There's this little thing that we all want to fill up and we just buy more and more of them.
We don't really do anything with them and it's kind of an addiction.
You see a cute sketchbook, you got to have it, but it's kind of hard to fill them sometimes.
So summers coming. I wanted to tell you guys a couple ways to fill your sketchbook in the summer.
I've got a lot of ways but first I'm gonna give you a disclaimer at the beginning.
I feel like there's this kind of stigma where,
We as artists feel this odd pressure when it comes to sketchbooks.
Now, this kind of comes with like a black and a white area and that's, you know,
your sketchbook should never be something that you finish projects in
and other people say you need to really push yourself,
and create really good stuff in your sketchbook.
I'm not going to tell you to do either one of those things, because
I believe that your sketchbook is your place and you can make it what you want.
I hope that you can kind of not listen to either side, break through that and
do what you want because this is like your place, dude. Nobody has to see it and if they do,
It's not really their call to tell you how you should be doing your art.
So, with that being said, I'm not gonna tell you, you have to do any of these things in this video,
but if you're looking for inspiration and you kind of feel like:
Man, why is it so hard to create artwork in the summer? I'm gonna show you where you can find inspiration and
Have some fun!
Okay, let's hop into this and I hope, as I said, inspiration finds you!
Don't fall. I'm gonna leave the art supplies I use down below too. In case you want any of this stuff.
Hashtag not sponsored. Also if you see a cut on my neck, I got half my thyroid removed, so I'm recovering.
Yeah, we're good now. First thing, find a sketchbook that you like and find one that fits what you're doing.
So for me, I like to do art on the go, all the time.
That's when I feel inspired to open my sketchbook, hash things out, do some art ,get ideas out there, you know,
but it needs to fit in my purse or in some tiny art bag. So, right now I'm using this little field artist sketchbook.
I think it's a 4 by 4 or 5 by 5, really tiny, but it works for what I'm doing.
Just gonna measure it real quick. Yeah, it's 5 by 5, really good. I'll leave the link below because I love this thing.
What's cool about this sketchbook? Let me tell you why. I'm gonna open it to an empty spot,
So, there's no spoiler alerts.
The paper in this is so thick, you can literally take it out into nature,
do what you want, you can paint on it, which is great.
You can use copics in it, which is great.
It's watercolor paper, but I find everything works in it because the paper is really sturdy.
Yeah, it works for all of my needs.
but you know, if you don't paint a lot, this sketchbook might not be useful to you.
You might want one that's just for Copic markers and the stuff doesn't bleed through,
what's it called? A Crescent render sketchbook.
I'll link that below too because those are good for markers.
My friend Chloe Rose actually sent me this sketchbook, which is for acrylics.
So there's pretty much one for everybody out there. This one is really cool, by the way.
Ok the next thing
Go take yourself to different surroundings if you're struggling with inspiration.
This is something my husband and I frequently do. We go to coffee shops or just, you know,
I work on art during car rides, plane rides, at airports, new places.
It really sparks inspiration for me to really just change up my surroundings.
Go somewhere else instead of my house and it always just - I don't know.
It makes me want to draw. So maybe it'll inspire you a little bit too.
Coffee shops are definitely my favorite place because I can feel like I'm dating my husband while creating art.
It's a win-win situation.
Why not?
The next thing take yourself into places that you know will inspire you.
For me, my weak spot is nature.
Here we are approaching this little piece of beauty and this is what we're doing here.
We're gonna set up some art area and my husband's just gonna sit with me and I'm gonna draw.
Here we are.
Opening the sketchbook, and I'm just doodling what I see.
It doesn't have to be anything special but you know, what it gets the creative juices flowing. That's what we want.
That is exactly what we want and it's always a good time.
We talk. We have fun and he'll have a book or studying whatever.
I just usually draw what I see or
paint leaves.
That kind of thing.
It works out.
I definitely think nature inspires me the most because
My subject matter usually incorporates nature in a lot of my larger pieces,
you'll see some sort of flowers or leaves or something incorporated into whatever it is that I'm drawing.
A lot of the time nowadays my main subject has become nature.
So, I feel like surrounding myself in that really helps with creating artwork.
Even if it's just a doodle, I like it.
The fourth thing you can do, if you've made smaller artwork, and you don't know where to put it,
You can hide it inside your sketchbook.
For me. This is oddly satisfying,having stuff falling out of my sketchbook all the time.
I don't know why. I just really love it. So, I like adding small pieces.
Sometimes I even press flowers in my sketchbook like this orchid here.
You could do that if you want, since it's summer.
Flowers are everywhere. It's always really pretty
Right now, I'm going to press these pretty leaves in it to show you what you can do for the next thing.
