How to Keep a Sketch Journal

5/22/25 Some time to kill captured in my sketch journal

10/29/24 A special celebration captured from a selfie

It has been a year and a half since I restarted (yet again) a daily sketch journal habit – something I had tried to develop many times over the last decade. In hindsight, this process has been especially interesting to me because it parallels my overall process of drawing and learning to draw: Many starts and stops until finally it stuck (and has stuck for going on 14 years). Why is one attempt at making a creative habit finally successful after many faulty starts? From a process perspective, that question fascinates me.

Trying to answer that question for myself, I analyzed my sketch journal process about a year in. Now that I’ve kept it up consistently for a year and a half, I finally feel confident enough to write this post as a general how-to based on what I’ve learned.

Perhaps the title “how to keep a sketch journal” isn’t quite right; it’s really about how I keep a sketch journal. A journaling process will always be unique and personal. I’m hoping, though, that my tips and experiences might be helpful to someone who is trying to develop their own unique sketch journal habit. Let me know if you are and what ideas you’ve used to stay engaged. I’m endlessly fascinated!

• 

  A6-size, daily-carry Uglybooks are
  still my sketch journal format of choice.

  Choose a sketchbook format that’s small and light and therefore easily portable. This
  might not fit well with everyone’s lifestyle, but I do believe it’s imperative for a sketch journal to be a daily-carry for it to stick as a regular habit. Sketchwaiting and other unplanned, spontaneous opportunities for sketching happen all the time. In fact, I am convinced that they happen more often when you are prepared to capture them because you are more open to seeing those opportunities.

• Incorporate sketch journaling with some other routine you already have. Maybe you commute by bus or train – that’s a prime opportunity for a daily sketch. Or you walk your dog. If your dog wouldn’t cooperatively wait while you sketch (I know of only one dog who is that patient), snap a photo from wherever you are when he/she stops for a pee or a sniff. Then sketch later from that photo. For me, it’s fitness walking: That’s another daily habit, so the two reinforce each other.
• Don’t decide ahead of time what you want your sketch journal to be; in other words, don’t make rules. Leave space and time for your process to evolve organically into one that fits you best. Early in my sketching life, I wanted every sketch in my journal to be from life. If I hadn’t sketched anything by the end of the day, I would sketch any random object in front of me, and that would be a frustrating and meaningless exercise. Another time I tried a large-page format so that I could include multiple vignettes from the whole day. I couldn’t carry the large book with me, so I had to work in it only at home. That didn’t last long. Neither did the time I decided all sketches would be from imagination or memory. My current sketch journal – mostly from life but also some sketches from photos, memory and even comics – has stuck because it’s flexible.

• 

  7/13/25 The most common sketch journal content
  comes from my daily fitness walks. I enjoy recording
  the date, time and weather conditions and capturing
  the seasons.

  Be cautious if one of your motivations for keeping a sketch journal is so that you’ll have something to share regularly on social media. Like a written diary, a sketch journal can be totally private, or not. But if you make each entry with the intention of sharing, it may hold you back from authenticity.

• What should be the subject matter of the sketches? One way to answer that is to ask yourself, What would be enjoyable to look back on years from now? What might prompt a memory of a place or incident I had forgotten about? Or which would be more meaningful – a sketch of my new shoes, or a sketch of a random face from the Internet?

• What about writing? As a lifelong journal keeper, I have a separate written journal, so I don’t write much in my sketch journal except the date, time and weather (I like the diary-like feeling of those facts). But if you don’t keep a separate written journal, you may enjoy jotting notes about the sketch you just made or some unrelated thoughts. Be open to it if it happens, but again, no rules.

• 

  3/26/25 A sketchwaiting opportunity at my
  optometrist's office. This page also documents when
  I got a new pair of glasses.

  Ultimately, sketch journaling should be something you look forward to doing each day, not a burden that gives you anxiety when you’ve fallen behind. If you allow the process to tell you what you want your sketch journal to be instead of the other way around, I think it will be a pleasure, not an annoyance. 

7/15/25 I had snapped a photo of this carpet cleaning
service vehicle parked in front of a neighbor's house to
reference the phone number and website. Later, I 
realized it would make a good sketch to document
a potential step in Phase 3 of my downsizing project.

