I don’t use a sketchbook. Am I a real artist?
Not having a sketchbook practice always made me feel inadequate so I tried to do it for a week.
Hello friends,
I’m a professional illustrator with no art or drawing education. And I’m not gonna lie: that sometimes makes me feel inadequate or like a fraud.
One thing I always thought I need to feel like a real artist is to have a sketchbook practice. I had this romantic idea of me drawing freely in a sketchbook and coming up with beautiful spreads as we see on social media.
But I was never able to do it. I’ve tried in the past but mostly I use my sketchbooks to draw these very ugly and uninteresting sketches that I then finish somewhere else (mostly digitally).
With the addition of the iPad to my practice, I stopped sketching on paper because it’s just so much faster and more convenient.
I still go back to a sketchbook when I’m in the first exploratory stages of working on a new book. When drawing traditionally I come across these happy mistakes that don’t really happen as often when I go straight into the iPad.
Last month I decided to try again and I documented the process on youtube. Check out the video linked if you want to see the process.
I know this is a long video and if you don’t have 17 minutes to spare and watch me learn how to use a sketchbook every day for a week here are the main takeaways and what I learned with this experience:
A sketchbook should be a judgment-free zone. That may be why it’s so hard for me to use it: I’m always judging myself and thinking I should be drawing better than I do. I need to learn how to use it and not care about the result. Sadly that didn’t happen a lot this week.
Practice makes…. The practice seems less daunting! You thought I was gonna say “perfect”? Have you met me?! But really, I felt that the more I did it the easier it got (I spent a long time on the first day just building up the courage to start).
With my current reality: being an independent illustrator working for clients and a mother to a toddler it’s very difficult for me to make it a priority to sit down and practice. There is always something more urgent that I feel like I should be doing. But taking this time to explore is very important and will help me explore new subjects and mediums and that will help me evolve as an artist in the long run.
Now, do you need to use a sketchbook to be an artist? Absolutely not! But I believe you do need to practice your craft and explore new ways to do it if you want to evolve.
Will I keep using mine? I hope so.
Will I keep documenting it? I’ll be honest: if documenting it makes me more likely to sit down and do it I will. Even though I definitely don’t need the added pressure.
What are your thoughts on this? Is it easy for you to use a sketchbook? Any tips for me?
Thank you for reading,
Elsa