use the cheap one for my studies (anatomy, figure drawing, poses, technical drawing with a few written notes on the mixture) along with some doodles, thumbnails,some (failed) attempts of making a finished picture and observational drawing.
I subconsciously avoid using the expensive sketchbook and face the blank page thinking that my skills “aren’t there yet” and therefore I would be wasting paper so I resort it to future occasions once I feel more confident on drawing the human figure accurately from imagination or have a better compositional awareness.
On the few occasions that I’ve used an expensive sketchbook was to do paid commissions or make more well refined drawings, something made with more thought and care.
In order to keep the expensive sketchbook pages in good use, I do print digital artwork on a paper like Bristol board, which is not quite a sketchbook paper but expensive nonetheless.
What i think I might use my sketchbooks for?
- I'm using a small sketchbook (A6) that I learned to carry around with me everytime I go out, I'll use it to sketch people, places, objects, imaginative drawing, anything that I find interesting or that I need to practice on.
- An A4 hardback sketchbook that I'll use for my anatomy studies and technical drawing, with some experiments using the knowledge acquired during these studies in the form of Character design. I use it also to do outdoor sketching and random drawings.
- I have an Ipad pro with a drawing app but I don't use it much to do sketching, instead, I use it to develop and finish sketches which I thought to be more successful.
- For this course I'm likely to use an A3 sketchbook for coursework, and there along with the exercise tasks (sketches and drawings) there will be annotations (description of the creative process) + I’ll use the little sketchbook to annotate some ideas that might occur unexpectedly and will probably use the iPad to those sketches which would look nice with some colour.
Do I need something on my page already?
I like my pages blank without any lines,squares and patterns, I like to do perspective lines hand-drawn whenever I sketch people/objects/building. My interpretation of this question was “when I buy a new sketchbook, do I need to add something straight away?”, based on this interpretation, what I do on my first page of the sketchbook is just scribble it out without much thought on the outcome with the intention of reminding me that the sketchbook isn’t for finished and refined drawings, but is instead a place to add ideas no matter how good or bad they might be.
“...the sketchbook isn’t for finished and refined drawings, but is instead a place to add ideas no matter how good or bad they might be....”
Do I prefer to work on a heavy weight paper of something more flimsy?
Heavy weight. At least 125 gsm.
Do I prefer to work large or small?
Do I prefer to work large or small?
I like to work large for finished pieces and small for annotations, thumbnails, trying different compositions and quick sketches.
Am I a creature of habit that needs things to look the same?
I like familiarity in terms of workspace and to keep it organised plus familiarity of my art tools in terms of mastering them, of using them to their full potential.
In terms of art making, I don’t like my things to look the same, instead I aim to “expand my horizons” by learning new things and stepping out of my comfort zone as I believe that that’s the only way to keep improving instead of settling down with your current level of skill.
Do I want variety that relates to whatever I’m working on?
Am I a creature of habit that needs things to look the same?
I like familiarity in terms of workspace and to keep it organised plus familiarity of my art tools in terms of mastering them, of using them to their full potential.
In terms of art making, I don’t like my things to look the same, instead I aim to “expand my horizons” by learning new things and stepping out of my comfort zone as I believe that that’s the only way to keep improving instead of settling down with your current level of skill.
Do I want variety that relates to whatever I’m working on?
Yes, I like variety and I like surprising people with a new picture I’ve made to see how they react but at the same time I try not to drift off too much from my drawing style.
I would feel artistically restrained If I kept drawing the same subject over and over and I feel that people would get bored as well.
Do I want a sketchbook that is like a hard back book so I can work across pages and treat them like double page spreads?
From my experience, I’ve tried different sorts of sketchbooks and the one which I prefer as a sketchbook is a single page spiral bound sketchbook with a hard cover of size A4 or A5.
As for my A6 pocket sketchbook I own a Moleskine which I enjoy a lot because it allows me to use it as a double spread page when I, for example, start sketching people in a café in a single page but then I need to add more things to the picture like details and refine the surrounding of the person that I’m sketching.
Do I want a spiral bound book so I can easily fold the pages and cover over?
Yes, particularly if I sketch outdoors for a matter of comfort.
What am I using my sketchbook for?
Currently, I’m using my sketch for studies based on anatomy, figure drawing and perspective, where I take annotations from books and sketch the figures. I also use it to draw whatever comer to my mind at any moment or sketch things of interest that I see during my everyday life.
Most of it is based on the human figure interacting with the world, comicbook style drawings and studies of other artists whose work I enjoy where I annotate the way he draws an arm, how he draws a dynamic pose, things of that sort.
Where will I be using my sketchbook?
Everywhere, at home, during work in my free time, when going out for a coffee, during my holidays. Ideas are unpredictable and you never know when a good idea might turn up or when you might find something that catches your attention, so I learned to carry a sketchbook with me all the time.
Do I want to work secretively or publicly?
I do work secretively on my sketchbook, but with time, I have been acquiring some confidence to work in public, as an example, I went to sketch at a museum and there were people passing by my looking at my work or I sketched people in a train (without them knowing), so I feel the more I do it, the more comfortable I get.
Something else I’d like to add is that I like to sketch secretively and if I get to like the end result of the sketch, I tend to post it on instagram.
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