Confessions of a Sketchbook Addict

How many Sketchbooks is too many Sketchbooks?

Hello, My name is Raj, and I have too many sketchbooks.

Just this week, I cracked open another one.

I knew I didn’t need it.

If I took a moment to just stop, take a breath and think about it, I could have found another way - I could have used an existing sketchbook. But I didn’t.

It feels a little out of control.

At the last count, I am working through 14 sketchbooks. FOURTEEN!!!!!!!!!!

It’s not my fault.

I don’t have ONE favourite type of sketchbook. I’d love to find it, but I am not there yet. I don’t have a favourite material to work with. I’m playing with all sorts, and finding different discoveries. I’m trying to be that person that draws ‘out and about’ - (who am I kidding though...) Some days I want to have lots of space to draw, for my hand to move around the page, other times I want to draw on something small and cute. Also, I JUST LOVE FILLING BOOKS!!!!

A snapshot of some of my shelving that houses my notebooks and sketchbooks above my desk.

My word of the year is FOCUS.

Right now, I’m taking a moment to assess various things about my working life and habits,
to see how I can tweak, amend, change things up to bring more focus and therefore
simplicity to my practice. What does this mean for my Sketchbook habit?

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Firstly, let me list out what I have, and why:

Here is the current status, as of January 2024:
(Buckle up, grab that beverage and snack of choice, this might take a while).

1. Sketchbook: A4 Moleskin (x2)
   Project / Intented use: Life Drawing / Figurative
   Medium: Wet and Dry, suitable for all
   How its going: I really enjoy keeping all my life drawing in one place. I started with this in 2021 with my Handbook Journals and I have found this to be a really valuable way to track progress and have a safe place to play. I’ll be keeping this up. I use 2 consecutively to allow for wet materials to dry on one while I work in the second.

2. Sketchbook: Pith Oroblanco
   Project / Intented use: Animals Project
   Medium: Wet materials
   How its going: I started an ‘Animals A-Z’ project for my son, and it morphed into an ‘Animals we like’ project. I am using the Pith Oroblanco for all of my inky and mixed media exploration. In tandem, I also worked in a Pith Pomelo for dry media, which has now been completed (sketchbook tour coming soon). It feels great to reserve a space for ‘Animals only’ as part of this project. Moving forward, I haven’t decided if I will continue keeping animals in a separate space. It’s lovely to flick through with my boy, but it may be overkill? Haven’t decided yet.
   

3. Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Zeta Series Hardback
   Project / Intented use: Colour Exploration and Paint mixing practice
   Medium: Wet only: Gouache, Watercolour, Acrylic Paints. Paper is very thick and white, a nice base for focussing on colour work and holds a lot of paint with ease.
   How its going: This is a slow filler - a space for me to sit down calmly and work through playing with paint in a quiet way. I’m enjoying how slow and intentional the practice is, and reflects a commitment to improving colour and paint as a long game.

4. Sketchbook: Handbook Journal A5
   Project / Intented use: Nature
   Medium: Watercolours and dry media - works well with most things.
   How its going: I started this AGES ago. Generally, I’m not great at nature stuff. Terrible at landscapes. But since moving to our current home, being closer to nature, I wanted to devote a space to only plants, flowers, trees as a way of connecting more with my surroundings. It is not going well. I often forget I have this sketchbook! BUT, its beautiful, and I enjoy the paper a lot. Once it is complete, I won’t continue with a Nature journal as a separate space.

5. Sketchbook: Moleskin A5
   Project / Intented use: Observations from our Life. Moments, Memories.
   Medium: Everything.
   How its going: I love having a visual diary of our home life, and this is what this sketchbook is. I might sketch from our family photos, or take it on holiday, or draw the flowers on our table. The finished object with contain only our private spaces and moments, and I love that. The A5 Moleskin can be carried anywhere and is also nice to work with at my desk. I love the paper, the smoothness and the weight.

6. Sketchbook: Moleskin A5
   Project / Intented use: Anything - this is a forgotten old book from 2016 that I rediscovered.
   Medium: Everything.
   How its going: It is almost complete!! I had found this in the bottom of a stash of old notebooks, and it is mostly filled with an incoherent mess: old shopping lists, notes from a random online course and some terrible pen drawings. I wasn’t about to waste the unused pages, so I have resurrected it as an ‘anything’ sketchbook.

7. Sketchbook: Pith Kabuso (OH MY GAWD IT’S SO DARNED CUTE!!)
   Project / Intented use: Well, I didn’t buy this with an idea of what to use it for. I didn’t need it at all. I just WANTED IT.
   Medium: Great for wet materials (same paper as the Pith Oroblanco) but suitable for anything.
   How its going: So far, I’ve made some watercolour swatches in it. That’s it. I mean, I’m kidding myself if I think I’m about to get paints out when I’m out and about. I have a toddler! So for now, its just in my life as a reminder that I have no self control.

8. Sketchbook: Handbook Journal, small square format
   Project / Intented use: London
   Medium: Anything
   How its going: I reserve this sketchbook for my visits back to London. I started it back in 2018, and it still has a way to go to finish. That’s ok - many memories and emotions are in these pages, and it helped me to honour my struggle of leaving London, and process my homesickness. It will be interesting to share the book when it is complete.

