Welcome to A Creative Spark - Part V
The first Friday post... An Essential Tool: a Sketchbook
To fully take advantage of A Creative Spark, you need a sketchbook or journal to jot down your ideas, devise plans, sketch out compositions, and most importantly, play.
The more, the better
You may need more than one sketchbook or journal. A journal with lines for writing and a sewn binding that won’t allow the book to lay flat isn’t ideal for sketching, but will be a precious object to record all of your thoughts, goals, and lists. On the other end of the book spectrum are spiral bound sketchpads that are much larger and with cheaper paper where you can draw and makes marks with abandon. There are art pads for experimenting with all kind of art media & techniques, and having various sizes allows you to work large as well as take a pocket-sized journal on your travels.
Here are a few of mine:
These are all sketch pads in progress. One of them was started in 2009! I admit that my sketchbook style is haphazard. I don’t do a lot of writing, I don’t use the pages in order, and I mix small, finished artworks with sketches and tests.
I also have notebooks for writing. On a recent trip to Nice, France, I picked up these French-themed illustrated ones because I thought they were pretty. Every page has a different design and they make me want to write in them.
Don’t be precious with it
Use a sketchbook or journal as it suits you; don’t be afraid to make marks in it. If you need to, go ahead and cross things out or tear out a page. It’s just paper; these books are meant to be used! Feel free to start a sketchbook only to start a different one the next week. If you have sketchbooks for certain activities or themes, it’s natural that you’ll end up with a few in progress. These books are meant for experimentation and writing, drawing, and collaging can be combined. Over time, your journal or sketchbook will begin to take shape and you could even start to develop the book as a work of art in and of itself, but initially it’s just a place to write or draw in freely, for your eyes only.
Keep them
When you’ve filled a journal or used up all the paper in a sketchbook, don’t throw it out or destroy it. Save it as a moment in time that you can come back to. You may find that there are certain themes in your life that are recurring or that you have grown in ways you hadn’t suspected. Sketchbooks record our growth in skill; it can be astounding how much better we get at something like observational drawing if we just keep at it. Going back to see this evolution can be incredibly encouraging.
If you already have a journal or sketchbook, revisit it. Are there any blank pages that beckon you to fill? Is there anything on your mind to write about? Is there something you’d enjoy sketching? If you don’t have any, next time you’re out shopping look out for one. Nice cover art or luxurious paper might entice you to take a moment to exercise your creativity.
Do you have a sketchbook practice? Subscribe and leave a comment below.
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