You need this sketchbook - the sketchbook that changed my art for the better 

I’m with you, I’ve got sketchbooks scattered everywhere. I still find myself not wanting to “mess it up”, constantly need to remind myself that they’re for experimenting. Your portraits are so fab! Love their vibrancy, their life!

Thank you for this video! I'm also too precious about sketchbooks, and one thing I've been doing for a while whenever I get a new one is writing a kind message to myself on the first page, just to remind myself that those pages are a safe place and that I have full permission to be creative in any way I want... draw, paint, write, experiment, make mistakes, play and be happy! In a sense, I welcome myself and this has been working somehow better than I expected ♡

I always say every new sketchbook is a low-pressure sketchbook. Then I inevitably make one piece I’m really proud of in it and then I’m afraid to ruin it from that point so it becomes a high-pressure sketchbook.

One thing that I find really inspiring is the many color combinations I see in other people's sketchbook, such as where your flowers are. Another thing is the other environments, such as gouaches and acrylics which can produce very very beautiful results. Thank you for upload, pretty hair lady 😊😊

In school we were taught never to show a sketchbook with anyone. It's a bridge between the chaos of the mind and work we share with the world. A private space where it's safe to experiment and practice techniques. It's in the name, sketch. Sketchy by nature is chaotic, so experiment with chaos in a sketchbook because no one will ever see it. I was shocked and appalled when I came back to art as an adult and saw all these sketchbook tours. It's like looking into someone's sock drawer. How can someone feel safe to experiment when they are taught that art has to be perfect the first time? No wonder so many people told me not to start drawing again. They tried and couldn't get a perfect sketchbook the first try. Art, they declare, is only for people with natural talent.

All my sketchbooks are low pressure, because my entire practice is low pressure. I’m autistic and my art is something of a stim for me. Meaning that I don’t create for the result, but for how creating art makes me feel. So I also have a lot of sketchbooks, but it’s because different moods require different paper types because of how creating on them feels. Like colored pencils feel different on smooth paper vs a rougher watercolor paper. Which one I choose depends on what sensory experience my brain is craving that day.

I have three no pressure sketchbooks and like you it’s improved my art massively…..I art all the time now….every spare second I get….its made me more free for sure 💕

Definitely understand that a costly sketchbook automatically 'ups' the stress when using it. I have some nicer ones but also cheap ones that allow me to sketch, do light watercolors, color pencils, and not stress. So when I start feeling really uptight about making art-and I am NOT talented like you-then I just go, 'Okay, time to play in cheap journals'. It's very freeing.

I literally had to denote a messy sketchbook for unstructured play, swatching, experimenting with materials. It's crazy how I have to *trick* myself this way. I find myself making special allowences as I unlearn all the toxic art rules I gained from the internet in my formative art years. I highly recommend everyone who is struggling with not wanting to "mess up their sketchbook" GET A MESSY SKETCHBOOK, swatch in it, pull out all your pens and make scratches, do it on the first several pages! Paste in bits and bobs from your life/day (ticket stubs, produce stickers, clean candy wrappers). You will fall in love with the messy sketchbook and your creativiity will thrive. Also when I can't think of what to make but wanna be creative, repetitive patterns. I have a page thats just colorful hearts or clover or daisies over and over. You think you're messing about but you're helping your hands get comfortable and steady.

my low pressure sketchbook is DEFINITELY my Khadi Fat Book. I draw circles, squares, do warm ups, paint alongs, swatch, and test out new purchases and mixes! Its right on my desk to grab at anytime and I brought one to work to serve the same purpose.

