What Is sketchBooking?

Step By Step Introduction

What is Sketch Booking? Is making a book full of drawings? It is cataloging interesting photos, items, trinkets, that you pasted into each page? It can be either, it is open-ended, “ visual exercise” before you jot down ideas before divulging into much larger projects.

It is way to either, write, draw, paste, elaborate, note take, the very beginning of the creative process.

Some may jump right into the large project, whether it’s a oil painting, an etching, ready to be printed on the press. A pound of clay ready to be thrown onto the wheel. to miscellaneous materials to be fabricated into large sculptural, 3-d pieces. That works for some, but from my experiences, having either a mole-skin, to Strathmore, to even a tablet with a sketch apps.

Record Memories:

Go through your mind of recent, or past memory that brought inspiration. Capture it, as moments in personal / present life can be the very beginning of a new idea. Think of a movie, novel, a quote you heard, or something you heard someone say. That is still in your mind and write it down, or illustrate that moment. Or something in your lifetime that really stood out, and “record it.”

Explore New Themes:

This can be can, topics you haven’t tired yet, but wanting to expand your creative process. Say your studio practice currently is black/white, and now wanting to do color; Sketch out some potential color pieces / ideas. Your current studio practice is realism / hyper realism – and wanting to try abstract. Sketch out some new ideas doesn’t have to be good, don’t worry it’s only the beginning.

Experiment:

Alright this is where the fun really begins, Its going to get messy so bare with me. So you got a theme and the idea, and now needing to see how it is going to look. Dump out the pens, and markers; crayons, paint, watercolors; Don’t worry about perfection that’s not important right now. Try out new styles, material, colors, tools you’re not entirely used to. Make several entries, and prototypes of this new idea you got; Then go back and look. You may find your latest experimentation is the piece itself. Make the sketch book the project – and each page is your surface layer, composition.

Journal Entry:

This part is when you write out, your creative thought process. You have elaborate design project and need to organize all your thoughts behind it. Categorize each step; The Idea, The Theme, The Research, The cost / materials, Scale. Another way of going about it, is describing in detail your ideas, don’t worry about grammar and clarity, as long as it makes sense to you.