8 months ago
Still working on the 3rd picture for my sketchbook. I don’t think I meant to make it a story but it’s turning out that way slightly. This will be penned in and made a lot better but I’m glad I’m still working on it. This is based on a picture I took so I’m doing my best to make it different from the actual photo. Getting back into drawing has made me realize how little I use my imagination these days and if this project is supposed to be fun, I’m going to have to turn on the light in the ol’ attic.
I used to draw a lot as a kid and thought I’d grow up to be a children’s book illustrator. I made homemade individual Valentine’s Day cards for all 15 students (and the teacher) for my 3rd grade class. My mom let me stay up late so I could finish it. I made a book for my best friend across the street. The Best Friend Book, which I worked on for longer than an hour, was my gift for her. Just drawings of us being best friends, ha! It meant a lot to make something for someone from what I thought was my true talent. And it just made it easier to tell a story.
Then it all became about competition and someone telling me they were better than me at drawing like in middle school. So I stopped. It stopped being fun. And I just left doodles in the margins of my spiral notebooks. It became less natural to me because I was stopping myself from really drawing. It makes me sad to think how much better I could be at drawing today if I kept at it but I guess it’s never too late to start. Honestly, this picture looks a lot like how I used to draw as a little kid so I guess I’m just starting over. And I’m starting over in the best place, when it used to be fun. The process has felt more organic the more I go at it. I want to see what I can do and I can’t wait for the finished product!
8 months ago
8 months ago
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.
