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Kindle Notes & Highlights
A sketchbook enables us to enhance our perspective and thereby enhance our world.
If we only google subjects, we are faced with the problem that we are all using the same images, narrowing our view of the world through the hierarchic funneling process of search engines.
Use acid-free paper. Paper is often bleached with acid. This is not only damaging to the environment, but also to your book in the long term.
hardbound.
In addition, the pages should be sewn and not glued so they do not tear out.
like 5 by 7 inches. They are lighter and not as conspicuous as larger options.
Don’t begin your book on the first page. Start a new book somewhere in the middle (page 17 is best) and do not work chronologically.
Protect your sketchbook. Don’t be afraid to say no.
It’s your sketchbook and yours alone, and should matter to no one else.
You aren’t producing a presentation booklet, but a creative space that consciously allows for mistakes and experiments.
Your sketchbook—or sketchbooks—will one day tell you a lot about yourself and your life.
Doodling will set you free
“We are such stuff as dreams are made on…” (Prospero in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest)
Create a double page of freedom now and then. Let your drawing take you away.
Begin with a line, an eye, a nose, and keep working on it. Don’t be afraid of producing nonsense!
When coloring with sepia ink, it’s wise to use lots of water. Also, as when working with watercolors, the white of the paper is the lightest color
working with colored pencils, you can layer different hues to create mixed colors. In sketchbooks, colored pencils are especially suited for adding colored accents to drawings and for making rapid notes of important colors.
it is very effective to make a line drawing with two or three colored pencils and use the transition of colors to intensify the contrast between different parts of the picture.
Don’t throw away the “stumps” of pencils you’ve sharpened down; save them for traveling.
The “lead” of a pencil is actually made of graphite and clay.
two components determines the hardness of the pencil; the more clay it contains, the harder the pencil. Softer pencils are better for drawing.
hairspray is not a suitable substitute for a fixative, since it yellows and is sticky.
Pencil lines can also be fixed by painting over them, especially with watercolors. Apply a thin coating of color and they won’t smudge anymore!
A few classic media are not well suited for use in sketchbooks. These include media that smudge when you turn the pages, such as wax crayons, pastel crayons, and charcoal.
any medium that requires a long drying time, such as oil paint, is impractical.
A small, off-the-shelf watercolor set is sufficient for a sketchbook. A small metal cup is also useful.
Portable brushes are practical for when you’re on the go.
The important thing is not to use water too sparingly.
mix plenty of paint and water beforehand so you don’t run out halfway through. If you have to interrupt your work to mix more paint, it will be visible later on in your painting.
The rule with watercolors is to work quickly. The faster you work, the more convin...
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That really made me think: isn’t there a way to transport something from my imagination to reality? Of course there is!
Use drawings to visualize your ideas!
blind contour drawing will teach you to observe more closely and to draw more confidently.
The problem with undoing is that it’s too easy. You rob yourself of the potential that your mistakes hold.
Only if your mistakes bother you can you learn to avoid them the next time around.
In art, the emotional middle ground is deadly. The more opinionated a drawing is, the more entertaining it will become!
Drawing creates more than depth of focus—it allows insignificant things to disappear and conjures significant things out of nowhere.
Attempt to find your own solutions, Invent new expressions! Perhaps noise can be drawn as a pattern or sadness as hatching?
extreme long shot, for example a landscape. Subjects appear as tiny figures, like the cowboy on the horizon.
long shot. The subject is much closer, about ten yards away.
A knee shot shows the figure so close that it is cut off mid-thigh
medium shot is often used in interiors and shows part of the figure, for example seated at a table. The detail goes from about head to waist.
close-up. It shows the head, the face, or sometimes only details like the eyes.
It helps to start by making mini sketches. Go through a few design options with your subject first and then decide on the composition you want to use.
The date, location, or other written comments can serve as compositional elements of your drawing. Sometimes, a date written in the sketchbook is only there to balance out the picture. Always wait until the end to place such “signatures” and choose the position carefully—it’s worthwhile!
Collect subjects that, when viewed all alone, are not forceful enough for a picture. For instance, take advantage of a museum visit to fill up a two-page spread.
Shut one eye while drawing. You’ll notice that drawing perspective is easier with one eye, as a two-dimensional picture can be transferred to paper far more easily than a three-dimensional one. Just make sure you always shut the same eye or the perspective will jump.
Make a mini sketch in the picture margin, a kind of visual cheat sheet, before starting. Then you won’t get lost in the perspective!
Truly great illustrators count on their intuition—not on technique and constructs!
Develop your drawing from small to large, from one side to the other.