7/12/25 This page spread didn't fill out as much as I had intended, but Natalie and I chatted more than we sketched during lunch, and that's a good thing to document, too, by way of omission.

More Kwanzan Cherries (Plus Techniques)

 

4/27/23 Kwanzan cherries, Maple Leaf neighborhood

The Kwanzan cherries seem to have an even shorter season than the earlier sakura, so I’m sketching them as fast as I can. Unlike the spots on my annual petal-peeping tour like Sunset Hill, Dibble Avenue, Capitol Hill and the UW Quad, where large groves of cherries grow together in a dramatic display, the Kwanzans in my part of town seem to grow only as individuals or in small clusters. If I discover a concentration of Kwanzans, I’ll be there in a minute, but for now, I’m happy to sketch the onesies and twosies I find on my walking routes. These two are very close to home – just a couple of blocks away.

Process notes: I’m usually not aware of routine techniques I use, but for some reason, I was more conscious of them with this sketch. I thought it would be a good opportunity to point out watercolor pencil and compositional techniques I use frequently:

Selective activation: A huge benefit of water-soluble colored pencils is that they can be activated selectively as desired to control values or the intensity of color. I think this unique, easy-to-use attribute of watercolor pencils is something many (maybe most) sketchers don’t take advantage of – they activate every part of the sketch equally. (It’s fine to do that if you are using the pencils as a substitute for watercolor paints… but at that point, why not use paints? )

The trees are obviously my focal point, so I fully activated the colors as vibrantly as possible. I didn’t want the shrubbery to overtake the trees, but I did want them dark enough to serve as a background for the tree trunks, so I activated lightly with a dry brush. The shadow under the foreground car was actually the darkest value in the scene (in reality). I didn’t want the eye getting locked onto that spot, however, so I applied the pencil fairly heavily but kept it dry. My intention was that the large but not-too-dark shadow spot would balance the otherwise top-heavy composition.

I like the blossom texture that occurs so easily
with Hahnemuhle's paper.

Dry into wet: For a long time, my favorite technique for activating foliage has been to apply dry pencil pigment heavily, then spritz with a water sprayer to activate. Ever since I started using the Hahnemühle 100 percent cotton sketchbook, however, and especially because it works so well with fluffy blossoms, I’ve been doing it the other way around: Spritz the paper liberally first, then apply the pencil pigment. The sizing and weight of the Hahnemühle paper are critical for this technique because thinner or lower quality papers will pill or otherwise not hold up well. The strong, irregular tooth on Hahnemühle also lends itself well to blossoming trees: The pigment sticks to the texture in an airy, organic way. It’s the ideal combination of paper, pencil, water and subject matter.

When the trees leaf out fully in a couple months, I’ll try this dry-into-wet technique and see if I like it as much as my standby dry-then-spritz method. It might not be as effective if I want a dense foliage look, but it will be fun to experiment.

"Licking" a Derwent Inktense Iris Blue (900) pencil...
not a bad match for Seattle's sky last week!

“Licked” sky: This was my first attempt at using the “licking” method for the sky with Derwent Inktense. If the sky takes up a large part of the composition, I would typically spritz the area liberally. In this case, the spots of sky were small, so I applied water carefully with a waterbrush instead. Then I used the waterbrush to “lick” pigment from the Inktense pencil (which, to my relief, accomplished the task as well as Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles do. Yes, I’m always comparing Inktense to the best watercolor pencils in the world – no point in letting them get off easy).

What is a Colored Pencil Layer?

 

Caran d'Ache Luminance pencil on Stonehenge White paper

A reader contacted me recently with an interesting question. In the colored pencil world, we hear and talk about “layers” all the time as the basic method of applying pencil pigment to the paper’s surface. But what, exactly, constitutes a “layer”? How do you know when you’ve applied enough of the first layer to move on to the second?

It's a good question because I had wondered about that myself for quite a while. In books I’ve read and even in classes I’ve taken, the term “layer” is usually not defined; it seems to be assumed that we all get it. What I told the reader, and what I’m going to describe as follows, is my own interpretation of what layering means, but the meaning might be up for grabs by other colored pencil users. In any case, I thought it would be worth answering the question here on the blog.

In the bar above, made with a traditional (dry) Caran d’Ache Luminance pencil, each patch shows how many layers I applied (I’m left-handed, so I started from the right). It took eight layers of this soft pencil to almost completely cover the paper’s tooth (the paper is Stonehenge White with a light tooth). I could probably apply a few more to completely cover it.