I recently started carrying around a sketchbook with me that I made as my ugly sketchbook, so when I’m out and about I can pull it out and jot dot notes, quotes, doodles, ideas, etc. Then when I get back to my studio I can open up and see what capture my attention and interest that day and expand on it. How I overcome that ‘blank page paralysis’ I take a yellow highlighter and make a mark or two on the page. Then my brain is like ‘I have to fix this or cover it up.’ Now I have to get creative and make that mark apart of my doodle/sketch or use a different art media that will cover over the mark (for example gouache or oil pastels). I also mark my canvases with a highlighter before going over it with acrylic or oil paints because the canvas if ‘no longer blank/perfect’ and I know paint will be thick enough to cover it. I hope these tips help someone!! 😊

At this point all my sketchbooks are low pressure. I have no problem starting a new one even expensive ones. First thing I do in them is swatching. The only thing that hinders me is the: What to draw question. And feeling overwhelmed by the question.

Love the term low pressure sketchbook, it certainly helps with eliminating that fear of the blank page. Love your experiments and vibrant colours.❤❤❤

Love my low pressure sketchbooks. This is where I push to learn more and use my supplies and not be so precious about everything. If I mess something up I just move on or sometimes go back and gesso over and try to salvage the mess. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, but I am ok with that. Thanks for the video ❤

I call mine my scribble sketchbook. I usually have 4 or 5 on the go these days and somedays all I want if to fill a page with colour with no rhyme or reason. (which is what I've been doing the last few days in fact)

Thank you for this encouragement! I do put so much pressure on myself for what I put in a sketchbook! I am also picky about sketchbooks, so I have tons that aren’t perfect for my preference. Consequently, I have stacks of unused sketch books and so many missed opportunities to create because I think either I am or my materials are not good enough. I feel freshly inspired to just sit down and do what I love! Thank you!

I have completed a few, I doodle, swatch, sketch etc, I test out new supplies and experiment with colour mixing. They're great for giving me ideas for creating new artwork when I look back through them 😊

I used to be like that with my good quality sketchbooks but then I always found that I didn’t use them enough so that felt like more of a waste. So now all 3 of my current sketchbooks are low pressure 😂 even the sketchbook I’ve dedicated to filling with pictures of my dog who passed away is low pressure. Sometimes I just want to doodle a funny moment we shared, and often those turn out to be my favourites. I still do more “finished” looking pieces in my sketchbook but I don’t HAVE to which lowers the barrier to entry which means I make more art and ultimately become a better artist 👍

When I first started painting I was using loose sheets of paper. After a many months I bought watercolor sketchbooks. I don’t have many sketchbooks on the go at the same tIme, but when I do start a new sketchbook I like my first page to be a nice painting. Then after that I can do whatever I like: swatches, experiments, rough paintings, loose florals (which I’m still terrible at 😂) etc. When I’m feeling really lazy and I don’t want to draw anything, I will stamp an image with waterproof ink and paint it. When I want to do a final piece of art that I could potentially frame and hang on a wall, then I paint on/in a watercolor block. I have no pressure sketchbooks so sketchbooks don’t hold me back from creating more, it’s my desire for perfectionism which holds me back.

I have a Canson XL mixed media spiral bound sketchbook that is a mess, and I love it.

another thing that comes to mind is: make a bowl with notes where each note contains one of your materials. you pull two from the bowl and this combination will be the one you use on a spread in your sketchbook

Your sketch book you flipped through 7:29 ...is freaking awesome ❤❤

Thanks for covering this sometimes sensitive topic. I feel what you are saying. I guess every artist does. I tend to put pressure on myself no matter what type of paper I'm using. As another viewer commented below I often start a sketchbook with the idea that it will be low pressure then I'll make one piece that turns out well and then every subsequent piece has to be as good. When it inevitably isn't, I feel I have ruined it, or worse yet I won't even attempt another one so that i won't ruin it. I watch a lot of sketchbook tours on RU-vid and they are intimidatingly perfect and pristine. Even ones where the artist says oh this is just a practice sketchbook they'll turn out page after page of art that could be sold for a high price. I have a fine motor skills deficit so it has taken me a long time to even be able to draw things that are recognizable. I just bought a very inexpensive sketchbook with Kraft paper and I'm hoping this will be the one that will let me just play.

I try not to open "crack" open new sketch books all the time. I do use old bits of paper but I tend to work small so I tend to glue them into a sketch book to to all my art together. Sometimes I washing tape them in and write on the back. Where the inspiration comes from, what mediums including sometimes the individual colours I have used and the date. All as a reflection when I flick back through the sketchbooks. If I really like a piece I can replicate it again...

