Sketchbook tour - 2 years of growth (part 1)
There’s something deeply personal about sharing these sneaky peeks inside my sketchbooks. Unlike my final, finished artwork, these books are crammed with the messy, raw, unfiltered reality of my creative process - the mistakes, the warm-ups, the experiments. They’re full of things I love and things I hate; some if it looks nice, most of it doesn’t, but every single page is part of a much bigger practice.
This particular sketchbook (a Fabriano Venezia) spans from January 2023 to June 2024 - and is one of half a dozen I was working in during that time. This tour covers the first half of the book, with the second half coming in a month or two.
"Bad art makes good art"
I always start my sketchbooks off with a good quote, and this one is from the wonderful Sandi Hester: “Bad art makes good art.”
This truth has been a constant companion throughout my creative journey. And looking through this sketchbook, I’m reminded that creating involves producing a tremendous amount of crap before making anything I'd consider sharing with the world (although, I do share all the crap with you too these days, soooo…... *shrugs*)
"If you've ever made any art at all in your life, you'll know that it takes a lot of bad art to get to the good art and it's just all part of the process. And that's something that we celebrate around these parts."
The Joy of Time Limits and Creative Constraints
Some of my favorite pieces to make in this book came from timed challenges (often from Emma Carlisle’s Patreon) where I worked to strict parameters, such as:
- Four minutes of block colour followed by four minutes of line
- Changing materials every single minute for 8 or 10 minutes
- Drawing with two pens: one in each hand, and then both in the same hand
- 100 Two-minute life drawing poses
"It's so much fun when you do these kind of exercises because they stop you overthinking what you're doing. You just have to sort of grab a pen and get to it. And it means that you get much more honest lines when your brain's not telling you like, 'oh no, an arm looks like that' or 'an eye looks like that'."
These constraints force me to bypass my analytical brain, which relies heavily on symbols and preconceptions. The results are often so much more honest and interesting than when I'm trying to be "correct."
Experiments in Mixed Media
Around about the time I started this sketchbook (January 2023), I decided to learn how to use mixed media in my drawing. Usually I paint with acrylic for my final work, and my sketchbook practice consisted of mostly pen, ink and watercolour (which were my tools of choice from my former life as an illustrator), but I was keen to try something new.
I played with everything: Neocolor crayons, soft pastels, oil pastels, colour pencils, gouache, various inks and markers. The early pages of this sketchbook show my tentative attempts to understand how these materials interact, layer, and behave together.
Looking through chronologically, I can see my confidence growing. What began as cautious (and very messy and confused) experiments gradually evolved into bolder, more intuitive explorations. The later mixed media pieces (which you’ll see in part 2) are far more confident and make for much more pleasing images. They were more fun to make as well (which is really the point!).
Embracing Failure
One particularly lovely aspect of reviewing old sketchbooks is finding pieces I initially hated but can now view with fresh appreciation - even the terrible drawings!
"I hated this at the time and I've left a little note here saying 'why can't I draw anymore?' but actually I find this quite charming now looking back on it. It's not a great drawing but it has its own little... it has a certain quality to it."
This perspective shift is perhaps one of the most valuable lessons from keeping sketchbooks. Something happens to art when you put it away for a while, and what seems like a disaster in the moment often reveals its own unique charm when revisited months or years later. I use this effect with my paintings as well, and I often find that paintings will finish themselves when I turn them to the wall and don’t look at them for a few months!
Finding What Doesn't Work (Looking at You, Landscapes)
Not every experiment leads somewhere productive. My repeated attempts at landscape drawing during this time make this abundantly clear:
"Every now and again I'll be like, 'oh I wonder if I could draw landscapes. Should I draw landscapes?' And I always hate it. I find landscape a boring subject and I haven't found a way in. Because I find it boring I haven't even spent any time looking for a way that I could find it interesting."
Instead of forcing myself to enjoy traditional landscape drawing, I eventually discovered a more conceptual approach that works way better for me: collecting shapes from places I visit. Rather than trying to capture a whole scene, I gather distinctive elements - shapes and patterns that capture the essence of a location.
"It's less about creating an accurate drawing as it is about capturing the essence of a place... somebody commented on [another sketchbook video] saying that they lived in Amsterdam and they could tell where I had been from the shapes I had collected. I thought that was really fun! You really don't need very much information to convey an idea or to convey the essence of something."
Art is Entirely Subjective
Perhaps the most reassuring revelation I’ve had from sharing my work publicly is the reminder that artistic preferences are wildly subjective:
"Somebody on the internet said this drawing was nightmare fuel. It just goes to show that all art is subjective because people actually buy this one a lot. And some people have told me that it's their favourite one. So you can't take anybody's opinion for granted."
This piece, featuring this badass lady with her cool blue hair and ‘fuck you’ expression, has become one of my most popular prints despite (or perhaps because of) its divisive nature.
Watch the full sketchbook tour below to see all the pages I've described and many more!
