There is a literal drawer in my studio that is filled with unfinished sketchbooks.
What’s worse, is that I have another hoard of half-blank sketchbooks on a shelf in my parent’s house. We all know I have issues with completing projects, and this has been going on since I was a kid.
When I was younger, I really wanted to be one of those cute bookish girls who kept a diary. And yet! Every entry of my childhood journal would begin with the dreaded, “Hi Diary, sorry I haven’t written in you for a while…”
But apart from the forgetfulness-procrastination-art block aspect of it, the main reason I haven’t finished a sketchbook until now is because I didn’t know how.
I’ve mentioned before that I have been a digital artist for all of my artistic career, and I completely lost my skills in traditional media that I developed in art school. And I was mostly fine with it. But I knew that all my favorite artists kept beautiful sketchbooks, which meant that I should have one too, otherwise I wouldn’t be a ‘real’ artist.
I’d go out a buy a spiffy new sketchbook, some fancy artist-approved pens, and maybe some decorative stickers too. But when I would try to draw in there, I found that I just didn’t have the skills needed to bring my thoughts to paper. I had no experience with pencils and pens, and I would always find myself comparing my chicken scratch sketches to my perfected digital art. I would draw one page, declare my sketchbook ‘ruined’ and give up. (Until I get the urge to try again with a new book a few months later, and the cycle continues).
I didn’t understand that a sketchbook isn’t supposed to be a beautiful piece of art; it’s a safe place for you to explore, make mistakes, and create ugly but necessary work.
From 2018-2021 I started to develop a serious case of burnout, artblock, and a general dislike for my job. I needed a change and decided to learn how to traditionally paint.
Along with pushing myself to paint regularly, I also tasked myself with trying out a sketchbook one more time. And after exactly a YEAR of working on it, I finally finished a sketchbook!
In the above sketchbook tour video, you will see a slow evolution of me trying to figure out my new artistic voice with a new medium and learning to love sketchbooking.
I initially had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to use it for but eventually learned that I love doing diary sketches and drawing my day. It’s a great way to record your memories, and also get some sketching in that doesn’t require a lot of thought. It solved a big issue of mine where I would never draw in a sketchbook because I had no ideas. No excuse now!
This was incredibly handy for my travels; I had gone on an LA-SF road trip last summer for my That’s Not My Name! book launch and my sketches for the vacation are definitely some of my favorite pages in this book.
In preparation for my Solo Gallery Show at Gallery Nucleus, I also used this book as a way to explore concepts for paintings.
I hope you all enjoy this little peek into my sketchbook!
-A
NOTES
You can also download a PDF of all my sketches on my Patreon! Available for my $3.50 tier. :)
Although I loved my RENDR book, I am currently using a Nina Cosford sketchbook. I will admit, I haven’t been drawing in it as much as I’d like, but hopefully I can get back into it during Inktober!
If you have any tips for working in your sketchbook, I’d love to hear them!
Take a shot every time I say the word ‘sketchbook’ in this post.
Yess! Thanks for sharing your sketchbook struggles, Anoosha! I have had similar sketchblock and have been recently just giving myself permission to pen on paper with a time limit. No expectations... no expectations!!! Anyway, love seeing your beautiful and fun(!) explorations!!
Congratulations!! I relate to this so much! An important reminder to us all that it's never "too late" to complete something or celebrate our progress.