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.