In the bar below, I used a water-soluble Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil (same Stonehenge White paper). With watercolor pencils, the layers are less straightforward because a dry layer can be activated with water before more dry pigment is applied, or it can be left dry.

Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil on Stonehenge White paper

Starting from the right, “Dry” is one layer of dry pencil. “Wet 1” is water applied to a single dry layer. “Dry 2” shows another layer of dry pencil applied over Wet 1 and remaining dry. “Wet 2” is the same as Dry 2 but activated with water, and so on. There’s not much apparent difference between layers 2 and 3 even after water is applied, but typically the layers would be made with different colors, which would make the layers more obvious.

With watercolor pencils, it wouldn’t be possible to continue adding as many as eight dry/wet/dry/wet layers as you could with traditional dry pencils because at some point the paper will start to break down, even strong watercolor paper (which is essential for this type of work). In addition, you must wait until the paper is completely dry before applying more layers. However, you also don’t need as many layers to cover the paper’s surface because the water-solubility does a lot of that work for you.

Some Thoughts on Paper

Some drawing papers I have used.

I am often asked for recommendations on the “best” colored or graphite drawing pencils. I usually inquire about how the pencils will be used and try to make recommendations based on the need and budget. But the part of the equation that often gets lost is the type of paper that will be used with the pencils: “Oh, I don’t know – whatever paper I have, I guess.” I believe that the pairing of a pencil with a paper is almost more important than the choice of pencil alone.

Watercolor painters discuss paper to the nth degree, and rightly so – using inappropriate paper with wet media can result in frustration at best or disaster at worst. Sometimes it’s fun to deliberately use inappropriate paper just to see what happens (Roz Stendahl is famous for this), and results can be interesting and surprising. If you are just beginning to learn to use a medium, however, an inappropriate paper does nothing to help you learn and, even worse, it keeps you from understanding whether an undesirable result is because you lack skills or because you are using the wrong materials.

With dry materials like colored or graphite pencils, the importance of the paper/medium relationship is more subtle because pencils are likely to be more forgiving. They can still make satisfactory marks without the paper buckling or falling apart. That’s probably why many people think that any kind of paper can be used. But if a disappointing result occurs, perhaps it’s time to look at the paper and not just the pencil.

At various times, I have thought intensely about paper, most recently a couple of years ago when I was trying to decide which Stillman & Birn sketchbook to use as my daily-carry. I’m happy with my current choices (Beta with watercolor pencils; Zeta with almost everything else), but the paper issue still comes up occasionally.

For this amount of spot color, it hardly matters which
colored pencils I use. Still, I prefer softer ones for
a pleasant feel on Leuchtturm journal paper. Here,
I used very soft Uni Posca colored pencils.

For example, when I started the new year with a fresh book for my scribble journal, I chose a Leuchtturm 1917 journal. It’s a format I’ve been using for years for my written journal, so it’s familiar and comfortable. I knew that the paper would not be the best with colored pencils, but I also write in the same journal, and I like to write with a variety of pens, including fountain. I decided that the paper would be an acceptable compromise for the small spots of color I would be putting onto it.

The Leuchtturm has worked out well in general, but it has made me more judicious with the colored pencils I use because some are not pleasant on the surface (I enjoy my softer pencils best). Graphite feels and looks downright awful.

More critically, my current class in drawing trees with graphite has made me think about paper again. Instructor Kathleen Moore has pointed out that the two sides of most papers have slightly different surfaces. I have several pads of Bristol drawing papers with vellum and smooth finishes, so it’s been illuminating to try a different paper or a different side of the same type of paper with each assignment. For the branch assignment, I used the “wrong” side of Strathmore 300 Bristol vellum, which Kathleen prefers. During the trunk lesson, I used the slightly toothier “right” side of the same paper, which imparted a subtle tree bark texture. However, sometimes I had difficulty building up heavy graphite when I wanted areas to be darker. The following week on the roots assignment, I used Strathmore 300 Bristol smooth, which was much easier for accumulating heavy areas of graphite. Fine lines and details were also much easier to make. The downside is that it has almost no texture, so I had to work harder to create that texture myself. I can’t say which is generally “better,” but each requires a different technique and has different results. I would choose the paper based on subject matter, desired texture, degree of detail, and other factors.