Whoo-hoo!
All right. I let those sit in my sketchbook for a nice day.
They got flat and now I'm using Mod Podge to secure them to the page.
Sometimes leaves fall out really easily and that can get annoying. because they crinkle
I didn't want them to fall apart.
They're gonna stay here forever and they usually retain their color when I do this.
It's really pretty opening them up later and looking at the pages.
I also took these little paper Monstera - is how you say it?
Leaves, and I put those on the other side, that way it's like a whole Mod Podge spiel going on.
I liked the way that turned out. This is the stuff that inspires me,
So I may as well have it on hand in my sketchbook, right? It's fun.
Art is supposed to be fun. Right? Let's make it more fun too. You know how you get ideas sometimes,
but you don't have time to create your idea or
Maybe you just don't feel like it right there and then, you just have this stream of ideas?
Well, I like to keep lists in my sketchbook.
See this isn't even like real art projects. This is just like:
I'm gonna put my ideas in here for later and it really helps me when I need inspiration
and I need to get creative juices flowing and your sketchbook is allowed to be a place for that.
it's totally okay and I find it helps me so much when I look through my sketchbook,
and I'm like, I forgot about that. I can totally do that right now.
So yeah.
Even if you don't feel like making art,
you can make a list if you want. Up to you because it's your sketchbook guys.
You do what you want. Isn't that great?
I think it is.
Alright, the next thing I'm gonna do is:
Swatch colors see I'm trying to show you different things you can do that aren't actually full on projects or practice
because these are the things that always apark my inspiration
and then I end up painting and drawing pictures in my sketchbook later,
because I'm giving myself lists of ideas and now i'm swatching different colors.
So sometimes I'll look at different coloured things that I pick out,
like this color scheme here that I'm painting, you know,
okay, each line, by the way is a different color scheme. I'm just gonna clarify.
I'm like that would be fun to make something with that.
I don't know what I'm gonna make but I'll challenged myself.
I'll just set up these different color schemes,
and then I'll try to roll with it later and it ends up being very fun. You can do this digitally, too.
I do it all the time in Photoshop.
I'll grab swatches from furniture pictures, interior design rooms. I'm like, ooh, I love this color scheme.
so yeah, I'll save it in my sketchbook.
It's really inspirational. I love doing this.
I definitely encourage you to try it, if you don't do this.
You can make your page pretty too. It's all colorful. Hmm.
The next thing you can do is take those ideas that you wrote down and roll with it
Maybe do a draft. Maybe you want to make it into a larger project later. Haha. Ya can!
This one wasn't actually on my list of ideas, but
looking at my list of ideas. I kind of came up with this.
so I've been working on this animals in clothing series and if you watch my other youtube videos,
you'll see that.
I put a couple animals on that list and then I thought about it.
I could do a little bunny or a cat in a teacup and I think that'd be cute.
So, that's what I'm doing right here.
You'll notice that I'm not fully developing it or anything.
I'm just kind of splashing some color here and there and then adding some fun details
You can totally do a full piece if you want or you can just do a little draft like this.
So, you have your idea down and develop it into something bigger later or just leave it.
I mean, as I said, it's your sketchbook, you get to do what you want.
Mostly, with this video, I'm trying to give you inspiration for the summer on how to fill your sketchbook.
I hope you can kind of break through that, you have to do what other people are saying
You should do in your sketchbook because your art is your expression.
It's like an extension of yourself within this beautiful art diary that you make your own.
When you watch this video, I really hope you feel like there's less pressure for you and
that you can do some of these things even too, if you want
If you have other ideas, do them, share them below
so other people can have more inspiration and we can just encourage each other as an art community.
I think it's really fun to just express myself in sketchbooks
and I feel like for a good year or so, I lost that because I felt so much pressure to
make my art a certain way in this and now I don't feel that. It's so liberating.
So freeing and I know, I did video, 10 ways I filled my sketchbook over the winter.
And yeah, I still am kind of inspired, Inspired!
Yeah, that's the word, from it. So this is the second video.
Alrighty guys, before we go, I have one more thing to suggest to you.
If you feel up to it, create a travel bag, because if you do that
you'll always have something on the go and
that way, you can put it in your car, your book bag, whatever and
It just kind of helps you to always just have what you need and if your sketchbook is small like mine,
You can also put it in your purse or inside your travel bag, whatever and it just works out. It's really nice.
So I would encourage you to do that.
If you don't have one.
I'll link some of the stuff I have in my travel bag if you're curious or you just are looking to build one.
I hope that helps you. Anyway, thanks for watching and have a good day. See you soon. Bye.