Sketchbooking is exactly that: filling sketchbooks with doodles, collages, scrapbooking and journaling. But for many creatives it is so much more. A way to release thoughts on paper. A mindful, personal practice that you can carry with you anywhere you go. A safe space to express your ideas, without the pressure to showcase your work.
Forget ripping out pages from a paper pad, repeatedly attempting to perfect your work only to have the wastepaper bin fill up with a feeling of failure. When you are sketchbooking you are piecing together individual moments, creating a collective diary to learn from and be inspired by. A visual timeline of your thought process to explore, experiment and come back to time and again. For some, sketchbooking is an essential part of their process. Read on to learn why sketchbooks are important to these artists, and how they use them.
Caroline Stenning
My sketchbooks were always so important to me. I was quite prolific when at school and in my 20s. I loved creating characters and jotting down overheard conversations. I had a big pause from using sketchbooks. I think life, work and kids made it difficult to keep my creativity going. But in recent years I have found my groove and the sketching has to led to having a greeting card company. Every new design starts a scribble in my much loved sketchbook.
Chloe Scott-Moncrieff
My sketch book is a private space. I've several on the go, they brim with an unpunctuated stream of ideas, from words to watercolours, to drawings and 'to do' lists even. Most are messy; I stick things in, scribble. I often forget what's in them, it's fruitful to return to each one like a diary over the years. A few of the rough compositions or thoughts jotted down, I'll use, others I never look at again. Sketch books are wonderful because there's no pressure."
Joe Davis
These days I mostly work digitally, sketching on my iPad. Yet each time I pick up a physical sketchbook, I’m reminded how much I miss it. Sketchbooks capture moments in time, serving as a visual diary of impulse and ideas that allow more freedom than my usual detailed drawings. I love taking a sketchbook with me when I travel. On trips to Portugal and Morrocco I was inspired by the local plants. I vividly remember sketching in Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, surrounded by monstera, cacti and aloe vera. I remember the moment so vividly through documenting it in my sketchbook.
Rachel Hall
My sketchbook is where I just get to play. I get to document, I get to try new things and experiment without the pressure of it having to be perfect. While most of my work is now in digital format, my sketchbook remains organic. They usually inform how I create my digital work and vice versa. It scratches an itch to try something that is a completely different style to my other illustrations and see how it can develop.
Swanttje Voogdt
I’m always working in several sketchbooks at one time. Some are pocket-sized so I can take them anywhere to sketch a dress or an outfit I have seen, while sitting in one of my favourite coffee places. These sketchbooks are a source of inspiration when I work on a commission. Filled with everything from quick sketches to detailed illustrations, they remind me of travels, fashion magazines and many hours spent filling them with art.
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