Below are some test swatches I made of hard and soft graphite pencils (Mitsubishi Hi-Uni in H and 4B), a relatively hard colored pencil (Faber-Castell Polychromos) and a relatively soft colored pencil (Prismacolor) on two types of paper – smooth and toothy. In addition, with any paper, the sharpness of the point is an important aspect to consider, especially with colored pencils (which Crystal Shin talked about extensively in her workshop last year). To test that, I used Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle (probably the softest colored pencil I’ve ever used) – one with a very dull point and one freshly sharpened. (I typically would not use a pencil as dull as the one tested here, but I do keep a dull one handy for quick life-drawing sketches.) All other pencils tested were freshly sharpened before each swatch was made.

In each case, I applied as much graphite or pigment as possible without flattening the tooth. In the case of graphite, that’s usually when it starts to look shiny. With colored pencils, it’s when it feels like wax is simply sliding around on itself and additional pigment is no longer being applied.

The papers I compared are Canson XL 140-pound cold press watercolor paper and Strathmore 300 Bristol smooth.

Very smooth Strathmore 300 Bristol smooth

Relatively toothy Canson XL 140-pound cold press watercolor paper

I hope the results are clear in these low-resolution images (I scan them at high res, but I know the blog platform reduces the resolution significantly). It’s easier to apply graphite or pigment evenly onto smoother paper, especially with softer pencils. (My Hi-Uni H sample looks strangely mottled in this test; I can’t explain that, as I’ve certainly gotten very evenly applied results on the same paper with the same pencil.) The difference between the dull and sharp Museum Aquarelles is especially visible. A soft, flat point simply cannot get into the recessed areas of paper, even a very untoothy one like Bristol smooth.

Using these artist-grade drawing papers for the course reminded me of similar class discussions when I studied with Suzanne Brooker several years ago (she had recommended Bristol smooth with colored pencils) and with Kathleen McKeehen last year. McKeehen had discussed papers at length and graciously gave each student a variety of small paper samples to try so that we could see all the differences in weight, texture and even color (just like wall paint, there’s no such thing as one generic “white”).

Paper and pencil: Equal partners in an important relationship.

For more thoughts and tests on the pencil and paper partnership, see these posts:

Material Lessons (In and Out of Class)

Demo: Stay Sharp

On Location with Traditional Colored Pencils

Soft and Hard

Demo: Sequence for Spritzing Watercolor Pencil

Demo sketch

Several months ago when I sketched a peek-a-boo view of Mt. Rainier from our upstairs deck, I had enough forethought to take a few process photos that explained one method for planning the water-activation sequence when using watercolor pencils. The critical point is when I use a spritzer, which is my favorite way to activate foliage because it retains more texture and sparkle compared to dab, dab, dabbing with a waterbrush.

The issue is that it can be difficult to aim the spritzer accurately and confine the water to a targeted area. Adjacent parts of the sketch can be unintentionally sprayed, causing those details to become blurry when I want them to remain crisp (here’s an example of such a mishap). In the Mt. Rainier sketch, I used a waterbrush to activate the parts that I wanted to keep sharp and let them dry completely. Although activated watercolor pencil pigments are not permanent, they are far less soluble than dry pigments. When I spritzed nearby trees, the crisp areas were minimally disturbed.

That’s one way to keep the crisp areas from blurring. Another way is even more effective, but it takes more planning, which I don’t always remember to do. I explained the process a couple of days ago with the sketch of the North Substation tower, but I hope the steps below will be more thorough. This time I used the sketch with a tiny view of Green Lake that you saw on Wednesday:

Step 1 - block in: I like to use a Payne’s Gray Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer pencil for blocking-in because it’s harder and retains a point better than my usual Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelles. As you can see, I don’t draw much with the initial block-in – just the large elements that I want to scale accurately to fit the composition on the page. (Sorry that the marks are difficult to see . . . I do the block-in very lightly.)

Step 1: block-in

Step 2 – draw tree and spritz-activate: I forgot to photograph this step, but instead, I’m presenting here the images I made for my workshop (which, sadly, was cancelled), which are probably clearer than any photos I could take in the field. Image 2A below is a tree drawn with dry pencil. In Step 2B, it has been spritzed just enough to activate the pigments while still retaining texture and sparkle.