I've been doing art more seriously for some years now, but only recently realized how important sketchbooks are to my creativity. Thanks!

I agree! It’s definitely a trial and error process to discover how to create in a way that is most comfortable and productive for you personally and not get hung up on how other artists approach their practice. I’ve found that a combination of sketchbook work and loose sheets is my favorite approach. I get bored working in one sketchbook and using loose sheets allows me to experiment with the absurd variety of papers that I have in my stash. If I particularly like a piece that I create, I can add the loose sheet in one of several art portfolios that I have in different sizes. A binder with sheet protectors works well for this purpose too.

I like to have lots at the same time with most being low pressure. Dollarama in Canada has great low cost sketchbook and I tend to use those for my low pressure ones! It’s good to have multiple so that when one is drying you can immediately pick up another and continue creating.

most of my sketchbooks are low pressure but i have a couple that a for certain things but my main one is just thrown in my backpack and taken everywhere with me so it gets a bit of everything in it depending where im making art at the time, im very much into pencil sketches and watercolour at the moment though :D

I’m not there yet but I get the concept! I’m new to art, still learning basically. I have freaked out when I’ve done art that I don’t like in my sketchbook!

I think I have a low-pressure sketchbook 😄. If I don’t want to ruin my sketchbooks, I just paint on individual papers and then throw away the sketches that I don’t like. I then sew the others into a journal.

Great topic! All of my non-Etchr sketchbooks are “low pressure” (my term for them is “play” sketchbooks). When I discovered that Etchr was my favourite, I allowed myself to use all of my other sketchbooks for practice, swatching, colour mixing, playing around, and generally trying things out since I don’t enjoy the paper as much. Most of my “play” sketchbooks are A6 or A5 (maybe a couple slightly larger). The brands are Royal Talens (only 1, really don’t like it), Moleskine, Hahnemuhle, Pentallic Aqua and a true doodle book with thin paper for pencil sketches. I also have several Stillman & Birn that I use for gouache. I go between Etchr and S&B for gouache and I don’t really treat S&B as precious but I don’t use it for doodles either.

Our sketchbooks are such a reflection of ourselves so for me I hate to mess up. However, I’ve started using my sketchbooks to tackle those tough things. For me vehicles and florals are my toughies (unlike you) and portraits are my comfort zone. We are all so different. Loving my Khadi Fat Book thanks for your recommendation……. But it is one “thirsty” papered book.

I love the idea of a no pressure (or a non precious) sketchbook. I recently started using one. I now use only three sketchbooks: non precious Art Creations, precious Erchr cotton, and a plein air Hahnemuhle cotton. All three are square. Love me some square sketchbooks.

Most of my sketchbooks are low pressure. In the past few years, my sketchbooks have always been my experimentation place and my development place. I used my sketchbook to doodle out concepts for a bigger piece or just it to test out gouache and new watercolour palettes. Ninety percent of the time, I use my sketchbooks for fanart. That being said, my Stillman and Birn sketchbook is designated for more ‘finished’ pieces. With paper that special, I don’t want to waste it on doodles. 😅

Really enjoyed this video! Thank you! My Royal Talens art creations sketchbook is my low pressure sketchbook and I can honestly say it’s changed my life and the way I create art, for the better! 😄 I think it’s maybe because I got the sketchbook for such a good price and so I have 4 in a stack on my shelf that I feel no pressure to ‘mess it up’ although… I’m still nervous about doing portraits in there. Maybe because I’ve never done them before! I’m starting a smaller sketchbook just to document my portrait drawing journey! So that should be fun to look back on ❤

Thank you so much for this video 😊 So much great advice & very relatable. I especially loved it when you said to allow yourself to sacrifice one sketchbook for your art journey. Also your art is so beautiful, it was lovely to get to see it throughout the video 🧡

