The Importance of Sketchbooks 

Love tht he said tht unused sketchbook book is worst kind

We have a similar saying in photography, because a lot of people ask what's the best camera to buy. We always say, the best camera is the one you have with you. Meaning, it doesn't matter if you buy the most expensive gear, the most state of the art bodies and lenses etc etc. If it's too much much for you to handle, if you're not committed to lugging it around, if you're too scared of damaging it, if you're not committed to learning to use it, if it's going to feel like a PITA to haul it out, it's useless. So, for a very large number of people, the best camera for them is their smartphone.

Thanks for your perspective

Oh yesss. Cause "a sketchbook ist a place to f*ck up" 🤗

I'll tell this to all of the "shetchbooks" I have and never used... they are... here and untouched.

exactly!!

Mhm lol plus, we all know how to use a sketchbook

Hence the word, "Sketch". :))

Right. Sketchbooks are the training grounds for learning and mastering the techniques and experimenting ideas. It’s like a Dojo or gym for your hands! 💪

SO true! Ther'es this one channel I love watching, DrawingWiffWaffles. I love the art she makes, and I love seeing every piece she makes for her sketchbooks, but that's the thing. Everything she makes feels like a fully fleshed out piece of art, while I can barely do the lineart and a bit of color after working on something for 5+ hours, and it still has several errors, shaky lineart and is poorly colored. Most of my drawings are never completed or are just little sketches and doodles. It took a lot of time for me to realiza, but tht's fine! Because I'm still learning. She's way more advanced at drawing than me, not to mention that that's probably just her sketchbook for youtube, but she may have a separate one for practicing, because artists always make mistakes and try to learn and improve further (btw, absolutely no hate to her nor anything, I would actually recommend her channel, she's pretty fun, and this is just the way social media works. You have to make everything perfect)

The struggle is real

frfr 😭

yess

I hate to say it but a big stack of paper is what you need. Sketchbooks are actually a bad idea since you inevitably focus on making them look “nice.” You’ll need to burn through tens of thousands of drawings and there’s really no reason to save them as most will be absolute rubbish.

@Sophia B. nice 👍 I just use copy paper, buy it by the case. And do thousands of quick studies and practice drawings. I don’t think there’s any substitute for putting in the mileage. And I hate how sketchbooks feel anyway as holding them open is a problem as well as resting your hand when you get to the edge.

I feel the same. Sometimes I want to make a sketchbook perfect and it seems to me that some works do not fit into it, but turning the pages some time after my sketchbook already finished I realized that they only add a certain color and reflect your emotions and feelings for some period of time

I have the same thing! There's such a mixture of things in most of those books, and they have so much more personality imo, can really surprise you page to page. It tells a story.

Think you're onto something there, mate. Used to date a girl and she had these journals for each year of her life. Mostly groceries, random diary entries, ideas just jotted down during a phone call. But there were illustrations as well. Copy text for book-ideas she came up with, illustrations for those. And some pages full blown art pieces, ink and watercolor and all. And it blew me away, it was the most emotional and instantly relatable journal that I'd ever seen in person.

I also like to flip around my old sketchbooks and seeing how life was back in the days It's like a time capsule!

I keep on worrying about drawing on my sketchbook because of how I keep on telling myself to not screw up the presentation in it otherwise it'd look crappy - this really stumped me in drawing, especially at times when I have to come up with _flawless_ and _fabulously presented art_ in my school sketchbooks to the point art has turned more into a chore than something to enjoy doing for me :'/

Maybe you can have two sketchbooks. One for doodling and one for the nice artwork.

I hear y'all there! I didn't used to have much issue drawing in my sketchbooks until I took a portfolio class where I had to be make things look more polished and presentable (and a lot of my usual artwork in my sketchbooks were messy and experimental). Slowly getting back to using my sketchbook as a place for me to have fun and experiment again, just takes telling myself that my sketchbooks don't have to be for anyone else's eyes, save for my own. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here 's a tip I get with my teacher: use two sketchbooks, one for class and the other for yourself so you can do the lessons and have fun. If I need to show something finished I show the class sketchbook.

