Overcoming Sketchbook Intimidation

Do sketchbooks intimidate you like they intimidate me?

Sketchbooks are beautiful, bound bundles of creative potential.  However, somedays, they can evoke feelings of trepidation rather than inspiration. Do you ever find yourself staring at the pristine pages, afraid to make that first mark? Do you, like me, have ambitious dreams of filling its pages with your true creative self? Then find yourself frozen when faced with the first stroke?

I have a love-hate relationship with sketchbooks. On one hand, I adore them. They represent possibility, growth, and artistic expression. Each new sketchbook feels like a fresh start, a blank canvas waiting to be transformed into a sweet little gem. But on the other hand, they terrify me. What if the first drawing is awful? What if the first drawing sets the tone for the entire book?

Sound familiar?

I can’t count the number of times I’ve bought a new sketchbook with grand intentions, only to let it gather dust on my shelf because I was too afraid to begin. The struggle is real.

But I HAVE to draw. Without it, I find that my mood slips, and grumpiness sets in. So, what do I do about it?

Some days, I muster up the courage to say “screw it” and dive in headfirst. Other days, I let the fear win, and the sketchbook remains untouched. Today was one of those days. I received a stack of sketchbooks for Christmas (seriously, the best gift idea for an artist), and yet, there they sat on my shelf, mocking me with their pristine-full-of-potential- pages.

But. I needed to draw! The urge is so powerful some days.  So, I made a choice. I set aside the new sketchbooks and reached for something familiar: plain old printer paper.

With no fear of ruining a perfect sketchbook, I folded the paper in quarters and began sketching. And you know what? It was so freeing!  There was no pressure, no expectation—just me, my pencil, and a plain old sheet of paper. I was able to draw a handful of fruit bowls that have been lingering around in my head. I even liked a lot of them! 

At some point during drawing, I  decided to document the process with a video. As soon as I pressed the record button, I felt nervous. I was nervous in the same way I am nervous about new sketchbooks. Of course the video captures some of my least favorite drawings from the day. But you know what else it captures? The satisfaction of overcoming fear, and the simple pleasure of putting pencil to paper.

I hope you enjoy this process video and the photos of all the drawings from the day. I do plan on spending more time with these drawings and developing them into something more than meer pencil sketches.

How do you all get started in new sketchbooks? Is it easy for you? How do you approach that first blank page? Please comment with any tips or tricks that you use!

From seemingly insignificant doodles to realised designs-reflecting on creative growth

I have been spending some time on my website, working on improving the SEO, so I have found myself delving deep into my OLD blog posts. It’s a bit embarrassing to look back, but ultimately, it has given me perspective and shown me how far I have come in my creative pursuits. It has also been enjoyable to see the origins of some of my current work.

For instance, in 2014 (wow, 10 years ago!), I was drawing highlighters with highlighters and that lead me to paint a sweet gouache painting of a bunch of highlighters in a grid layout.

My original sketch of highlighters drawn with highlighters.

My gouache painting of highlighters. I left off the type saying highlighter and added VERY IMPORTANT-TAKE A LOOK.

This then led me to recreate the idea digitally in Procreate. I kept the type that reads “VERY IMPORTANT-TAKE A LOOK,” but decided to bring back the streaky effect that actually occurs when you draw with a highlighter marker. I did just make this design available in my Spoonflower shop, so check it out if you are interested. :)

My digital illustration created in Procreate.

While I was tempted to delete the Highlighter Blog Post from 2014 because there is absolutely nothing remarkable about that post at all, I decided to keep it as it is a reminder to me that creativity is a process, a journey, and one random little doodle can often lead to bigger and better designs and ideas. It reminds me that I must continue to make those little doodles that mean nothing at the time because you never know where they will lead you.

I have more examples that I can think of, and once I gather up the images, I will be sure to share because I think it is VERY IMPORTANT to TAKE A LOOK and reflect on where you are and where you started.

THE GOOD PARTS

I save most of my doodles and sketches, even if I don't care much for them. Oftentimes I can look back at them and find some part of them that I like.  When I do, I tend to cut that part out and save it, while chucking the rest.  Here is a collection of some of the good parts I have saved over the last few months.

I like the gather a small collection and make myself a mood board and pull from the good parts of these bad paintings. This oftentimes inspires me to set out on a new painting adventure!

STENCIL PRINTING

Um, I just had the most fun today in the studio! I stumbled into the print making process of stencil printing! One of the things that I struggle with as a painter is creating images that resemble my digital work in Adobe Illustrator. I miss the ease of copy and paste when I step away from the computer and get my hands dirty with paint. I think this stencil printing process allows me to do just that- copy and paste! I am so excited about the endless possibilities of this process. I feel certain that I will be exploring this in days to come. There is still much to figure out and discover about the process and technique - like which brushes are best, what material is best for making the stencils, what thickness of paint is ideal. But I LOVE this first attempt. I am so happy with how the big bold red flowers printed. I loved too that I can’t get bogged down in details when I am cutting shapes. This pushes me to find creative solutions to simplify the stem and leaves. Oh! and the overprinting that happens when I layer once color over another. I LOVE the new color that is created.