105: Reasons I’ve sucked at using sketchbooks.

or, why the heck don’t sketchbooks come with instructions.

📝 Here’s a note about how I suck at using sketchbooks. And what I decided to do about it.

How I sucked at using sketchbooks:

1. The sketchbook was so big that I needed to make space to use it.

2. The sketchbook was too heavy so I stoped taking it around.

3. The sketchbook didn’t jive with the pen I was using. (Because bleeding, smudging)

4. I get worried when I come to the end of a sketchbook that I will run out of pages and not have any pages to draw on. So I buy a new sketchbook and start on that right away.

5. I dedicate a sketchbook to a subject then lose interest in the subject! Or…

6. I can’t find the dedicated sketchbook

7. I use it to write random notes ore diagrams or doodles.

8. I used paper too thin for heavy painting

9. I used paper to thick for quick doodles.

10. I have no idea which sketchbook to use to draw something.

What I decided to do about it:

In the end I decided to reframe how I think of sketchbooks as sheets of paper that happen to be bound and definitely not a storage device. I draw in them when I need to but It’s what I turn those sketches into that’s valuable not the sketches themselves.

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🦹🏽‍♂️📝 If you’re a Super-subscriber, you’ll get to see how I came to this decision using a 5-Step process.