Getting back into your sketchbook, pt 2

Tailored tips to restart your creative practice + 20% off sale

Welcome to part 2 of getting back into your sketchbook! Today I’ll be covering tips for each creative archetype to get into the practice of making art again. Each archetype tactic will be paired with a book rec for further inspiration.

This post is written for anyone working with sketchbooks, but it can also be applied to journaling or whatever other creative methodology you practice. And if you missed part 1, you can read it here.

For the Strategist

If you’re a planner and organization lover who thrives under a deadline, you might be a Strategist. Maintaining a sketchbook practice can be tough when you’re focused on clear-cut deliverables, but the very play that sketchbooks provide is what’s going to fuel your next big idea!

I recommend that Strategists add time constraints to get back into their sketchbook. The most obvious way to tackle this is to set a Pomodoro timer for 25 minutes, or whatever your minimum creative time is, and don’t stop playing in your sketchbook until the timer’s up.

If you already know you’re the type of person to reply to all your emails, wash the dishes, and even clean the dust bunnies on your baseboards before giving yourself a creative time-out, try adding other levers of constraints.

One tactic that I’ve been experimenting with is working with a faster-drying material like acrylic paint. I usually work from gouache pan paints, which are both easy to start using (yay!) and to stop using (nay!) Nowadays I squeeze out a big glob of white acrylic paint to mix my gouache with, which compels me to sit and paint until my paints are all used up. Otherwise the paint will dry on my palette and will never be used by anyone!

If you are struggling with incorporating time constraints, ask yourself: What do you dislike more than the discomfort of trying? I hate wasting materials, which is why adding “waste-able” materials like acrylic works well in my current practice. You might hate disappointing others, so committing to a sketchbook session with a friend might work best for you.

My book rec for Strategists is Making Comics by Lynda Barry. There’s a fantastic Time exercise that Lynda uses with her students. Here’s an abbreviated version of the exercise if you’d like to try it:

Get a pen and a sheet of letter sized paper. Fold the paper into sixths. In the first quadrant, draw a cat in 60 seconds. In the second, draw the cat in 45 seconds. Then draw a cat in 30, 20, 10, and 5 seconds to fill up the remaining quadrants.

For the Shapeshifter

Shapeshifters of the world love to try on different hats and experiment. Funnily enough, the sketchbook is the place to do this experimentation—but with too much sway from external influence and inspiration, the Shapeshifter can easily get lost in the noise.

For the Shapeshifters, I recommend weaving in journaling with your sketchbook practice. This can look like a morning pages practice before jumping into artmaking, or a visual journaling practice where daily records and sketches live side by side.

Journaling will help bring more of you into your artwork. What’s frustrating about finding your voice and style is that there will never be an “aha” moment, when all of your work suddenly appears to be uniquely yours. Instead the process is gradual and intuitive, starting with listening to the self through the quiet act of journaling.

My book rec for Shapeshifters is Feel Something, Make Something by Caitlin Metz. This book is all about bringing your emotions into your practice, starting with body maps and mind maps. These can be amazing alternatives to journaling when you’re feeling especially overwhelmed.

For the Visionary

If you love to ponder concepts and delve into abstract worlds, you might be a Visionary. Big picture thinkers such as the Visionary love brainstorming and mind mapping, but the actual work of bringing concepts to life remains a challenge.

To get over this hurdle and actually make marks in a sketchbook, I recommend Visionaries start by reproducing work. Yes, that means copying! Bring out your favorite books, paintings, and posters and replicate their colors, patterns, and compositions. What draws you to the art you love? Make that question your entry point into your sketchbook.

Remember, the practice of copying in your private sketchbook isn’t “cheating”—it’s a crucial step for learning! As Eleanor Stern puts it in her post on learning through reproduction:

The preference for productive over reproductive knowledge assumes that only in the process of production do we internalize knowledge, making it part of ourselves. But when knowledge is reproduced lovingly, it becomes inextricable from the embodied processes of its reproduction.

My book rec for Visionaries is Illustrators’ Sketchbooks by Martin Salisbury. This tome is a real treasure trove of inspiration, compiling sketchbooks of 60 historical and contemporary illustrators worldwide. There’s a delightful range of realistic to abstract art in here, and it reminds me there’s no one right way to use a sketchbook. Many of the artists don’t even carry their sketchbook around!

For the Voyager

Voyagers value living a full creative life, the scope of which expands far beyond creative work. Their constant question is how to keep going amidst life’s demands and responsibilities.

This type enjoys documenting their life and memories, which is a perfect use for a sketchbook. I recommend that Voyagers streamline the setup in order to lower the barrier to entry to using one’s sketchbook on any given day.

In practice, this can look like carrying a small pocket notebook and a gel pen in your everyday purse. You could also consider having multiple sketchbooks in various convenient places—in the glove box of the car, on your kitchen table, on your nightstand.

My book rec for Voyagers is Make (Sneaky) Art by

Nishant Jain

, which publishes next week! Nishant recommends a minimal toolkit for making his trademark “sneaky art”, which helps to not waste time getting started, overcome decision anxiety, and encourage forgiveness for making mistakes.

Here are Nishant's three minimal toolkit suggestions:

• One trusted pen for linework, up to two tools for colors

• One primary pen with two fineliners (one thin, one thick)

• Three colored pencils—a warm, cool, and a bold highlight

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