Step 2A: dry pigment applied

Step 2B: spritzed

By contrast, shown below in image 2C is a brush-activated tree, which has lost most of its texture (this may be the look you want; I tend to prefer a more textured look). Image 2D shows what can happen if you are over-enthusiastic in spritzing – the pigments will float away in a messy puddle. Take care to spritz lightly, wait a moment for pigments to activate and settle, then spritz again if needed.

Image 2C: brush-activated

Image 2D: result of over-enthusiastic spritzing

A note on the spritzer: My favorite spritzer originally contained hand sanitizer, but it was purchased several years ago, and I can’t find the brand anymore. Ideally, use a spritzer that delivers a fine, even spray. Make some heavy swatches of watercolor pencil pigment and test your spritzer before using it on a sketch. You can vary the concentration of the spray by moving your sketch closer or farther away from the spritzer. I hold the spritzer about a foot and a half away from the sketch.

Step 3 – “licked” sky: I spritzed the sky area generously. Working quickly before the paper dried on this warm day, I “licked” pigment from the Museum Aquarelle Middle Cobalt Blue (660) pencil with a waterbrush and used the brush to apply the pigment to the wet paper. (This step is similar to the wet-in-wet technique with traditional watercolors.) I showed more details of the “licking” process in another demo a few years ago. The small refinement I’ve made in recent years is shown in the second image below: I’ve sharpened the pencil with a knife to expose as much pigment as possible, which makes the “licking” more efficient.

Step 3: pigment "licked" from pencil point with waterbrush and applied to wet paper.

pencil sharpened with knife to expose more pigment core

Step 4 – draw the main elements: While waiting for the sky and tree to dry, I drew the other elements, avoiding areas that were still damp. If you try to use watercolor pencils on paper that is damp but not glossy-wet, it’s truly unpleasant! The pencil point skids around without applying color, and if you rub too hard, you could damage the paper’s surface. If the pencil hits a slightly wetter area, it leaves a mark that might be unintentionally too bright. As with watercolor paints, it’s worth it to wait patiently. Note that distant foliage is left dry to keep them less vibrant and therefore in the background. By contrast, activation brings the closer tree forward.

Step 4: draw remaining elements, avoiding areas that are still damp

Step 5 – finishing details: After the sky and other areas were completely dry, I drew wires and other details.

Step 5: final details added

If you try this, please let me know how it goes and whether you like the results. This demo is similar to the one I wrote a few years ago except that I’ve improved and refined a few points.

9/4/20 completed sketch

North Substation Tower: Process Steps

9/1/20 North Substation, Maple Leaf neighborhood

USk Japan continues to come out with fun and intriguing challenges to inspire their members. The challenges are often related to materials or approaches rather than subject matter, which makes them more appealing to me. Recently the challenge was to “show your process”: Take process shots as you work in your usual way so that viewers could see how you make a sketch. This was less of a sketching challenge and more of a sharing opportunity. The challenge, though, would be in remembering to take the step photos!

Walking through the ‘hood one morning, I realized it had been a few years since I last sketched at the North Substation (which I refer to as the “mother of all power lines”) a few blocks from home. The day after I had read about USk Japan’s challenge, it was still fresh in my mind, so I remembered to take a couple of photos along the way (though not as soon as I would have liked).

In Step 1 below (I would have broken these down into more steps if I had remembered earlier), I lightly blocked in the major elements to place them in the composition. Next I painted the sky wet-in-wet using the “licking”method. Then I focused on heavily coloring the tree and spritzing it. By spritzing foliage before drawing nearby elements or details that should remain crisp, I can keep them from being inadvertently washed away by the spray.

That little tip above probably seems like a no-brainer, but it took me a long time of using watercolor pencils regularly to plan for and remember to do it! I distinctly recall a moment at Kubota Garden last year when my carefully drawn Moon Bridge turned into a blurry mess as soon as I spritzed the foliage around it. As is true when using any water media, sequence and planning are important.

 I feel wistful and bittersweet sharing that tip here. Last week would have been my “Urban Sketching with Watercolor Pencils” workshop in USk Seattle’s 10x10 workshop program. After many months of thinking about and planning for that workshop, I was very sad and disappointed when I realized it would have to be cancelled. I had so looked forward to sharing and demo-ing tips and ideas like that with my students. It will not be the same – the direct interaction with students is the most rewarding part of teaching – but I will continue to share some of my workshop techniques and ideas here on the blog in the coming months. And someday when everyone can safely and happily meet in person, I hope to offer the workshop again.

