Sketchbook Thoughts
Saturday, March 21st, 2020 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tippetariuswritesToday I used up the last sheet in my Strathmore sketchbook. Granted, the first 25 or so sheets were already filled with doodles from as far back as 2012. But this year I used the remaining 75 sheets within three months.
A few things I've learned:
Sometimes bigger is better. Most of the time a 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook is fine. It's a good size for carrying around. But occasionally the pages can feel too small and cramped depending on what I'm doing, so I ended up getting a 9" x 12" sketchbook to play with.
Not everything you draw is worth keeping. Although it's nice to have tangible evidence that I've been drawing nearly every day since the start of the year, I might have been better off doodling all those circles and random shapes on scrap paper and reserving the sketchbook for more serious efforts.
It's a good idea to consistently date and number the pages. Some of my older scribbles have no dates, so I only have a vague idea of when I drew them. Numbering the pages is useful for creating a table of contents, a habit I've picked up from bullet journaling, but the most important thing is writing down the dates.
Drawings have more significance when I recognize them from a specific project or time in my life. Years ago a biology class prompted me to draw cross sections of leaves and roots. More recently I sketched a mouse because I was thinking about the dang rodent that peed on my stuff at work. For certain kinds of drawings, I may start adding notes or brief journal entries to give them more context for the future.
A few things I've learned:
Sometimes bigger is better. Most of the time a 5.5" x 8.5" sketchbook is fine. It's a good size for carrying around. But occasionally the pages can feel too small and cramped depending on what I'm doing, so I ended up getting a 9" x 12" sketchbook to play with.
Not everything you draw is worth keeping. Although it's nice to have tangible evidence that I've been drawing nearly every day since the start of the year, I might have been better off doodling all those circles and random shapes on scrap paper and reserving the sketchbook for more serious efforts.
It's a good idea to consistently date and number the pages. Some of my older scribbles have no dates, so I only have a vague idea of when I drew them. Numbering the pages is useful for creating a table of contents, a habit I've picked up from bullet journaling, but the most important thing is writing down the dates.
Drawings have more significance when I recognize them from a specific project or time in my life. Years ago a biology class prompted me to draw cross sections of leaves and roots. More recently I sketched a mouse because I was thinking about the dang rodent that peed on my stuff at work. For certain kinds of drawings, I may start adding notes or brief journal entries to give them more context for the future.
(no subject)
Date: March 27th, 2020 10:21 pm (UTC)This one on thumbnail sketches was also interesting: https://youtu.be/b6iP1KnN5MU
Yeah, I like looking at bujo inspiration stuff but actually trying to do any of it in my own is too much :D
(no subject)
Date: March 29th, 2020 01:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: March 29th, 2020 03:05 am (UTC)Yeah, I often have those thoughts about using fancy notebooks, even though there's not any reason you shouldn't draw in nice books! Especially as you improve, it becomes a good souvenir.
I can kind of see where thick sketchbooks can be discouraging, but then there's also the thing where starting the first blank page is so intimidating, and if you're finishing books more quickly, you have to get over that first page more often!