99Chihuahuas

If you have photoshop you can always bring them in and play with the brightness/contrast to make the images a bit crisper. I've photographed images and done this and they turn out fairly clear and sometimes can even look better than the original.

If you don't have access to photoshop, there are some free software our there like Googles Picasa or GIMP and although I've only had limited experience with either programs, I'm sure they have similar functions in them for post processing images.

Another option would be to stalk some CA members sketchbooks and see who's posting images from their physical sketchbooks and asking them their process.

Good luck in your journey and don't forget to draw, draw, draw.

That's a lofty, and admirable, goal. I wouldn't ask, or think about, how long it would take to fill them all. Rather, ask yourself how long it would take to do *just one more page*.

The answer is probably much more likely to convince you to keep going. 15 minutes? An hour? You can squeeze that into your day, somehow.

Before you know it, the question won't be "how long will it take me" but "wow, they're all full - how long did that take me?"

Wow, that's an impressive collection. I've never thought of my empty watercolor pads as sketchbooks, but if you count those...my pile is bigger than I want to admit. How long will it take you? That's a good question. I knew someone who was in a hurry to "fill up the sketchbook" just for the sake of finishing it. I didn't see the point, drawing is a lifetime occupation (for me anyway, there is always the best picture -- which is the NEXT picture -- the one I haven't done yet).

But not going to extremes, I guess how long it will take you is roughly the amount of territory you want to cover and how fast. 10,000 hours translates into what blocks of time for you? And in those blocks of time, what do you plan to accomplish? You might do a hundred fast, small drawings of hands in say half and hour, and then perhaps you will do three 20 minute studies, for 60 minutes total and how many pages will each endeavor take up?

For myself, I kept starting sketchbooks and putting them aside with mostly empty pages. Then I'd buy a new sketchbook and more pencils when I had barely sharpened the ones I had. This went on for years, and I have studied art my whole life. On my own and classes as well. I am just beginning to draw well enough to enjoy it and I have finished a number of sketchbook. Two tiny pocket ones, two smallish ones, and a large one. I have a large hardbound one with hardly any pictures and two cheap ones -- one for pictures I draw outside and another to draw inside or just scribble in and make notes, try out color combinations with colored pencils, etc., more of a notebook with pictures.

And, if you don't mind my asking how do you set up a blog for yourself? I just joined and don't know how to start a blog on here. Let's hope that doesn't take me a lifetime!