I think a good place to start might be a Strathmore 400 series recycled sketchbook and some black ink pens with permanent archival ink in .3mm, .4mm, or .5mm tip size and fill up the sketchbook. Take it everywhere you go and draw everything you see. Don't look at any how to books, just go do it! No graphite and no erasers. Live with those sketches and come to love them all. When the book is full, take some down time and tour the book. Several times and marvel at the difference between page 1 and 100. Congratulations, no more silly ideas about sketchbooks. Look at how much Mother Nature has taught you in only 100 pages! A sketchbook is a tool that should reasonably match your other tool. The medium of your choice. Change mediums and sketchbooks, if necessary and wreck another sketchbook. Make notes as you go. Maybe keep a journal of what is in which sketchbook. They become your personal reference material. Infinitely different from any other person on the planet. No more fear just pure happiness will fill your heart! Happy Creating!

I use several sketchbooks at a time too. My lowest low-pressure sketchbooks have been ones I’ve made myself. Most of my handmade sketchbooks are Arches cold pressed paper, but I did make a hot press one for gouache. I learned I prefer cold press even for gouache lol, but I definitely feel I can do whatever I like in those books. You’ve also inspired me to start what I’m calling a “no tutorial” sketchbook. It’s actually my most expensive sketchbook, a handmade Arches sketchbook from Etsy seller Lake Michigan Press, but I’m telling myself everything in there will be just me. I’m the type of person who would keep painting along with tutorials forever, hoping I’ll somehow feel I’ve learned enough or built enough skills to create on my own. It’s a big step for me to use one of my best sketchbooks just for myself!!

Yes, it made a lot of sense!💯

I think I only have low pressure sketchbooks.. meaning that I make whatever I want in them, and I only decide after I'm done whether to share a piece with others. What ends up on instagram is often on the back of a swatch page 😄

I followed the ugly sketchbook on Instagram and it’s not low pressure. All gorgeous pieces. So I unfollowed them because they didn’t give me the confidence I needed. 🤦🏽‍♀️. You are right. A low pressure is the right word, and like a lot of comments, I too use my Khadi fat book for it.

OMG that is me at the mo, I haven't found my perfect sketchbook yet, mainly use water colour or pen & ink, occassionally posca's, acryla gouache. Closest I have found is stillman and birn but its just a bit too smooth to get much texture in granulation. I have 4 sketcbooks on the go for mediums & styles. My next sketchbook to try is the Strathmore 500 mixed media as it appears to have more tooth. I can't wait to find one that I can do everything in!

I don't like when it is referred to as an ugly sketchbook because to me I am always thinking and hoping the person finds joy doing anything creative and the word just has judgement to it. But maybe I am taking it too personal lol I just would not like someone to call my sketchbook "oh that's your ugly sketchbook" Hmmmm yes taking it to personal lol Thanks for this upload I really love this kind of content.

Great video. I guess I did have a low pressure mixed media sketchbook before, which I thought of as an Art Journal, but then I started seeming to divide them -- this one's for fruit, this one's for landscapes, this one's for abstracts. I just went and checked and my art journal seemed to have turned into a gouache swatchbook. Soooo... I guess it's time to go back to creating some things in it! I like the Strathmore 100% cotton Mixed Media Visual Journals. Very economical. You can watercolor in them but there's no sizing, so you just have to go for it and live with the layers. But I've done some nice pieces that way.

Thanks so much...perfect reminder for today, as I've been feeling inhibited and experience a slow down in my creativity.

This looks so good ☺☺

I really liked this chatty vlog style video. I consider myself a newbie to "real" art, although I started doing digital art in 2018/19. I have nice paints and papers that I'm worried about ruining because I'm not good enough yet and kept finding myself using dollarama watercolor paper, which is truly awful for watercolor, but not bad for gouache. I finally ordered some cotton paper blocks last week but still haven't tried them, lol. I also limit my time using me professional quality paints and use student grade because I don't want to waste my expensive paint, lol. My first sketchbook is like the sketchbook you're describing; a little of everything, including swatches and me trying the same painting 3 or 4 times in a row. I do feel much less stress using that one than my others.

