What To Do With RUINED Sketchbooks
I’ve taken to drawing, filling sketchbook pages in private. I need that personal space right now.
It has taken a load off my shoulders!
No more murderous online posting schedules. No more worrying if posting an image will get me into trouble one way or another.
And no more worrying about “ruining” sketchbooks!
You know the feeling. You’re afraid to draw in that beautiful sketchbook, worrying that you will ruin that page and the entire sketchbook as a consequence.
And why do you worry about that? Because you have it in the back of your mind that people will see it and think less of you as an artist.
But if you PROMISE not to show your work to others, that goes away!
I found some sketchbooks I stopped drawing in because I had “ruined” some pages. But now they are PERFECT for me to draw in precisely for that exact reason!
There are “bad” (if that exists) drawings in these sketchbooks, so I am sure I will not show those sketchbooks to anyone as I worry they might see the “ugly” drawings. So these sketchbooks are perfect for me to draw in private, to make drawings I was not planning on showing anyone anyway.
And because there are already “ruined” pages in these sketchbooks, I am less precious about drawing in them.
It is freeing.
This is about just having fun in your sketchbook. There is no deadline. There is no predetermined number of pages you have to fill.
You can do this on separate sheets of paper, but sketchbooks have the benefit that you can store them on bookshelves, to revisit later. It’s fun browsing through past sketchbooks and seeing how you developed.
My drawing workouts are sequences of short exercises that go well together. They help you warm up, practice a fundamental, and end with some fun drawing and a beautiful sketchbook page to look back on.
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If you don't feel like drawing, you can peruse my guides that explain various drawing exercises that helped me a lot over the years.
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