Finally, My Sketch Journal Sticks

 

12/4/24 Retreat at Green Lake

About a year ago, I got back on the daily sketch journal wagon that I’d fallen off of several times. This is the longest I’ve continued the habit unbroken, and I’m happy that it has finally “stuck.” I think the factors for my success this time are these:

• 

  11/18/24 photo reference

  The journal sketchbook is my daily-carry. When I had used a larger sketchbook in the past, my intention was to work on sketch journaling in the evening as a way to review and document the day. But that’s the worst time of day for me to do anything creative, and I often didn’t have energy for it. If I carry the journal sketchbook all day, every day, which is my usual habit with any sketchbook, I can almost always make time for a sketch somewhere. And if I haven’t, I can do one in the evening; once in a while doesn’t feel onerous.
  
  
• I use Uglybooks. Colored paper encourages me to sketch because the color is already there. Somehow even a basic line drawing carries more weight on colored paper, which also allows easy toning with white and black. For me, it’s the hands-down most expeditious way to make a sketch. And the A6 size is comfortable without being too daunting to fill. (See end of post for how many I’ve used this year.)
  
  
• I keep the content, format and approach unrestricted. Instead of “forcing” myself to practice drawing from imagination (which I tried to do for a while when I journaled in the evening), I draw in whatever way I want. Most days, I still draw from life on location (which is my go-to for the foreseeable future). But I also draw from photos, imagination and memory, and sometimes I see stories that work as autobiographical comics. I also make no attempt to record everything that happened (which isn’t possible anyway). It’s just my journal: It’s all acceptable, and it all works.
  
  

  

  11/20/24 Sketch notes from a presentation about sleep

  
  
• I decided I don’t have to share everything. Shortly after I began sketching and sharing on social media, I made the decision that I would share everything – the good, the bad, the ugly. It was to make a point. I had noticed that many artists shared only what must be their carefully curated work. Many beginning sketchers saw all those gorgeous drawings – and only gorgeous drawings – and got discouraged rather than inspired. I wanted to show everything so that my process would be clear: It takes a lot of practice to get good, and I’m not there yet, but here I am on my way.

Now that I’ve been sketching for 13 years, I don’t have to keep making that point. I’m still not curating with the intention of showing only the good. But some sketches I make are just for myself because they are personal in content or are meaningful only to me. That’s not the same as “curating”; it’s just keeping my journal private when I want to.

12/13/24 Aegis residents

Unlike reading my written journals (which I rarely do), paging through my sketch journals makes me happy in the way I had always hoped a sketch journal would – reminding me of things I saw and did; of people I socialized with; of the sheer joy of drawing. It’s been a good year.

12/8/24 Carolers performing at Aegis Living

12/14/24 Four Seasons lobby

These are all the Uglybooks I've filled in 2024!

I like this top view better because it shows all the page colors. You can see how the white one buckled when I used watercolor pencils.