Contents
Guide
EXPRESSIVE SKETCHBOOKS
Developing Creative Skills, Courage, and Confidence
HELEN WELLS
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS AN EXPRESSIVE SKETCHBOOK?
Nurture Your Creativity
An expressive sketchbook is a playground for your imaginationa place to nurture your creativity and develop your own artistic style. In this book, I provide lots of guideposts to light your way and help you develop a sketchbook that feels uniquely yours.
This book is about exploring your call to create and coaxing those ideas out onto the page. It is about helping you make art that only you can create.
Know that your sketchbook will not be filled with flawless drawings or perfect outcomes. But the sometimes messy and joyful experiments will pave the way to discovering and refining your own visual style and artistic voice. Keep in mind that sketchbooks are where you develop an artistic practice, not where you turn up fully formed. They are part of the artistic journey; they are not the final destination.
Become confident through creating and experimenting. By making art more frequently, the art you make will improve.
Explore subjects and ideas that matter to you. A sketchbook is a safe place to try things out and learn more about your own interests and fascinations.
Incorporate Art into Your Life
A great sketchbook is not about perfect outcomes. Its about learning and growing through doing. The sketchbook is a safe place to become more confident and courageous about your own creativity. Its also where you can develop an approach to art and a process that lights you up, filling you with energy and enthusiasm. Think of your sketchbook as a place to have a creative conversation with yourself.
Become more inspired by creating more art. Dont wait to feel ready to begin; by beginning and taking action, we become ready.
Experimentation and Discovery
There are no rules when it comes to sketchbooks, apart from experimentation and discovery. We become creative by creating. Your sketchbook may contain very few actual sketches. For some people, a sketchbook may be all about sketching from life, while for others it is about exploring color and composition or recording thoughts, memories, or ideas. My hope is that this book gives you a little creative rocket fuel to allow you to take off in your own artistic direction.
Make your sketchbook unique to you. It must reflect you as a person and be a place where you can explore topics and themes that resonate with you.
A sketchbook is an art adventure. Try different approaches and discover and uncover your artistic voice as you go.
My sketchbooks look like I made them. Your sketchbooks will contain pages that reflect you, and they will look like you made them.
A sketchbook is a place to create art that has personal value.
CHAPTER
MAGIC AND MOTIVATION
Why develop your own sketchbook practice? Keeping a sketchbook will help you cultivate your own self-expression and creativity. This chapter is designed to help you unpack any obstacles and barriers that may be blocking your creativity. It will also help you understand your reason for starting a sketchbook and what youd like your sketchbook to be. Look for tips on ways in which you can reflect upon and document your artistic interests and inspirations.
REASONS TO START A SKETCHBOOK
You may not realize it now, but using a sketchbook can be life enhancing. The more you sketch, the more creative alchemy you are inviting into your life. Here are a few reasons to begin your very own sketchbook (or to continue in those moments when you feel stuck).
Play in a sketchbook to develop artistic skills. A sketchbook is a place to learn and growit will not be full of flawless masterpieces. Some pages will look like a mess, but that doesnt matter.
Explore Ideas
Your sketchbook is a great place for you to understand, develop, and explore your artistic interests or preoccupations. Unpack what makes you curious about art and life and sketch those thoughts out on the pages. In developing a sketchbook, you take ideas from your head or your heart and bring them to life on paper.
A sketchbook offers an opportunity to spot patterns and recurring themes. These two sketchbook pages were created years apart. Notice the use of white floral silhouettes against a patterned background. By flicking through old sketchbooks, you can spot recurring themes and find connections.
Log Your Creative Journey
Use a sketchbook to record your creative awakening. Think of your sketchbook as a friend and companion on your artistic journey.
A sketchbook is a place to understand and explore what makes you curious. Take a germ of an idea and expand and explore it.
Intimate/Safe Place
Next page