Sketchbooks and Tips

Sketchbooks have helped me to personally develop technical skills, confidence, and provided a source of entertainment.

To an artist, keeping a sketchbook is essential. It's like owning the premium membership at a gym for a bodybuilder. It's the place where I work on my skills and ideas. Often, I am the only one looking at most of my sketches. I share the okay/good/excellent (it's subjective, really) ones with others from my personal sketchbooks.

When I have a client, I make sketches to help them visualize their ideas. From there, I produce polished work.

Sketchbook Tips

 If you're into drawing and getting better, a sketchbook helps keep all your thoughts in one place. Then two. Then three. Then before you know it, you have a big stack of sketchbooks. 

I suggest filling your sketchbook with things that you...

•  Like to draw.
•  Want to draw.
•  Don't like to draw.

For me, drawing things that I like keeps me motivated enough to draw things that I don't like to draw. Even if I don't like to draw something, I can still learn by studying it and trying to add it to my visual library. 

Sometimes I can't draw things that I want to draw. In order to improve, I fill pages of my sketchbook with studies - and eventually, my interpretation - of what I want to draw. 

Your sketchbook is something that shouldn't cause you to protect the images inside and not expand beyond its covers. A sketchbook is a useful tool for experimenting and warming up before working on other projects. Sketchbooks shouldn't have expectations, they are more of a book of ideas and visualized thoughts. That being said, don't hold anything back. Imagination is your only limitation.

If you get stuck with normal projects, a sketchbook is a great way to change up your focus for a bit. Take a break, but not the day off. 

For visual artists, pictures and drawings aren't the only things that you can include in your sketchbook. Sometimes, I paste pictures of things that inspire me. I use it as a concept board. Colors to set the mood of a scene, things that inspire characters, or anything relevant to my creations. 

It's okay to have a messy sketchbook. In fact, I find it more interesting when a page is completely covered in sketches. In a way, it shows the workflow for that page. It's also okay to have one illustration per page. Everyone has a different way of organizing their thoughts, and a sketchbook should reflect the artist!


To sum it up:

• Sketchbooks are a workspace where you can draw what you like, what you don't and what you want.
• Fill your sketchbook with studies of real things, eventually, they will turn into interpretations.
• Fill your sketchbook with ideas, rough or polished, just visualize it.
• Don't be afraid to share the ideas from your sketchbook.
• You should think of sketchbooks as a place to "work out"; drawing muscles and the brain!
• It's ok to be messy or clean, it's up to you.

What are you waiting for? The world is yours to make.