Face from My Sketchbook

Here's a graphite sketch from my sketchbook. I take make sketchbook with me all the time during my commutes to and from work and sketch at home. I've pretty much filled this one up. 

The sketches get really dirty because they are constantly getting banged around in my laptop bag so I figured I would start taking photos of them, or at least the good ones, so I could share them here on my blog and preserve them as well before they get too dirty. 

I may also clean up some of the other sketches that are already dirty looking and take photos of those as well. I bought some clear fixative to cover the sketches but who can remember to do that every time, especially after an hour and a half commute. Not me! Plus the family isn't too keen of the smell it makes while it's drying. I could keep it outside but chances are I'll forget some day and it will of course rain on that particular day and... ah, not good.  So enjoy.

"untitled" graphite sketch from my sketchbook. 

Importance of a Sketchbook

A sketchbook is one of the best tools any artist can have in order to consistently improve the quality of the art. You can have a larger sketchbook for home use and use a smaller sketchbook to keep with you all the time. I keep a sketchbook in my bag to take with me to and from work and I draw on the train and that provides me with an addtional hour of sketching time per day. This helps when you are juggling a family life and a full time (non-art) career. This helps improve every aspect of your artwork including painting. Painting is just drawing with a paint brush so if you improve your drawing then everything will improve.

If you keep a sketchbook in your car you can sketch while you are stuck in traffic, waiting outside for friends or family, etc. You should take every possible change you get to sketch and I promise you'll see significant improvements in your work.

You don't have to sketch large scenes. You just want to find something nearby, no matter how small or large, and do a quick sketch of it. You can create really loose or really detailed drawings as time allows.

You can arrange to work on particular areas of you work that you need to improve on. For instance you can agree to get proportions correct during one session and then agree to work on getting your shading rendered correctly in the next.

Keep some small items with you or in your car to draw so you don't have to rely on the existing surroundings to provide subjects and this also allows you to continue sketching at another time on the same object. Some simple items you probably already have around the house or are easy to get to take with you are: toys, small statues, pens, plastic figures, leaves, rocks, sticks, keychains and just about anything else with light and shadow and bits of details.

I sometimes sketch faces and objects from newspapers that I tear out and put inside my sketchbooks or draw people or items such as shoes people are wearing on the train. My point is that there is always something to sketch so keep your sketchbook handy and start drawing.