Peak inside my sketchbook

For many years now I have been an avid lover of a sketchbook. I probably have close to fifty or more by now. This is where I practice daily. I just play in my sketchbook, I rarely do finished illustrations. This is where I try new things without the stress of messing up because after all it’s just a sketchbook. If you don’t like something just turn the page and try again. I have found that when keeping a sketchbook I can exercise my drawing and illustration skills that only improve by lots and lots and lots of practice. This truly is the only way an artist improves.

So I thought you might enjoy taking a quick peak. The last several months have been exciting as I’ve taken a little twist in my illustration journey. I used to love only doing more cartoon illustrations but now I’ve switched to more old school illustration that I love. Leaning more on nostalgic and calming type of illustrations that bring me calm and happiness. Some people think you should only have one art style, but I disagree with that. I would be bored to death if I only drew one way. Right now I love the more old school pencil and watercolor illustration which is still heavily illustrated but has a tad more realism then I normally have. On rough days where I need to laugh and have fun I turn to my cartoon style that I use in my children’s books. This is okay to jump around like this.

Here you will see some of my cartoon style at the beginning of this sketchbook. When I have no clue what to draw thats what I turn to.

Next you will start to see a shift where I was kind of changing my subject manner and a shift in my style starts to emerge. It’s always so fun to go back in a sketchbook and see you evolve as an artist. It always excites me.

Around this time in my sketchbook, my first grandson was born. So of course lots of babies and mom’s with babies started showing up in my sketchbook. I loved some of these illustrations so much they became some of my hand painted Christmas ornaments this year.

Next you will see where I started brainstorming on what ornaments I wanted to paint this year. Sketchbooks are so great to keep all your working ideas in one place as to not lose them. I loved dreaming up projects I wanted to sell and working out those ideas before I do it with all the final materials. That makes the finished project go much smoother with less throw away products.

Then you will see more of my shift to more old school illustrations that have that nostalgic feel that brings me calm. I developed this style by studying pictures and trying to simplify them into that more illustrative style.

Then near the end of my sketchbook I was getting frustrated with trying to find photos to work from that were copyright free so I switched to just drawing my environment or from my own photos. This is when a good shift happened and I was able to freely develop my style that made me content and calm.

If you have not tried keeping a sketchbook, I highly recommend that you do. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to get started. I love the cheap ones from a dollar store, but anything can work. Now to go work in my sketchbook for today’s practice! Do you keep a sketchbook practice?