Simplifying the sketchbook practice in difficult times

Heya. How have you been? Things have been difficult on my end since late summer. It happens. Ups and downs come and go, and sometimes the downs stick around for a while. Rather than talking about that though, I want to talk about how going through difficult times has changed my sketching practice and how I interact with my sketchbook(s).

From many to one, instead of none

Over the years I’ve noticed I like to have some paper variety accessible to me. This usually manifests as me using multiple sketchbooks at once with different types of paper. A Talens Art Creation sketchbook with cream paper, a sketchbook with bright white paper that handles ink well, a sketchbook with watercolour paper, a sketchbook with toned grey or brown paper, the list goes on. I list different papers I enjoy in my FAQ.

When I go through difficult periods in life though, especially really chaotic and/or long periods, I sometimes find that wide variety turns sour. Trying to continue using my tools like I was before doesn’t work. At worst, I can end up not picking up any tools at all. With the time and energy I may have, I can’t do what I was doing to the same extent. Or it just feels overwhelming on top of what life is throwing at me.

Guilt can then crash in on top of everything else. Guilt for neglecting one tool for another or guilt for not touching my sketchbooks at all. Even though sketching is a deep comfort to me in those times, I can get in my own way of even accessing the thing that can help me.

In those moments, I find comfort in stripping everything back. Prioritising simple, steady, and comforting.

Once I noticed this happening around the end of summer, I put away all my sketchbooks except one. I put away all my sketching materials except two. I gave myself permission to just be for a bit. If I felt called to use something else, great, but the only things visibly in my line of sight were one sketchbook and a couple drawing tools. Things I love and find comforting: pencil and ballpoint pen.

Returning to the simple in times of chaos

With life feeling thrown up in the air and the floor feeling taken out from under me, I had a place to go. I gave myself an easy route to a comforting place. I picked my sketchbook up more frequently again, drawing away at things at whatever pace felt good. Maybe a drawing would take days, maybe an hour. I also gave myself permission to just let that happen too.

The sketchbook practice (and creativity in general) is not linear. Tools in art are just tools at the end of the day, and they can be moulded to fit whatever you need at any point in your life. I wont sketch in any one way forever.

Do I have a large months-long gap in some of my sketchbooks now? Yes. If I hadn’t done that though, I may not have drawn in any at all. Caught up in an overwhelm whirlpool. This way I was still sketching for me, still expressing myself through an activity that provides me with comfort and calm no matter what is going on.

I sketched subjects that I am familiar with, things that interested me from shows I was watching, practiced skill building (hands, my sweet nemesis), sketched from life, and jotted down ideas for future illustrations. The sketchbook practice itself in terms of content was structureless. Bending entirely to what I needed in that moment. All I actually had to do was simplify the route to getting a pencil touching paper in the first place.

A recent page in my sketchbook using a 0.7 mm 2B mechanical pencil, featuring a sketch of Lee Yeon from Tale of the Nine Tailed.

What each person needs is as unique as they are, though we can find some middle ground in places. My experience is just that, my experience. I hope that sharing it serves to interest or inspire you in some way. Perhaps even offer some comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Alternatively, maybe it offers you a new perspective on how one artist deals with the downs in life. Whatever purpose this serves, I must now away to a character illustration waiting for watercolour layers. Take care, and talk to you later.