9. Sketchbook: Pith Pomelo
   Project / Intented use: Online Sessions, general everything ‘Workbook’
   Medium: Dry: Colour pencils, markers or Neocolours.
   How its going: Great! I started this in January this year, with the intention of the Pomelo replacing the Royal Talens that I used for this purpose last year. I’m enjoying the size of the paper, and I continue to see value in keeping all of my random drawings from various sessions, and all my ‘working out stuff’ in its own space.

   
   

10. Sketchbook: Royal Talens A5
    Project / Intented use: Germany
    Medium: Dry materials, although I did use watercolour and hated it.
    How its going: Slow. I started the London sketchbook as a way of processing homesickness. I started my Germany sketchbook as a way of trying to connect more with my new environment. To really be more present here, to really LOOK at everything properly and feel more connected. Once I complete it, I don’t think I need to continue with another one just for Germany. I think that means its done its job.

11. Sketchbook: Leuchtturm A6 notebook (dotted pages)
    Project / Intented use: Notes, lists, random thoughts. Lives in my handbag.
    Medium: Pen
    How its going: This is an ‘accidental sketchbook’. It was never intended for drawing, it was meant to be a place for me to jot down words. When we were driving through the Brenner Pass from Germany to Italy, we passed through incredible views and this was all I could manage to grab in the moment. The resulting sketches with just a Uniball pen ended up being some of my favourite of the trip.

12. Sketchbook: A5 Moleskin Cahier notebook
    Project / Intented use: Design notebook. Another accidental Sketchbook for handbag.
    Medium: Pens, Markers - anything Dry. Pages are very thin, which is nice for pencil and I love it for tracking my ideas and workflow in my design work.
    How its going: I was in a cafe in Munich. I had a couple of Tombows in my bag, as you do. I sketched this girl at the opposite table. I loved the combination of colours, and of Tombows on this paper. My brain says: ‘Oooh, why don’t you dedicate this to just people, in 2 colour!!! Great idea!!!’. So that’s what I’m doing now. My brain is ridiculous.

13. Sketchbook: Boesner A4 Sketchbook
    Project / Intented use: Faces, Portraits only
    Medium: All but best suited for wet and mixed media
    How its going: Started back in 2020 this remains incomplete. The pages are white and a little textured, more than I prefer, but it is great for ink work. I’ll be aiming to finish this one this year, and it will be interesting to see how much my work on Portraits has evolved. Moving forward, I’ll incorporate Portrait practice into my Life Drawing sketchbooks.

14. Sketchbook: A5 Royal Talens
    Project / Intented use: Another accidental Sketchbook. I thought I’d used all my RT from my last bulk buy stash - this one remains!
    Medium: Dry
    How its going: What the hell. Started it with Cats. Let’s see where (and when) it ends!
    

A picture of me in London, pretending to draw on location. Needless to say, I’m rubbish at drawing on location and rarely do it, so this image is entirely a lie. Photo by Charlotte Harrison

So, is there a conclusion to this madness?

These things remain true:

• There is immense satisfaction and joy to be had when completed a themed sketchbook. I LOVE my life drawing, Animals and ‘Life in general’ books. It makes sense to me that they have their own space, to allow the progress of the work to be visible but also to give breathing room to these different projects.

• I access a different ‘head space’ when I sit down to each project, and having its own book helps with that compartmetalisation.

• Once you find the combination of paper surface to material that works for you, it feels great and you can get on with the process of enjoying making. It is SO fundamental to the work. In the early days, I would use dry material on too thick paper and feel frustration with the results, or use wet materials on unsuitable ground. Getting these basics right, and finding the right combo is EVERYTHING. Only trial and error gets you there.

  Perhaps I could streamline it all a little bit?

Here’s what I will continue working separately on:

• Life Drawing – 2 x A4 Moleskins (might change up later)

• Online Sessions, Live drawing, Working outs – Pith Oroblanco (might change up later)

• Family Life and Moments, observations – Moleskin A5 or Handbook Journal A5

• Colour Practice – Stillman & Birn Zeta

• Animals – Pith Pomelo (Wet) Pith Oroblanco (Dry)

Everything else can be assimilated into less options once the current sketchbooks are filled.

What needs to change:

• I’ve GOT to develop some restraint with buying a new variant of book. There are enough blanks waiting in the wings!

• FILL ONE > BUY ONE > ONLY if it has a clearly defined purpose!

• When an idea for a new project comes to mind, don’t jump to assign it to a new sketchbook. Pause. Write the idea on a Post-It and stick it on the wall next to my computer. Sleep on it. Then decide where it should live.

PHEW!

If you have made it this far THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!!

Tell me, is this all a bit nuts?!?! Does anyone know a support group for Sketchbook Addicts? I seek your counsel, my dear readers.
Tell me your sketchbook and project management ways, and what works for your brains.

With special thanks to Charlotte Harrison for the Portrait Photography.