Fill Sketchbooks with Ease

Sketchbooks can feel intimidating to beginner artists because the format makes it feel serious. Drawing in a book can create the expectations that every page needs to be refined. This makes sense logically because it does feel quite official, especially if you like buying fancy sketchbooks. But we can change this.

Sketchbooks should be a place of fun experimentation and I think there are a few key mindset shifts that can get us there.

Diary Entries vs Essays

One trick that can make sketchbooking a lot more fun is by thinking of each page as a visual diary entry. Instead of seeing each page as a final essay that you are presenting to the world, think of it as a reflection of a simple moment.

This made drawing in my sketchbook much easier for me because it made it about self expression and reflection instead of presenting myself to the world. I dont have to worry about any one single page because its just a small piece in a larger puzzle.

Future Self

I also like to write in my sketchbooks so they feel more personal. I will write down thoughts that I am having and what is going on in my life. I like to think of these as messages to my future self. I assume I will be flipping through these sketchbooks in 10 years and it will be nice to remember where I was at.

One major upside of thinking this way is that its pretty safe to assume I will improve my art in 10 years, especially if I stay consistent with it. This means that I dont really have to worry about improving my art over the course of a single sketchbook.

Prompts

In terms of writing you can use some self reflective questions and then use that as a starting point to your sketching.

Some questions you can ask yourself are:

• What is something that has been capturing my interest this week?

• What small beautiful moments did I experience in the past few days?

• What do I want to explore in my art practice? 

I have written out a page of these types of questions that you can grab for free over in the Sketch Club

You can also ask yourself much tougher questions about the challenges that you are going through. The sketchbook can become a friend that you turn to when you need a place to spill your thoughts and feelings.

Once you have done a bit of writing you can meditate on those thoughts while you just doodle. Remember that these are just diary entries so the drawings dont have to be official or refined. They can be fun experimentations, just your hand moving and you exploring the page. 

Expectations

One reason you might hesitate to approach your sketchbook this way is an expectation that you should be able to show the book to others. 

You may have consumed a lot of sketchbook tours that have created an unhealthy image of what having a sketchbook means. I will make a separate video talking about the problems with sketchbook tours in the future.

You actually dont have show your drawings to anyone. You dont have to post them online. When friends ask to see them you can say “I actually prefer to keep my drawings to myself” and if they cant respect that then maybe dont be friends with those people.

You deserve to have spaces of privacy and a sketchbook can easily become that if you are willing to set those boundaries. You can also keep your drawing practice a secret.

This can be especially useful if you are someone who is a perfectionist and someone with a strong inner critic. You learned those ways of being because you are used to performing for other people and you can decide to put those aspects of yourself on pause while you draw.

You dont have to unlearn those tendencies in all aspects of your life, just let those aspects take a nap while you draw for 20 minutes.

It wont be easy at first but its worth trying. If you are someone who struggles to draw regularly then this might be the biggest issue. You might be holding back on your creative side because your critical side is preventing you from enjoying the experience of drawing.

I lost 10 years of creative expression to my critical side, the reason I make these videos is because Im hoping I can stop others from making the same mistakes. I was too critical of my own work to really let my creative voice flow naturally. This is a completely preventable problem by the way, you arent stuck with this way of being.

It is possible to fall in love with your creative process and deeply enjoy it. Sometimes you might channel difficult feelings but it will feel fulfilling. It can have deep meaning and it starts by making visual diary entries in your sketchbook.

Remember that something can be really important while not being serious. Lets treat our art practice with importance, let's make time for it and set boundaries around how we share the work but do it with lightness. Be gentle with yourself, be loving and kind to yourself.

Some of you will cringe at the thought of doing this but do you really want to be rough with yourself in every aspect of your life? I'm not asking you to change this anywhere outside of the art, but try it with the art practice.

Try to give yourself credit when you do draw, even when the drawings turn out bad by your standards. Give yourself credit for putting in the effort. Pat yourself on the back for taking the time to draw. A part of you knows that this might work, part of you knows that its worth trying but there will be resistance.

So please try it, for the sake of all of us. We need more people who are in touch with their creative side. And come back here and let us know how it goes!

If you want to explore your creative side with me I have a creativity course that is available here. And I also have tons of free beginner tutorials here but remember that you dont NEED a teacher

The Art will guide you if you let it, so open your arms to it and accept the art as it is