thedailywhat:

Early Bird Special: A thoroughly entertaining illustrated presentation by comic artist Lucy Knisley (French Milk) on why she likes the graphic travelogue and how to make your own.

[drawnblog.]

Sometimes I get on the computer and I think, why am I on the computer? I really think the internet is mostly a waste of time. But then I come across things like this and then I understand why. I have found so many wonderful sources of inspiration through the internet. But I must constantly remind myself not to waste time and use being on the computer for good things, not wasteful things. Planking fails, cute puppies, and hundreds of annoying gifs of someone’s favorite show aside, there’s lots of great things to be found. Such as a nearly 20 minute lesson in travelogue-ing.

So to prepare for my Sketchbook Project, I checked these three books out from the library for inspiration. I received my cute little Scout Book like 4 days ago but I picked out my theme for it about a week and a half ago. My theme is I Remember You. Now I know the project suggests that the theme is just a starting point. It’s not there to hold me down. But I think the theme I picked is so perfect for the ideas that I have that I really would like my sketchbook to embody this feeling of remembrance. I want to chronicle a lot of this summer’s and past summers’ events in my life. And being that the sketchbook tour starts in April of 2012, what a great way to launch the season.

I have to admit, I felt really lost at first and I thought to myself why did I even sign up for the project. I can’t really draw & my work will totally fail in comparison to what others are doing. But then I remembered that this project is for me and if I keep that in mind, I’m sure it will go smoothly. I want this to be fun. I have until the end of January to complete my sketchbook and hopefully I’ll have time to share with y’all all the work I put into it. Until then, here is where I’m starting. I’m so excited!

The books:

•  An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory: a cool little peak into artists’ and designers’ sketchbooks that are often very private.
• The Art of Jaime Hernandez: I actually had two friends at two very different times in my life introduce me to Love & Rockets. Though I’ve never read all of the comics, I have really enjoyed the ones I’ve picked up. This book is sort of a history of Love and Rockets with some work that’s never been seen before. I really like illustrated stories. I never wanted to make comic books but I did want to grow up to illustrate children’s books. I guess I just went the way of comics to get a better idea of that little kid dream. Two years ago I read a cool biography of Jack Kirby and of course as a young girl, I really liked Daniel Clowes. Obvious reasons. In the past few years I have been introduced to Kate Beaton, Art Spielgelman, and Frank Miller. It’s a select few and I’m not a huge comic book geek but I’m always down for some good storytelling.
• The Drawing Breakthrough Book by John Hastings: A lot of how-to drawing book bore me to death, which leads me to believe I’d rather take an actual drawing class, but this one has good exercises and is pretty simple to follow. I wouldn’t say it’s for someone who wants to learn to draw from the ground up but it is good for us doodlers who need a little push in the right direction.