I have been looking at old sketchbooks again to see how my skills and style evolved. What I notice is that the 2015-me was so afraid to express herself and afraid to ruin the sketchbook, that the drawing is barely visible… no shadows, very weak colors and weak line work… 2015-me was so unsure of herself and scared to make a bad drawing that it took her ages and a lot of workshops before she dared to use the colors that made her happy.
I have such a hunger for color for the moment that I also use a lot of color pencil lines in my sketches!
They make me truly happy!
While making some more teapot sketches I was flipping through my “tea sketchbook” and wanted to show you again some older sketchbooks, from about 10 years ago.
My Old Sketchbooks
I wasn’t born with talent! I sketched a lot to train my skills. In the video below I show you some of my old sketchbook, so you can see that it’s not about talent! It’s about skills you can train !
As you can see in the video, my early sketches in my old sketchbooks are very very hesitant, and lack light and dark values. My shadows are missing, or not dark enough, so my sketches are flat and boring…. my colors are boring as well.
I learned a lot by copying other artists and doing a lot of courses and workshops. I still love to do workshops with other artists by the way. It’s so inspiring to see how other artists make their sketches, what colors and materials they use…
Sketch as much as possible and let yourself be inspired by other artists, go sketching together with the urbansketchers if you have the possibility. Your future self will be grateful !
Play and enjoy!
So this is the advice I would have given to myself in 2015:
- Add flashy colors to grab attention – Throw in all the bright colors you like, and bam! Everyone’s looking right where you want!
- Mix styles, because who cares about rules? – Combine color pencil, ink and watercolor for a “I’m totally embracing my artistic chaos” effect.
- Add little scenes of local life – A wandering cat, human clutter, an abandoned café table… the kind of details that’ll make people think you observed every little thing (even if you didn’t).
- Exaggerate shamelessly – Think that tower could be bigger? Make it XXL! We’re not here to respect proportions and “Sketching Police” won’t come after you if the drawing is not correct.
- Go darker! – don’t be afraid to get it darker! The darker your shadows, the bolder your sketch and the more sunlight you’ll get into your sketch
- Add texture – Use an almost-dry brush, and suddenly those stones look so real you could almost touch them.
- Try wild unreal perspectives – From below, from above, tilted… as if you’d slipped while taking the reference photo.
- Color shadows like a rebellious artist – Instead of boring gray shadows, go for improbable colors.
- Add arrows and annotations for the “tour guide” effect – A little box here, an arrow there, and voilà! You’ve got a mini travel guide on paper.
- Sketch both inside and outside; don’t be picky! – Mix landscapes with cozy interiors for a travel journal that’s as complete as a guided tour.
- And most importantly, don’t count windows and don’t forget the humor. Don’t take yourself so seriously! Life’s too short to count windows (Says Ian Fennelly)
Do you keep your older sketchbooks? And do you look at them from time to time to see your progress?
What would you say to your younger self?