My Sketchbook - A Safe Place to Explore
Hi there. How are you?
99% of my recent art making is done within the confines of a sketchbook. There are many reasons for this, but a big one is the freedom and safety I feel when working in its pages. I can explore without the pressure to make a “finished” piece. I can make “bad” art and no one has to see it.
Even the most accomplished of artists make “bad” art sometimes. Myself included. Though most don’t share the duds, believe me, we all have them.
There are many pages in my sketchbook that I never share anywhere. They’re not my best work, but that doesn’t mean I regret making them or that I wasted my time. Usually, I can find some good passages in each “failure”, even if the drawing as a whole didn’t come together. Perhaps I developed a new mark or technique on that page that I can incorporate into my artistic repertoire.
I thought it would be helpful to share some of those sketchbook fails, and explain what I learned in each one. Rather watch this as a video? Keep scrolling!
Failing Forward
Here’s a recent sketchbook “fail.” The composition isn’t flowing together as a whole. There’s almost too much going on, or not enough? It’s just not working.
Even though this drawing isn’t working overall, there are some good things going on here. I like the play of the organic flowing marks against the straight lines. I quite like the bead like texture that I came up with on the upper left. There are some good ideas here that I will use again in a future sketch. I’m utilizing things in this “fail” and moving “forward.” (Thanks to Jen + Ink student, Sherrina Davis-Hansen for coming up with the catchy phrase, “Failing Forward.”)
A Sketchbook Success
I call this one a success. It’s interesting, the composition flows and is unified. I tried the bead pattern that I pioneered in the other sketch and really made it work here. I’m excited to continue to work with this mark and see how it evolves over time.
On the Verge of a Fail?
I don’t hate this drawing, but I don’t know where to go with it. I thought adding in the blue might help, but I’m not sure about it. Instead of pushing to finish this one, I just moved on to a new drawing. I may come back to it. I may not.
I like to return to these unfinished drawings on days when I feel like I have no ideas. It feels good to work on something that already has some direction. If it doesn’t work out, oh well. It’s just one page in my tiny sketchbook. (The pages in this Moleskine are just 3” x 5”).
Sketchbook Save
I show this drawing in the video version of this post while I was still figuring out this drawing. I was almost ready to give it up. There were/are some clunky areas that were frustrating me.
I haven’t done much drawing with the gold Bic Cristal that I used in this drawing. The ink is thicker than most other Bic colors and doesn't flow on the paper as well. Instead of using it how I ust other ballpoints to make flowing transitions, I decided to use it to add the straight line embellishments. I like how that plays against the the flowing blue forms, even if it is clunky in areas. I'm also liking the scribble texture going on here.
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I may still work back into this one to give it a bit more polish, but I think I saved this fail.
My 7 month old kitty Richard was particularly fond of this one too. He wouldn’t leave me alone while I photographed this. I’ll have to make a reel someday of the ordeal I have to go through to try to photograph things with the cats around. It’s a lot!
And now onto the video!
I’m hoping to make this a regular feature on my blog. I think it’s helpful for others to see the good and the bad and offer some solutions to resolve drawings on the verge of a fail. Don’t be afraid to experiment in your sketchbook and to fail and learn along the way!