Step 1: Block in the major elements. Paint the sky. Apply heavy color to the tree. Spritz the tree with sprayer to activate the watercolor pencil pigments. 

Step 2: After the sky is dry, draw the tower, utility poles, wall and shadows.

Step 3: Apply heavy color to shadows and activate with waterbrush. Finish with details.

Forsythia Values Study

7/26/20 forsythia in our backyard

You saw this forsythia tree back in April when it was ablaze with yellow blossoms, now long gone. As I mentioned then, our backyard rarely calls to me with sketching inspiration, but what did call to me on this hot afternoon was our shady deck. With a kitchen chair and a small selection of traditional colored pencils I’ve been playing with, I got comfy.

Last time, my sketch was about capturing the forsythia’s color. Without the bright yellow to confuse me (no values were attempted in that sketch), this time I decided to make a values study in color. The lightest value green I chose is nearly yellow, which may be confusing to viewers by resembling blossoms, but I thought it would be the clearest “code” to myself to remember that it’s the sunlit areas of foliage.

The greens I used are Caran d’Ache Pablo Olive Yellow (015), Caran d’Ache Luminance Moss Green (225) and Uni Posca 18 (color name not given, but it’s the darkest green). Sketchbook is Stillman & Birn Zeta.

Stage 1: I drew the sunlit areas first so that I wouldn't inadvertently cover them
with too much of the darker colors. I suddenly noticed my neighbor's feet,
so I put them in immediately to scale them accurately. 

As I sketched, I also recalled a question from an Instagram follower/blog reader who was curious about the process I used for foliage – the sunlit color everywhere, then the shadows added later. . .? So I took a few process photos along the way to help show what I do. (Process notes are in the captions.)

Stage 2: I used the medium and darkest green next to indicate the general
shapes of the areas in shade. Even at this stage, if my objective
is to make the plant realistic and specific, my pencil marks are made in
the general shapes of the leaves. I avoid scribbling generically (which I do
at the bottom where I'm indicating shadows in the grass).

At the same time, I was also thinking about a conversation I had had with another sketcher about how different subject matter seem to call for different media. For example, sometimes when I’m trying to sketch a large area of trees and foliage, I start thinking that colored pencils, even watercolor pencils, are not an ideal medium for that. And whenever I see how beautifully some artists paint foliage with watercolors, I see how well that medium can capture the luminosity of trees partially in sunlight. If I knew how to use watercolors, I might be able to achieve that same quality a lot more easily (and certainly faster) than trying to do the job with colored pencils.

Stage 3: I filled in all the foliage more fully with the 3 greens. Toward the end,
I used the medium green to give the sunlit leaves more definition.
In the finished sketch, the medium green is not even apparent as a third color
and probably wasn't necessary. Instead, I applied the darkest green
more heavily in the deepest areas.

If I had been using watercolors to paint this forsythia, though, I might have gotten the broad shapes, hues and light, but I would have lost the slightly curving shapes of the leaves, which I appreciated observing and trying to capture. This one isn’t a detailed botanical drawing (of the scientifically accurate type that I learned to make last winter), but it falls somewhere between that and the slightly more painterly sketch I made when the blossoms were in bloom. Sometimes I want the general; sometimes I want the specific.

Every medium has its strengths and weaknesses. If I had the time, energy and commitment to master every medium that appealed to me, I could use whichever one best captured whatever subject I’m sketching at the moment. But since I’ve chosen to focus on colored pencils, I enjoy challenging myself to find ways to use this chosen medium in whatever way that best takes advantage of its strengths.

(Did you catch the pair of sandaled feet near the base of the tree? I hadn’t seen my neighbor at first, quietly reading, but I put him in as soon as I noticed, just in case he left before I was done. I may have looked like a backyard sketcher that day, but I’m always an urban sketcher at heart.)

DIY Abstract Coloring Book

Step 1: Fill a page with random, overlapping shapes.

One of my most effective methods of self-administered therapy is drawing. Sometimes, though, my mind is so agitated that I can’t muster up enough of the focus necessary to draw. I need some kind of transitional task to relax first. Or sometimes in the evening, I may simply not have the energy to sketch, but I still want to do something more engaging than scrolling endlessly through my Facebook feed.

