Sketchbook era unlocked
Hello lovelies,
Firstly, can you believe we're halfway through the year already… scary stuff!
But here we are at the end of June, which of course means, another journal post.
This month, I have been falling back in love with using a sketchbook again.
Which feels odd to say because, when I first started really focusing on art at school, I never put my sketchbook down. All the girls had their trendy Jane Norman bags. I had my huge A3 sketchbook.
But there's something about the feel of the paper under your pencil, pen, or oil pastel (whatever material floats your boat) that just feels amazing. Kind of like the smell of a brand-new book – you just can't beat it.
It's probably why I never got into using a Kindle.
Rediscovering this love has been so exciting. It's opened up my mind more, which feels a tad cringe to say. It feels like I've unblocked a little dam that had been sending all my creative energy into the digital drawing realms of my mind. Whenever I didn't feel like drawing on my iPad, I'd end up with a HUGE art block! Now, when that happens, I simply pick up my sketchbook and scribble away.
One thing I will say, though, and it might be hard to get out of the habit at first, is that you need to make sure you're not trying to create perfection in your sketchbook.
Step away from your perfectionist side! (That's more of a message to myself.)
A sketchbook shouldn't be perfect. It needs to be messy. It needs to be chaotic. It needs to be a place where you can truly explore without worrying about failing.
That's the best way to avoid hitting an art block and to come up with ideas you probably wouldn't have thought of otherwise. Plus, people love seeing messy sketchbooks! So make sure you film a bit of content while you draw.
If, like me, you have multiple sketchbooks collecting dust on your shelves and are just dying to be drawn in, then I urge you to pick one up.
And, to help anyone who wants to start using their sketchbook again but isn't quite sure where to begin, here are some of my favourite pages I've created, along with the little challenges I set myself while drawing them.
I hope this inspires you, and I can't wait to see all your gloriously messy sketchbooks!
Until next time,
Lora x
Drawing within a grid was the challenge I set for his spread and I loved the final outcome! (it’s actually going to be my iPad wallpaper)
Drawing characters from one of my favorite tv series but only using colors (no faces!)
My food shopping list! Draw everything you need from the shop to make the grocery shop fun, who needs a boring list
Drawing a day-in-the-life page. Like I visual diary! This one was after my key-hole surgery where I needed to be on bed rest for a few days.
Ahh this was a messy, failure page! But I still enjoyed doing it, the challenge was to use materials I loved as a child and found these old Crayola pens
Portraits all in one colour, not including the blush…so guess I failed that challenge! We will try again
But I succeeded in this challenge, where I used only one colour and drew my surroundings.
Finally, drawing without lifting your pen off the paper. Its a bit tricky to do but really gets you concentrating.
