A Real Sketchbook Isn't Always Pretty

I’m not judging folks with perfectly polished sketchbooks. I don’t blame them for only presenting their best work. I’m tempted to do the same. It pains me to share what I’m about to share. I don’t want you, my current audience of fewer than ten, to judge me harshly, to think I’m a crap artist, or worse, no kind of artist at all.

But … in the spirit of The Daily Sketcher (drawing and sharing nearly every day, quality-or-lack-thereof-be-damned), I now present selections from my sketchbook. It’s a place where ink bleeds through the opposite page, where unpolished art lurks around every corner, where tutu-wearers and astronauts share space.

But it’s also a place where, amidst the mess, problems get solved, lessons are learned, and maybe, just maybe, a few creative seeds are sprinkled that will grow into something more.

Sharing your sketchbook might be uncomfortable

If it doesn’t make you cringe just a little to let someone flip through your sketchbook, then it might not be a real sketchbook … or you’re a robot. Either way, that’s cool. Even cooler if you’re actually a robot.

For me though, I always have to steel myself, and caveat the heck out of it, before revealing so much of my messy inner world.

Sketchbooks spawn strange bedfellows

What do a Yeti, a euphoric golfer, and a pearl-wearing horror movie character have in common?

Absolutely nothing.

But that’s what you’ll find on the sketchbook page below, because sketchbooks bring together odd combinations as new ideas pop up and find their way onto the page.

Thanks for reading The Daily Sketcher! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Mayhem dominates sketchbook spreads

In a real sketchbook, you might find a Sharpie doodle from the previous page bleeding through. You might find a color experiment gone wrong. You might find every inch of available space filled with Capybaras, or even overlapping Capybaras.

The good part about sketchbooks

All of the above. I love the mess, the weirdness, the failed, ugly experiments. I love learning how to draw a smile in three-quarter view by repeating it thirty times or working out exactly how to simplify a bike while still making it recognizable.

A sketchbook allows all of this: chaos, repetition, mistakes, and ultimately, solutions.

And the best part is that it’s entirely yours. You don’t have to structure it like mine. You don’t need astronauts, or Capybaras, or mopeds. Your sketchbook might be cleaner and less chaotic, and that’s fine too. I know I talked about “real sketchbooks”, but I’m certainly not the arbiter of what constitutes “real.”

I just hope that your sketchbook is a place that encourages you to practice, make mistakes, and create something that makes you happy (sorry, a little too cheesy there).

As promised, here’s a gallery of pages from my sketchbook. I’d love to see what others have created.