During these times, I put on music and make my own coloring books with Field Notes notebooks and templates of geometric shapes. (I can’t remember where I got the templates, but I think they’re used for architectural and schematic diagrams.) There’s something strangely satisfying and soothing about making random patterns from rectangles, circles and ovals. When I’ve covered the page with overlapping shapes, I grab some colored pencils and color them. I usually choose about five hues that I like looking at together. (This also satisfies my craving for bright colors, which I don’t always get enough of by sketching typical urban landscapes.)

 

Step 2: Color!

I don’t know if anyone else would find this type of DIY coloring book useful, but any reason to use colored pencils is good enough for me.

Demo: Planning the Dry/Wet Sequence

Here's the scene: Half of Mt. Rainier visible from our upstairs sundeck on a
remarkably clear afternoon.

After I’ve finished a sketch, I sometimes think that the process I used for that sketch might be helpful to someone else if I explained the steps, but I don’t think about that until after the sketch is finished. Last week while I was standing in the blistering heat, sketching Mt. Rainier from our unshaded sundeck, it suddenly occurred to me that if I took photos along the way, the sketch could become a demo. I wrote a more thoroughly detailed demo on my urban sketching process a few years ago, but that day was cool and comfortable, so I could be leisurely. This sketch happened more quickly because I wanted to get out of the sun, so the demo emphasizes the importance of planning the step sequence to save time as well as to achieve better results.

 

Steps 1 and 2: Blocking, rough drawing, "licked" wet-on-wet sky

Step 1: Blocking and rough drawing

Using dry watercolor pencils, I blocked in the composition – Rainier, the utility pole, the rooftops and the foliage (see palette below) in my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook. In retrospect, I would have left the utility pole for later, but it was such a prominent structure in my view that I drew it without thinking strategically. (I never seem to learn this lesson.)

 

These 7 Caran d'Ache Museum Aquarelle pencils comprised the palette used in this sketch (and probably 75% of
my urban sketches).

Step 2: “Licked” wet-on-wet sky

(Sorry that I don’t have a separate image of this process; at the end of Step 2 was when I got the idea to take process photos. However, a previous “licked” sky demo has more details about this technique.) Since I knew I wanted to eventually draw power lines over the sky, I needed the paper to be completely dry by then, so I chose this point to work on the sky. Using my water spritzer, I sprayed the top half of the page generously. (My favorite spritzer is a small bottle that used to contain hand sanitizer.) Using a waterbrush, I pushed the water around the mountain and foliage line as closely as possible. Then I quickly “licked” color from the pencil tip (Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle 660) with a waterbrush and washed color onto the wet page.

 

Step 3: Selective activation

Step 3: More dry color; selective activation

Using dry watercolor pencils, I continued adding more pigment to the rough drawing, mainly on the foliage. At this point, I’m always tempted to activate the color in the foliage because that’s the most fun part. However, after being premature with this step many, many times, I’ve finally learned to wait until after I’ve selectively activated the parts that I don’t want to turn into a blurry mess.

In this case, I wanted the blue base of the mountains and darker blue land below it to remain distinct, so I used a waterbrush to activate just those parts. (This was the point when I wished I had waited to draw the utility pole; it is dark enough that I could have drawn right over the blue instead of having to tediously cut around it as I did.) Once dry, the activated parts are not waterproof, but they remain stable enough that they will not blur when more water is spritzed over them.

 

Step 4: Spritzing foliage 

Step 4: Spritz foliage

When the selectively activated parts are dry, it’s time for the fun step: spritzing. First, I spritzed into the air to see which way the wind was blowing, if at all. (It’s annoying to aim at your sketchbook, fire, and have all the water blow back onto you.) Holding the book at arm’s length, I sprayed the foliage areas lightly and evenly. The first bursts of activated colors are so exciting and rewarding that it’s always tempting to keep spritzing repeatedly, but resist. If the page gets flooded with water, all the colors run together into a big muddy mess. If you see unactivated areas later when the initial spritzing is dry, you can always spritz again.

 

Step 5: Add final details

Step 5: Details

Using dry pencils, I added a few details to the houses and finished with the utility wires. The completed sketch is shown below. It took about 45 minutes.

Completed sketch