Another one down!! This one I picked up so I could have more room to explore compared to my little moleskin.

It started out with figure drawing dissections:

And ended with animal construction studies:

Miranda and I drew camels and snails while listening to Arooj Aftab this week! 🐌 🐫

Another sketchbook down!!

This go-round, I alternated pages with two kinds of drawing. One page of drawing from imagination (visual journaling, as I've thought of it.) The other pages studies, largely older pieces by Louie Zong. What can I say, I love his work!

Here's where I started:

And where I'm leaving this book:

The left page is a study on this painting by Louie Zong.

Big change!! I'm taking less time to get many ideas out at once, and am trying more to methodically get out a detailed character on the page. That tracks for this book!

Here's my favorite page, following Miranda and I's trip to Denver:

On to the next one!

Louie Zong's album Boss Rush and the CUSTOM BLENDER RENDERED 3D VIDEO is a gem.

My last bit of plant construction for drawabox!

Studies and experiments on Andrew Loomis' Fun With a Pencil! Lots of chonky cheeks. 🙉

⚽️ Start here:

🙊 End up here:

Miranda and I did some still life together. Can you tell which one is her's?? (It's the really good one!) 🍐

Some plant construction studies in the mix, too

More sketches! 🦖

Also getting back to my roots and drawing funny Nintendo characters.

Studies of a Lotus Flower and leaves. 🍃

It's really fun to twist and curl thin forms!

These are part of a set of exercises from the Drawabox curriculum.

Couple of my favorite birds 🦜🦃

My favorite so far — a study on texture dissections along organic forms. Completed as an asignment for Drawabox.

After finishing my last sketchbook, I'm on to the next one!

Here are some of my favorite pages from this week:

I'm also going through Andrew Loomis' "Fun With A Pencil". An older style of caricature, but it's been fun to get comfortable with construction! Here are some head potatoes from my first studies:

I reached a funny spot creatively in September. I was making lots of things, but they were all purely digital. Each day also finished with "well, I'm in the process of making something. Not much to show today, though!" There's something that felt a little incomplete about having large creative projects, but no small ones.

A couple of funny intersections happened. I listened to Austin Kleon talk about the benefits of journaling and I picked up reading a few of my favorite art blogs again.

So to fill the gap, I got inspired to sketch everyday in these guys:

And it's been excellent!

Three months later and I filled the last page of the moleskin!

It's a wildly satisfying feeling — one that's not quite recreated on the internet with paginated content and infinite scroll. A website is never full. But a completed sketchbook is a physical, in-your-hands unit. A way of marking time and space while also messing around!

I love making things digitally. But Just like music, keeping a tactile craft going is all the more warm and satisfying. Playing piano and guitar help balance music production. Writing by hand balances blogging. Sketching in a journal is part of that balance, too!

It's best kept largely private to keep it free, but I'll indulge a little! Here are a few of my favorite pages: