Exercise 1:0 - What Sketchbook?

1. Identify on a loose sheet of paper what you think you might use the Sketchbook for.

I’ve been giving this some thought and I think I’d keep one in my handbag so I can use it when I am out and about.
One for mixed media, I really love Strathmore mixed media sketchbooks for this but I am also interested in putting one together myself using Strathmore mixed media loose sheets and a pretty handmade cover.

A digital one for my Procreate sketches.

2. Identify on a loose sheet of paper your thoughts about these questions before you buy, or make, your sketchbooks.

Looking through the questions in the study notes I identified that I prefer to work on heavy weight paper. I like A5 - A4 sized sketchbooks but am willing to experiment with larger books when working at home. It’s much easier to take smaller ones out and about in my bag.

I do sometimes get intimidated by the blank page but still prefer it plain, I am not keen on gridded or lined paper for drawing.

I do like a really high quality sketchbook and am not afraid to use it, I’d rather have quality paper than cheap flimsy paper as I don’t like how it feels or looks.

I don’t really need things to look the same but I do like them to be pretty and colours I enjoy. If it’s a black cover I like to cover it with my favourite artists stickers.

Happy to work in a variety of books and do find I flirt about with projects so am very liking to be using more than one book at a time.

I prefer soft back bound sketchbooks as they feel nicer to me, aren’t as heavy and as I am left handed, much easier for me to work in. With spiral bound I find the coil often gets in my way.

I currently use my sketchbooks for a bit of thumbnailing, testing out colours and swatching new art supplies. Sketching ideas and I have recently started travel sketching using watercolours with a waterbrush pen, which I am actually really enjoying and want to do more of this.

My sketchbooks are used at home and also out and about, I tend to do uni work a lot at the local cafe so will take it there a lot and I am trying to get in the habit of sketching when we go to lovely places.

I prefer not to be watched when I Sketch when I am out and about, I am pretty shy but am getting used to sharing my work a bit more. I’ve been sharing works in progress and finished paintings on my You tube channel but actually sketching I think I’d find really difficult.

I do work digitally as well so will be producing a digital sketchbook as well and sharing it with my tutor in the form of a pdf document.

Foldy Zine and Small Booklet

I was very excited to start making my own sketchbooks. I have tried this before a bit, just using a simple binding technique, so was very keen to try out different types of binding and different sizes of sketchbooks using different papers.

I decided to use some art prints I had made that turned out to be the wrong size so I couldn't use them for my art business but I could cut them up and use them for pretty covers.

I first made the foldy zine, I hadn't made one before but found it fairly easy using the instructions given.

Small Booklet with simple binding:

Close Up of Binding:

I found that I had lot's of scraps left over so I made more sketchbooks of various sizes:

I used various papers for this one, including tan and grey papers and held them altogether with a bull dog clip.

This was an ultra mini sketchbook using up scraps from the other books.

Lastly, I made a large sketchbook using Strathmore mixed media paper and used a Japanese flat binding technique, using this video:

It was fun trying a different binding technique, although I did struggle a big because I used thick paper and didn't intially make the holes big enough to thread the wax thread through, so it was a bit of a struggle but I got there in the end.

I am really pleased with the end result and have started to sketch in this one already.

Over the years I have collected various sketchbook types with lot's of different types of paper in and so I was able to use these to make sketchbooks with a varied amount of papers in.

These are the ones I used:

• Winsor and Newton Bockingford watercolour paper 300gsm
• Winsor and Newton Smooth surface cartridge pad, heavy weight (A5) 220gsm
• Daler Rowney Earthbound recycled sketchbook, Tan. (A5) 110 gsm
• A4 square grid paper
• Daler Rowney Smooth cartridge paper (A4) 150gsm
• Strathmore Toned Grey (5.5 x 8.5") 118gsm
• Canson XL marker paper (A4) 70gsm
• Winsor and Newton Medium surface cartridge pad (A4) 130gsm

Exercise 1.1 Relationship with sketchbook?

I do already keep sketchbooks, but I don’t work in them as often as I would like. I wouldn’t say it’s an extension of me at the moment but I would like it to become that in the future. I would say it probably is just a functional item that holds my ideas, however I do enjoy having a lovely quality sketchbook, I enjoy putting my favourite artists stickers on the front covers and it’s always been my dream to become one of those people who ‘live’ in their sketchbooks. Taking it everywhere, always sketching, taking notes etc.
I’ve never been like that so I am hoping this course unit will help me change that and I will get to a point where sketchbooks become really important to me.

I think I have been scared about using sketchbooks and perhaps that is why I’ve never made it a habit yet? I think there is an element of perfectionism that goes on with me and my art which leads to procrastination and not allowing myself to let loose.

Since beginning this unit I have been challenging myself to work in my sketchbooks more, experimenting with different ways of doing things, using different mediums and seeing what happens. This is a totally new way of working for me and I’ve been enjoying it.

I also tried out travel sketching for the first time whilst on holiday and visiting a local gardens. I made myself a mini tin of watercolours and took a water brush and found I really enjoyed doing this kind of sketching. Which surprised me actually, I was amazed at how relaxing I found it and I wasn’t worried that the sketches weren’t perfect, I knew I was learning and experimenting and that felt very freeing. I don’t even care about people seeing them, that’s quite a transformation for me!

Previous sketchbook work:

My old sketchbooks mostly contained, swatches of different supplies to find colour palettes I enjoyed. I still do this now. Character ideas for new paintings, random sketches of things I tried to draw from real life and trying out cute ideas using different pens.

Which Sketchbook?
I decided to use my small booklet sketchbook to start documenting where I am at with sketchbooks and where I would like to be.

I definitely think I need to be more attached to my sketchbooks and use them more to express myself in general, instead of thinking of them just for working on finished illustrations.

Looking through the questionnaire comments was a really interesting task. I found there was a lot of ‘green’ highlights (things I would like my sketchbooks to become) and there were some pink (what it’s like now).
I noticed that I highlighted a lot of comments about making sketchbooks more personal and sharing more personal things in there. I love to journal and I can write pages and pages at a time, processing life through my words. I would like to try incorporating some of this with sketches to see if this is something that could also work for me. I do feel quite unsure about sharing too personal things as I wouldn’t want to show others but it would be interesting to explore ways to mask or hide the really personal things. Maybe even using codes?

I’m not at a point where I take my sketchbook with me everywhere but I have started taking one out to the local cafe where I go to work quite a lot. I’ll sit and work on art ideas or write ideas out for my art business. I find this a really enjoyable practice and now have started sketching there. I’d like to start sketching people at the cafe, I think that would be fun. I follow an Illustrator called ‘Frannerd’ and she does a lot of people sketching and she has inspired me to try it more.

I’d also like to explore travel sketching more and see where that leads.

Exercise 1.2 - Making Mistakes

Sheet 1:
Faber Castell Gelatos pastel collection.
I have never used these before, so I was excited to try them and I really liked how they turned out.

Sheet 2:

Charcoal Pencil.

I have used this before but not very much. It's quite messy but can make some interesting lines.

Sheet 3:

Acrylic paint markers. I've not used these much, except for adding little details to abstract paintings, so it was interesting to use them to create a whole sketch.

Sheet 4:

Zig waterbased markers.

I have used these a lot of adult colouring books and recently for colouring swatching for paint ideas. I really like these pens.

I did find this task quite fun, I liked choosing the supplies to work with and had been waiting to try the Gelato’s for a little while and was very pleased with how they worked.

I also felt quite stressed as well, I think because I was using mediums I wasn’t comfortable with and I’m not used to drawing ugh quick, loose sketches. I think the perfectionist in me was rearing it’s ugly head again.

My 4 books:

For the book with pockets, instead of glue I used washi tape because I thought it added a fun touch.

It was really interesting trying the different methods of cutting to make the books, I like book 2 best, because I like the way it folds and I like how my drawing turned out with it.

I'd like to try adding to these books in the coming exercises.

Here are my 4 books added into my japanese bound sketchbook, using washi tapes.