How to fill out a sketchbook beautifully?
Many creative people catch inspiration in the most unexpected moments, so they need material on which they can create a quick sketch of an idea that has visited their head in order to refine it later. Some people draw directly in regular checkered notebooks, others carry paperback albums with them, but a sketchbook is considered the most convenient option. This little book is a handy tool for an artist to preserve ideas and perpetuate various moments in life. In this article we will tell you how to choose a sketchbook, consider ideas for its design and reveal a few useful secrets.
Format selection
Sketchbooks come in three different sizes:
- A4 - the size of a landscape sheet;
- A5 - the size of a standard book;
- A6 is the size of a small notebook.
The size must be chosen depending on how you are going to work with the sketchbook. For quick sketches, it is better to choose a small album that is convenient to carry, a large notebook is suitable for detailed drawings, a medium-sized sketchbook (A5) is the golden mean, so it is most popular among artists. Important note: if you are just starting your creative journey, choose a small format for drawing. Filling a large area can quickly tire and you lose interest in creativity, so you need to gradually increase the size of your drawing book.
The choice of album format depends on what materials you will be creating the illustrations with. For pencil sketches, products with regular pages are suitable, but to draw with markers, you need to choose notebooks with thick paper.Watercolor sketches will only work in those sketchbooks that are filled with special thick sheets that absorb water.
Drawing options
Blank pages always scare artists, because everyone wants to beautifully fill out a sketchbook so that later it becomes a source of inspiration. A writer named Matt Fussell has created an instructional book with many drawing ideas, the first is to draw your shoes, and the last is to depict "something." This book describes the very essence of creating an album with sketches: the creator can add a picture with any everyday object in the notebook, which is a source of inspiration.
These can be any themed subjects, for example, tree branches with different leaves, flowers, fruits, simple patterns or complex textural accessories.
Often, artists fill a drawing book with sketches of their favorite things or sketches of works from the World Wide Web. As you regularly create illustrations, the skill gradually grows, and it will be easier for you to find inspiration with each completed page. Here are a few ideas that can serve as a basis for pictures in a sketchbook.
Lungs
The easiest way to fill out a book is to draw everyday things around you: your favorite cup of coffee or tea, a slice of pizza, a gift box, or a slice of cake. An unusual way to find inspiration is to take a sketchbook with you every time you leave the house and sketch out illustrations of life situations. This format will help you start noticing beautiful things in familiar and boring places, for example, a cute bird that perched on a dead branch, a dandelion that could grow right from under the sidewalk, or even a shop window luring customers with fragrant fresh buns.
Your drawings do not have to be perfect right away, the main thing is to express an idea on paper, which you will definitely finalize later. This unusual illustration method will help you not only hone your fast drawing skills, but also find beautiful new places in your city.
Tumblr style
Tumblr drawings are very simple and cute illustrations that are done with black outline and colored in pastel shades. There are two types of sketches: one large drawing that takes up the entire sheet, or a set of small stickers on the same topic, such as cats, food, or people. In such drawings, technique is not the main thing, it is much more important to convey a certain mood or atmosphere through the picture. This could be a carton of milk next to a chocolate chip cookie, a flock of wild birds, or your favorite vacation spot. Also very popular are the drawings of food with eyes, a smile and pink cheeks.
Patterns
Patterns in a repeating pattern or pattern are found in different places, such as in different religions, folk jewelry, tableware, and even on bedding. You can beautifully fill the sketchbook with the flowery pictures you saw, or come up with your own, letting the pencil in your hand move freely along the paper. Over time, you will draw all the new patterns and learn their meaning, which will help in the future in the work on large projects. The ornament can consist of a wide variety of details - dashes, smooth lines, twigs with leaves and even mushrooms.
Another way to make the drawings more varied is to change the style from page to page, for example, on one to depict colored natural pictures, and on the other - black and white patterns in the style of a graphic.
Other
Our world is full of various amazing things that can inspire creativity. It is not at all necessary to paint complex landscapes or architectural structures - it is enough just to depict the thematic elements. Here are a few ideas to consider.
