My first sketchbooks rarely filled more than half of their pages before I gave up sketching, lost it (temporarily) or just plum stopped sketching for months (ahem, sometimes years) at a time. Even in college, when I was required to complete sketchbooks I did so as though it was a chore. Perhaps restricted subject matter was always something akin to completing a math problem instead of seeing it as the root for a great idea? These college notebooks, while interesting to see the amazing progress and changes I went through as an artist, are rather dull. Blackened by millions of pen strokes there were tea kettles, forks and even a wheel chair. I wondered why I didn't try to develop my style back then, why I only bothered with still lifes that were improperly set up? I rarely go a day without sketching since I quit my last full time job. I can't sit in front of the tv without at least holding it, getting ready for the next big idea. Is it that I'm no longer afraid to draw something that might be perceived as silly, just plain weird or be rejected/disliked... a target for someone's rotten eggs? I'm also starting to not care if my sketchbooks have thumbnails, wording, or the beginning trickle of a story.
But why sketch at all? Does it matter, really, if you take some of your "free time" to put pen to paper?
Sketching is so freeing. You don't ever have to show your sketchbook to anyone, you don't have to show your clients (well, unless you sketch your client work in your sketchbook I suppose), your mom & dad, your pet rabbit... although I've found that the more often I share my sketchbook the more I enjoy drawing in it and the more confident I get. Any compliment is another gentle push towards the goals I have set for my career.
Sketching is a release. I have to draw cute little things all day (which I love, don't get me wrong) but sometimes you just don't feel happy or energetic. Sometimes I feel mad as a hornet. A safe place to get this out can be in my sketchbook. I'll draw someone with a really big mouth yelling. Then I laugh at it because it looks dumb and can move on.
Above all, sketching is a record of your progress. I'd never sell my sketchbooks. They're far better than my diaries ever will be and worth way more. Maybe in the coming entries I'll post sketches from my very first sketch books just to give you an idea on where I've come from and where I am now.
Happy Sketching!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Why Sketch?
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I remember in high school art class where we were forced to fill up a sketch book. It was quite tedious and very boring, everything I did in it looked so forced. We even got a grade on the sketch book! Looking back on it, how strange is that!
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