Today’s Sketchbooking!
Lately, I’ve formed a morning sketchbook habit! Almost every morning, I sit down at my desk and make something new in my sketchbook.
I’ve tried this habit on and off throughout the years, but every time I’ve fallen off. But this time I’ve made a point to be a bit more relaxed about it, and it’s gone swimmingly! The only goal is to create something each morning.
I don’t love the piece every time, and my sketches don’t always turn out how I want them to, but at least I made some art! It doesn’t matter if it’s just a quick scribble of my cat, or a drawing of an eye that took three seconds, or if it’s an extended piece that took the whole morning. Today’s piece took about half an hour, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out!
Today I chose to use charcoal, even though I kind of hate working with it. It’s quite a finicky material! You have to be prepared to make mistakes. Sometimes the tip will break and you’ll screw up your favorite line, sometimes you’ll forget what you’re working with and try to brush the dust off the paper with your hand and smudge it all to bedanged. And if you’re really, tremendously lucky, sometimes you’ll get the paper a little too close to your aesthetic tea candles and “accidentally” catch the whole thing on fire.* But the line work looks so pretty and lovely, darn it!
I guess I’m just doomed to a life of flaming, smudged sketches.
But today the charcoal gods have smiled upon me, and I drew this windmill with little to no issues, and I’m pretty pleased with the results! Yay!
If you have a sketchbook/art habit, feel free to comment below! I’d love to see what you create! And if you don’t have one, maybe consider starting! It doesn’t even need to be daily. It could be weekly, biweekly, or every-other-daily, or whatever fits with your schedule! However frequent, a sketchbooking habit will help you really elevate your art skills. (Though I will say; the more often the better.)
Having trouble thinking of what to draw? Look up “drawing prompts” (or check out my next post!) or pictures of a place or thing you’re familiar with! You could even look around the room and pick one thing to be the subject of a quick scribble. And if you’re ever feeling just completely uninspired, you could always wave your hand above a blank sheet of paper and call it “polar bear in a snowstorm” :)
Good luck! I’d love to see what you make!
*Only kidding, of course. That’s only ever happened to me, like, …14 times.