I received the book, AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE SKETCHBOOKS OF ARTISTS, ILLUSTRATORS AND DESIGNERS from my sister and brother-in-law this Christmas. Between eating, watching Christmas specials, eating, petting cats, eating, chatting with family members, eating, and eating some more, I was riveted by this compelling book.
I've kept sketchbooks over the course of the years, and journals, but I gladly embraced blogs when they arrived on the internet scene. Blogs allowed me to articulate, share inspiring ideas in the wink of a simple link, and the best of my own sketches, badda, bing, badda boom, done!
But nothing pleases me more than to sit with a blank book in hand, on the couch, next to my husband, TV droning and immersing myself wholly and sometimes half-heartedly in sketching. Sketching completes me, the very act is soothing these days because I've allowed myself to accept the style that flows freely from my hands, rather than demanding my art be more like this or that. I'm the art director here. And more importantly, the act of sketching allows one to develop a personal, analytical thinking process, the kind where step-by-step individual input is essential, there's no highlighting, pushing a button and Whoosh! free artsy-image! In this world of fast, faster and more faster, sketching is a stress reliever. This fact illustrates the freeing experience of a sketchbook. Nothing allows one to develop their mind's imagination more, than a sketchbook/journal.
The book's author is an artist himself who started the blog everydaymatters. In his forward he mentions this is the book he's been wanting to purchase for a long time, but it didn't exist-I know the feeling so well, as there are art/craft books I'd like to purchase, and they're just not out there…yet.
The books invites readers to view the private visual journals of such artists as Robert Crumb, Cathy Johnson, James Jean, Noah Z. Jones, Barry Gott, Christine Castro, and more. But it isn't all eye candy, as each artist articulately reveals the inner teaching process and philosophical reflections that these bound books offer the owner in return. Most importantly for me, how forgiving the artists are of their hand-drawn boo,boos, this is a field where they can play unencumbered by critical feedback. This was their personal turf and that alone gave them validation to respect all the marks laid down between covers. What an epiphany for me! I could mess something up, leave it, move on, create over it or revisit and fix-instead of mentally beating myself up for being a clumsy artist, not as good as so and so, yada, yada.
Many of the interviewed artists lamented how hard it was to find the ultimate sketchbook, others made their own, yet others were quite pleased with the standard black cover-bound book found in many art stores. All detailed how many books they have sitting on their shelf, some have books for different kinds of media, subject matter and many are nomadic gypsies carrying their book all over the globe, guarding it like the precious cargo it truly is.
Recently, after viewing decades of my awkward sketches made in the past when I wasn't cued into the inner true artist that I am today; I decided to purchase a book with the intent of gluing in old sketches and re-drawing them in a style that is ultimately natural to me. Sometimes the book is interspersed with ideas and not just re-draws. But I'm enjoying this seminal process that has spawned ideas for future sketchbooks.
One thing I don't like about commercial made sketch books is the covers. They're either too hard, too soft and never just right. But Mr. Gregory's book included pictures of what the highlighted artist's had done with their covers, and on Christmas day, my mental wheels were churning. I'd signed my name on the front of the book, but now have added little characters and such viewing my signature-and today, I'm on to the back of my own sketchbook and I can't wait for the idea to hatch!
Below some sketch-book blogs I enjoy:
• Illuminara
• DaniDraws
But if you google "sketchblogs" you can find your own!
About the images to left of post: ©2009 Danny Gregory, Artists represented on Mr. Gregory's book and Suzanne Urban, all images protected under copyright law.