the importance of sketchbooks

[el coro]

hey all. this post is to ephasize the importance of working regularly in a sketchbook. as some of you know, im a sketchbook junkie. i try to draw SOMETHING in my book every day, even if its some crappy little pen sketch. i feel i've learned most of what i use today in my books. even through art school, i kept my books very separate from classwork. i had school sketchbooks, and i had MY sketchbook. i've been working on them for almost 8 years now, and i have ten full color ones, and i consider them my most personal body of work. i paint large oil paintings very regularly, but still i consider the books the real meat and potatoes of my art. they probably cumulatively clock in at well over the 1000 page mark, and they are a chronological documentary of my process in learning to draw. to give some example of the results that come from 8 persistent years with my nose in a book, here , first is a beginning page of my first real blackbook. it was backin early 1994, i'd just dropped out of high school,moved out of my house, and was bombing graffiti heavily...

http://members.fortunecity.com/coro36//sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wak.jpg

this is a pic i did this weekend. its done from a photo in an old national geographic, just drawing for drawings sake...

http://members.fortunecity.com/coro36//sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/tibetan4post.jpg

so remember to draw every day. the results may not take place overnight, but in the long run, they really pay off. thats what keeps me going. im no where near where i want to be yet artistically, but i think about where i'll be in 10 years, and that keeps me producing...

[chris]

i completely agree with you on that one, ive got a bundle of sketchbooks, and almost as much loose leaf paper documenting my very first attempts at serious art way back till now. i dont always finish a sketchbook, but i try to draw everyday. to tell the truth, i couldnt imagine doing art without keeping one, lol.

chris

[hed|lamb]

i can't see the images for some reason, i only get the fc logo. but the advices remain the same, i really need to do more sketchbooks.

[taff]

oh, a new subforum - neat! Yup, it definitelyy is important to draw everyday, it really is. I am still trying to get myself to draw every day. It is as if I am afraif of my own work. I am blocked, I can't start.

[morphine]

Agree completely w/ you, el coro.
I've tried to draw on my spare time (which is almost unexistent), and sketchbooks really make a difference because you don't care much about the results, so you just keep on drawing.

Also, I think you guys should post pics from your sketchbooks everyday. heh
This is one rogue sketch I made the other day:
rogue_02_sm.gif (http://www.morphinemedia.com/images/rogue_02_sm.gif)

.//EDIT:
Oh, btw I can't see any fortunecity pics for some reason. :(

[jester]

Great idea for a new subsection. I'm very fond of working with my sketchbooks, too. And I feel that I learn so much from seeing other people's works - and sometimes to copy them.

:chug:

Jester

[keyth]

absolutely. i draw everyday...maybe not in a sketchbook. i usually doodle little drawings on 3X5 notecards. not sure why...i just like working on little notecards. probably cause i like bristol so much. anyways, doing something like this everyday can really get you going. i've seen progress in my own work and man...it's very exciting! plus, you feel like you've made little accomplishments everyday....good for the soul!!!

thanks for the addition el coro!!!

[Jason Manley]

yes...nice work....for those who dont know..el coro is not some spanish casenova from barcelona...he is the one and only JUSTIN KAUFMAN on the main page gallery. You all are going to freak when you see what he has to offer in those books...

they are THICK with beauty!

j

[quantas]

why don't you post some of your sketchbook work too manley?

-q

[Jason Manley]

hahaha...cough...uh....NO.

lol

Im a digital fiend nowadays...we shall see if coro pushes me over the deep end and back into the traditional ocean of truth.


j

[quantas]

manley --

look, i really respect you as an artist, but i recall you saying in a post before the crash that you should always be doing art, blah, blah blah, doodling before going to work, sketching in free time at work etc. I know there has to be at least a few sketches.

I am a big fan of yours and i am dying to see some of the thought process behind the magic. pretty please?.......


-q

[keyth]

yeah! c'mon dude...let'm rip! we know ya' got'em.

[quantas]

What's that i hear? do I hear the masses crying out in derision for Manley? There is weeping and nashing of teeth at the rejection of the digital fiend. Oh greatness, bless us with thy pencil scribblings......

-q

[Cowie]

I'm with the crowd... I've wanted to see some traditional work from you, for some time now... hoping, longing for the day :)

- Ko

[keyth]

lol....let's get'em. ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1

[nottabird]

i'm with jain here - i'd like to know what you use to color the sketchbook stuff and also what kind of paper you get. I don't know alot about the different types of paper so I'd like to know what kind of sketchbook you get that can hold the gouache.

*ignore this question, i found the answer in later posts*

[JoshuaTheJames]

my sketchbook and I are one!!!

THE BEST ADVICE I EVER GOT and can give is "always carry a sketch book with you!"


-Joshua

[StephenC]

anybody else have more wisdom about the importance of keeping a sketchbook?