I've bought lots of sketchbooks over the years, but I've never been very good at filling them. I guess I was never taught the purpose behind them and was always nervous about touching pen to paper there.
See, there's part of the deal right there....I think most people would touch PENCIL to paper in a sketchbook, but I've never been able to draw with a pencil. I don't like the scratchy feel of it across the paper. When I was about 6 or 7 I started using felt tip markers when I drew and immediately liked the way the dark lines "popped" off the page and the smooth way my line would flow from the pen.
High praise for a "Flair" pen.
I was always given loose leaf paper to draw on too, so the book has a feel of permanence to it. "Don't make a mistake, or else there'll be a crappy drawing between your good ones!" is what it feels like to me.
As I've grown older...I mean like, just this last month...I've learned the obvious, that it's the opposite of that. "What if there's a work of genius between all of your crappy drawings?". And have started carrying one around and giving it a go.
Here's a bunch of scribbles and notes...an aborted "Little Nemo" there on his side in the right half and an attempt at disguising someone with an afterthought beard in the middle on his side. I see Bob the Alien and another alien with a space helmet conversing across the page, and an early working out of Hulk, Archie and Richie Rich from before I listen to my heart and knew I liked Jughead better. Oh, and apparently Mickey Mouse wanted to go on their road trip, too.
So I kind of figured out (at the cusp of turning 49 years old) that a sketchbook is where you work out ideas. Not just on the page, but in the right half of your brain.
No one ever said I was a genius.
Here's me prodding myself to NOT fill up the sketchbook with pics of things I can already draw...work on stuff you have a block about.
And I'm hoping that's the point. I'm diggin' on the freewheelin' of just drawing. Something I haven't really done since I was about 11. I've always drawn with a project in mind and lost a little bit of the fun of just tickling that side of my brain and seeing what comes out.
See...I'm just a slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww learner.
Here I am playing with widths of a pen. I had one handy that had a fine point in one end and a bold in the other.
Just drawing for a while and waiting for all those ideas to unclog. Working toward clearing those drains in my brain that don't flow the way I want.
But right now, I'm apparently trapped inside of a aspirin-headed-pineapple suit.
meh...my brain will sort it out.
Talk to you soon.
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