- Season. Pick your favorite time and fill your sketchbook with items that remind you of it.For example, if it's winter, then you can draw snowflakes, a scarf or a cup of cocoa with marshmallows, and if it's summer, different insects, ice cream or seashells.
- Participation in challenges. Many artists post their drawings on the Web and offer to redraw them in their own style, or simply offer ideas that participants should implement. Do not be afraid to bring illustrations to life and upload them to the Web, because then other creative people can notice your work and tell you in which direction you can develop.
- Text. A sketchbook is an artist's tool with no hard-and-fast rules, so instead of drawing, you can fill it in with various phrases and aphorisms.
Use of poetry
Poetry was created by creative people to inspire other creators, so feel free to use poetry in your sketchbook. There are several ways to lead a book: simply arrange the lines in a beautiful handwriting, write a verse in lettering style, or fill one part of the page with text and the other with a thematic drawing.
You can also stylize the poem so that it interacts with the drawing, for example, write text over the drawing or "put" it in the hands of the character. A verse can be a central compositional element if it is written on a colored background that matches the mood of the poetic work.
Interesting design ideas
Sketchbook maintenance starts with creating a pretty cover and filling out the first page. But it is not at all necessary to do this at the beginning - you can leave this task until the moment, until you have created illustrations on all sheets, so that the first pictures correspond to the topic as much as possible. We propose to consider the options for the design of the cover and the first page.
Cover
You can decorate the front side of a sketchbook in various ways: sign it in a neat handwriting, draw an interesting pattern or themed pictures, or stick stickers on the hard cover. For beginners, decorating the cover is a very time-consuming and exciting process, so it can be postponed until the notebook is full. If you are confident in your abilities and have chosen the direction for the drawings in the book, feel free to create the "face" of your creative tool.
First page
The flyleaf and front page are just as important as the cover - their design may differ slightly from the rest of the drawings in the sketchbook. The endpaper can be decorated with a set of thematic small sketches on a plain background, which will create a mood for viewing the artist's book. Filling out the first page is most often done in two ways: they apply the same illustration as on the flyleaf, or write down the contents of a notebook with the name of the pictures.
Inside the sketchbook, the first page should match the content of the pages. For example, if you decide to draw illustrations on the theme of space, you can write a short phrase on the first page about why you chose this particular theme and add some planets and stars around.
Useful Tips
It is difficult for every artist to bring his ideas to life, because they are often afraid of the opinions of others and strictly judge their work. Here's a list of helpful tips to help you find inspiration and get rid of your fears and prejudices.
- The appearance of the sketchbook. Modern producers pay a lot of attention to bright covers that attract the attention of customers, but the appearance of the album is not the main thing. There is no need to focus on appearance, because it is just a tool for creativity. Choose a book based on the quality of the pages - after all, different materials require paper of different weights.
- Materials. The type of sketchbook and materials for drawing must be selected at the same time, because they are closely interrelated.If you are going to draw with ordinary pencils, the most ordinary album will do, but for markers and watercolors, you need to choose products with a higher density paper.
- The quality of the drawing. At the beginning of the journey, do not set yourself the goal of creating a masterpiece, if something does not work out for you, this is normal. The more you paint, the closer you will be to the sketching ideal you are striving for.
- Clear sheet. A blank page must have been dreamed of by creative people at least once in nightmares, because the hardest thing in creativity is to start. The only way to overcome this fear is to set aside doubts and allow your hands to draw any scribbles. This method has helped many great people get started on the path to creating masterpieces.
- Regularity. As with anything else, exercising regularly will help you hone your arm firmness and clean lines.
Beautiful examples
For inspiration, we suggest considering some beautiful ideas for filling out a sketchbook:
- sweets with a face - an easy way to fill the sheets with cute drawings;
- model - great idea for fashion lovers;
- antistress - you have probably heard of antistress coloring pages and antistress drawings have the same strong effect;
- accessories - a great way to come up with a new image for a future character;
- animals - animals have always inspired people to be creative, especially if they are representatives of felines.
How to fill out the sketchbook, see below.