It's such a shame that art schools call this kind of thing "a sketchbook", when in reality, what they expect is "an art book", a book full of finished pieces, something looking presentable and complete. But y'all know it's not what sketchbooks are for, right? I've been through this in college too (not when applying, but a part of my drawing class) and I also remember it as being anxiety inducing. And I second that thought about drawing things with friends just for shits and giggles - cause YES, it does wonders for your creativity when you really don't care how the finished product will look like. I remember that one time in high school (it was an art school too, so we had lots of drawing classes) our teacher arranged this exercise where we started drawing a pose at one easel, and then after 10 minutes or so, we'd swap our easels with the person behind us, then after another 10 minutes swap it again with another and so on. The effects were super weird (as expected xD), but the most important thing is, we experimented A LOT and we had much fun doing this. I highly recommend this to everyone struggling with creativity and "letting go" ❤

This advice helped me so much and I just want to say thank you kind soul ❤️

It happens to us all, you should continue to produce the work even when you feel like not drawing lol.

I don’t think you’ll be able to just pick up where you left off and “progress” . You’ll likely be starting from square one as skills erode quickly. On the plus side, you probably weren’t that far along anyway 🤷‍♂️

Wow, this comment is so accurate.

exaaaaactly!!!!!!!!

Interesting!

Oh I see mine went opposite, I started big but now I use a5 and it's the best size for me, a4 doesn't feel good to me. Always fun to see how we all have different experience and opinion about things, hope u are doing great with art

@@hina._.2747 i did exactly the same as you. i drew on A4 then A5 because it felt better at the time. but after a year and a half I went back to A4 again. and not only was I better, but I also enjoyed it a lot. so I recommend to not lock yourself onto one paper size. small size will teach you to make the most out of your lines. and once you get good at it and take that skill to the bigger paper you'll have a blast drawing on it again.

same here, i used to have small sketchbooks and then grew a fear of drawing “too big” when using them, but also depends on what im drawing :)

I guess everyone has different preferences! My sketchbook of choice is A3 as it gives me plenty of space to explore my ideas and reference other sketches on the same page, plus it's a nice stable drawing surface

That's a great idea!

i'm currently in denmark and oh boi you are a life save. I never thought about looking for sketchbooks at flying tiger

@@NkuhanaTheUndone

Apparently it's cheapest to actually make them yourself that's what my art school said, just look up bookbinding tutorials/simple ones

@@tofutofii3097 I have been thinking about doing tha alot, but then I'd have to make them with least 40 a5 pages each month ,xD But it could be fun to do it sometimes anyway

Yesss, Im in sweden, its the best! So cheap, like 3-4 dollars in here!

Dang! I go through like one maybe two a year!

Were you able to?

​@@admd8765 I finished the 5th one sometime in July this year. basically I don't randomly sketch like I used to, but rather for a purpose, either for learning or a project. This made my pace much slower on finishing sketchbooks.

Great to hear!

Which one is it. I need one...well I don't but sketchbook buying is a passion

@@happyfablesart it's WHsmith's: Dealer Rowney Simply A5 hardback sketchbook 100gsm 110 extra white sheets is the name, it's very nice for sketching but a bit prone to bleeding with alcohol markers + watercolour

I'm so glad!

I'm watching you

ooh dunno about ur price range but i got a leuchturm sketchbook that’s too weirdly smooth for me. it’s not as thick as bristol (it’s like, half the thickness) but it is smooth

try bringing a friend, or pretend you're talking on the phone. I HATE when people walk up and look at what I'm doing, and I find it happens a lot less if I'm already sitting with/talking to another person. Also, binder clips are a life saver for plein air/urban sketching. Live your most romanticized life! Good luck!

Sketch in a cafè or something like that. You get a setup with a table like at home, but you get to sketch outside world, people etc... which really helps developing your skills.

Could you cut Bristol sheets to a more portable size and bind them into a diy sketchbook? I’ve done it before with loose papers I had, it worked quite well! 🥰

Get back on that horse and get out there.

My pleasure!

Hope you enjoyed it!

Me too

You got this!

Please save all ur kindergarten style drawings... you'll appreciate them very soon.