Sketchbook art or notebook art: Here’s what to do
1. Your sketchbook size
Buy a sketchbook that is small enough to carry around in your bag or pocket but large enough to make a picture in a manageable format. I like cute and small things. Filling a large canvas doesn’t make me any happier than filling a small one. So I found that a notebook, somewhat larger than a mobile phone, works best for me.
2. Your sketchbook paper
What choice of paper works best for you? Wobbly thick paper can be great for watercolors but hell for manga markers. Are your drawings or your text the most important component of your sketchbook? Do you intend to journal? If drawings come first, choose the paper wich works best for your medium. Often you will find that sketchbooks from a painters shop can give equal or better quality over a branded one for the same amount of money. Cheaper papers will have 25% rag content in association with pulp (plant fibers). The highest quality rag papers are made 100% from linen and/or cotton.
4. Tools: go for your best personal fit
There are no guidelines, other than what fits you best. Yes, you can buy fancy ecolinebrushes or real sable-hair brushes. It does not necessarily show better in your artwork. Your pen, brushes, pencils should fit comfortably in your hand and feel easy. They should become an extension of yourself.
5. Keep it clean or go wild
Keeping your sketchbook in pristine condition definitely takes effort. You will find that paint from new pages will sip down and smudge the corners of your previous painted pages.
Keep your eraser clean by keeping it seperate from pencils and charcoal. You can minimize bleeding by using just one side of the paper. On the other hand: it is a sketchbook! Part of the fun comes from defying rules. Draw straight through the centre, ignore or play with the lines of a ruled notebook.
3. Preserving your sketchbook
Take in account what you want to do with your sketchbook. Is it for practice or for eternity? For practice, choose paper in quantity and price over quality. Grow better in your art by producing a lot and always carry your sketchbook with you. If you value the results and want to go for eternity, then go for acid-free and chlorine-free paper. This way you can pass on your perfectly preserved artwork to humanity – or to your great grand children. The most stable paper is high quality rag paper. Definitely do not use bister ink. Although popular for being historically accurate and a natural ink, it is famous for eating its way through paper after some decades. Even Rembrandt can testify on that one!
Now get started and have fun!
Effie Tee