Wonderful!

I’ve got two inexpensive sketchbooks that were purchased to be my “low pressure” sketchbooks. But when I painted something very ugly i each of them I became kind of afraid of ruining them further. So for now So purchased some inexpensive loose leaf watercolor paper and some inexpensive drawing paper and ai am working on those. I hope to get to the stage where I feel my skills are good enough to experiment and create something interesting even if not “pretty”

I have a lowest pressure dry media sketchbook and wet media sketchbook, I need both!

I don't have a low pressure sketchbook currently and it's been rough lol the Khadi Fat Book was supposed to be my replacement but it took so long to get to me that I can't bring myself to use it in that way now 😅

I feel this video was important to hear. You made some really good points of making the process your own, no matter what type of sketch book you use. As a beginner, this was so helpful. I liked how you gave yourself permission to have a space to practice and not perhaps make the greatest art. It challenged me to do this and either keep it for me to see or post. I have been posting my not so good pieces and I am encouraged that once I continue to practice they will evolve and get better over time. I see how beautiful you work is because you have worked hard and found things that work for you. Now its skies tye limit for you. Thats exciting. Honestly, I thought all your stuff has always been really good. Don't mean to be long winded, but thanks again for this video. Very inspiring to me.

Oh such wise words of encouragement for creating art!!! I love 💕 your creativity & enjoy seeing your work in the sketchbooks. They give me inspiration to draw ✍️, paint 🎨, play & just have fun with my art supplies! Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend Sketches!!

Thank you for sharing. One of your previous videos where you suggested Khadi fat book and once I got that it has made a real difference. Not being precious about sketchbooks or your supplies definitely allows you to be more creative and exploring different avenues.

Still watching, of course! I do have a low pressure sketchbook but I haven't let myself loosen up and I am definitely going to follow your precious suggestions to loosen up. My low pressure sketchbook is actually a royal talens one, a purple one too! hahaha Thank you so much for sharing your advice and your journey!

There’s become this warped view of sketchbooks through social media. It seems there’s this gap between the trained and untrained. Trained use sketchbooks as exploration and practice, ideas, practice a certain subject till u get it right, trying new media, looking at how to do something and anything and everything. Critiquing the works, what works, what doesn’t and writing it next to the pieces. Working through ideas with notes. Basically a sketchbook is for anything and everything. Then once u know how to do something because you’ve practiced it, u go to single sheets to produce the final piece. U can have one sketchbook per piece, per project or for multiples. Then there’s the social media view of only finished pieces, then where is the practice? It’s only through practice that u get better, u advance as an artist, evolve. When training u go through hundreds of practice, maybe thousands of practice pieces and studies. Ppl seem scared to practice and want to jump to the finish. That happens in no other genre so why should it b different for art? Plumbers practice and learn first before they’re let loose on anyone’s plumbing lol. Sketchbooks r meant to b fun and special places to go for idea generation. Ugly? Sometimes but not always. It’s your artistic home or it’s meant to b. I’m glad ppl r starting to talk and inform ppl of the real time served use of sketchbooks and kicking back at the precious notion of perfect piece collections. Practice is also how u develop your own style and artistic voice rather replicating someone else’s. Thanks for sharing 😊😊

Your go with the Flo or your General Practitioner sketchbook….your PCP. (Place of Creative Progression)

my best piece of advice is to LEAVE sketches sketches. leave them unfinished when you have gained the benefits from sketching, which to me is trying and learning. most importantly thanks for another lovely vid on your channel ❤

Excellent video. The struggle is real.

Great video!

All my sketchbooks are low pressure sketchbooks. They're all messy. Tho in different ways.

So helpful! What was the black sketchbook you shared at the end of the video that you are now using? Would love to have a casual sketchbook that is also good for wet mediums. Thanks!!

Sketches, I have a question. Do you seal your gouache paintings in your sketchbook? Just curious about this as no artist reveals this.

First!

All my sketchbooks are full of colourful rubbish. My skills are just not there yet. One day.