Arts & Crafts Anyone use a sketchbook?

[Queen_Kitty]

I have been taught ever since I was in middle school to keep a sketchbook, and it has really helped me because it's just so portable. I can take it anywhere and work on it with dry materials or I can use it at home with watercolor or ink. It's so nice to have an entire book of things you did that year or half of that year, etc. So, does anybody have some pictures in their sketchbook they would like to show off? This is the thread to do it!

 

[Queen_Kitty]

I've posted some of these elsewhere, but here's some shots of my sketchbook:

a master copy of Andrew Wyeth's Christina's World:

This one was lots of fun, I cut the shape of the heels out of the page, so the next page (which was watercolored) would show through, I liked the idea more than I liked the outcome though:

watercolor page showing through on the heels from the last one:

A quick sketch of my cat as she was laying down, you have to be fast if you want to draw her:

I'm constantly filling up sketchbooks, so this is just a very small portion of one of them them

 

[patchworkcat]

Queen_Kitty, your sketches are very nice!
I don't keep a sketchbook though I think it's a great idea. My art is so scattered and varied that I use my computer and back-up with cd's (my dvd burner doesn't work) and several portfolios instead.
I am looking forward to seeing more sketch book art from everyone!

 

[KittyBag]

Queen, great idea!

I'll look through mine tonight and see what I've got. I end up with lots of random doodle pages. And I am guilty of keeping like 9 sketch pads at once.. so the art isn't exactly all in 1 place.

 

[BooYah]

beautiful work, QK! makes me wanna get out my sketchbook from ages ago and start drawing again!

 

[Izznit]

I have quite a few! they never get filled though... I try to keep my doodles all in one place, but i always end up drawing on the sides of papers, on the backs of flyers...

By the time i remember i have a sketchbook, it's been a few months (or years!) since i've last drawn in it. i don't continue because i feel like it was a stage in my life and i don't want to mix.

Usually my drawings have improved within that amount of time as well, so it's embarrassing to carry a sketchbook with my horrible drawings in the first few pages, usually the only ones people see!

 

[rainrowan]

I'm so glad this thread got started! I've been reading and being inspired by the journaling books by Danny Gregory. I have been collecting sketchbooks here and there and have a few just laying around. I used sketchbooks as a personal diary for years and now I want to restart my first love, which is drawing and sketching. I put it aside almost 20 years ago and I've always missed it.

 

[rainrowan]

What brands of sketchbooks do you prefer to use?

I've been using Moleskine and really like the smooth paper on the French notebooks by Clairefontaine alot, the ink just glides on them.

 

[Queen_Kitty]

I just use the kind found at art stores or craft stores, they're usually about 9 1/2 in. by 11 1/2 in. They're also bound with rings and not just glued together. I usually look at the thickness of the paper too as a decision maker. You can tell by the texture and thickness if it's of good quality or not. I've been getting the ones with the hard covers too, they're really pretty. I have always wanted to try the moleskin notebooks though.

 

[TygerKitty]

I had one for painting class in college but I don't draw much so I don't pull it out often.

 

[ILuvShopping]

this makes me wonder where my old middle school/high school sketchbooks ended up... i wonder if they're hidden away at my parents' house somewhere!

getting into college i ended up hating sketching...everything had to be sketched... bleh! and then i really kind of learned that i don't really find drawing that enjoyable... i much prefer to paint on large surfaces or do computer graphics.

 

[KittyBag]

Ok, so as a part of me trying to be more brave about my work... I wanted to share a couple of sketches straight from my sketch books....

I can never get enough of horses! Fun to try and capture the muscles and those flowing manes and tails!

 

[KittyBag]

I am a sucker for lots of animals actually. And even insects are pretty neat. I still am amazed at the detail of shapes and textures on bugs!

Fish.. and me testing out some color pencils

 

[KittyBag]

I tried plants and buildings... which were fun for a change but not my favorite.

 

[KittyBag]

And lastly ... for me the hardest thing... people. (kind of looks like he is biting her neck like a vampire..hahaha! In the picture I think he was just kissing her)