You wonderful people have given me quite a few compliments on my sketchbooks,
So instead of hogging what I know,
I thought I might as well share it with you, and maybe you can apply some of these techniques to your own sketchbooks.
I've come up with five tips to improve the overall
Appeal of your sketchbook based off of stuff that I actually learned in my graphic communications class. So, what I'm gonna
do first is I'm just gonna fill the majority of this screen with white space.
Did you just look at the red dot?
I just used contrast to make you look at a specific location on the screen
That red dot. You may not have wanted to look at it directly
But you probably did even if it was just for a split second, okay,
and, um.
If I had put up multiple red dots, like this, you wouldn't know which ones to look at because the contrast between the
white space and the red dot is
subdued and it doesn't give your eyes a place to rest, so your eyes jump back and forth between a couple of the dots.
I know it takes like a long time to design like a poster or to fill a sketchbook page,
but most people looking at it are probably gonna spend less than a minute.
That's just kind of a cold hard truth. Haha
This makes it important to direct the viewer to the goods first, you know, the top-notch stuff.
Basically, it's a graphic designer's job to make the viewer look at things without the viewer realizing that the designer or the artist made them do it.
I mean, this could be done in a handful of ways but almost every way?
I think, yeah, basically it could be summed up in the same general principle
and that is contrast,
which I demonstrated earlier with the red dot, and contrast is what I used add a little something-something to my sketchbooks
which improves the overall, I guess, flip-throughiness?
One way of doing this is by using contrast in size, which happens to be my first tip.
I use this technique a lot when I fill a sketch with page with this technique
I usually draw one large object that fills the majority of the page. In this case, it's a girl inspired by an ice cream cone.
Look at that.
I tend to put a lot of time and detail into this sketch since it is the one people will see first and will give the
overall impression of a page. I fill the rest of the page with other less fleshed out ideas or smaller sketches,
sometimes little goofy doodles,
and you can leave the page like that, but I often add a little extra something, which I'll mention a little bit later.
My second tip is contrast in detail. When I do a page using this
technique I'll generally draw multiple characters, or objects that are the same
general size.
The way I make the viewer look at the best sketch first is by putting the most detail into it. So, with this page I've
chosen to put the most detail into that central most character.
What's interesting about this page is I've actually drawn the same character multiple times,
but I can still direct the viewers eye at the center sketch,
which is the one I've chosen, because I'm putting the most detail into it.
Putting a lot of detail is something can also darken the sketch, which is adding even more contrast between this sketch and the other three.
Tada! You see what's- You see what I'm talking about here? Contrast, contrast, contrast.
My third, I think
tip to improving the overall look of your sketchbook is using, ya got it,
contrast, but this time, it's contrast of color.
So, um, there are actually several ways that I tackle using color to add contrast to a page, but one way
I'll fill the page with sketches and then I'll choose one illustration to complete by adding like line art and color.
Sort of like a mini finished sketch hiding in like, my quicker sketches. Um, this isn't my favorite page... just the way it turned out.
But, that's just one way to make someone look at a specific sketch, so everyone's gonna look at Briar Rose
over the other ones first, but then they can look at, you know, the other two sketches.
Um, so yeah, let's move on to another one, okay.
You can also have contrast of color by adding washes around the sketch on your page.
Um, this can turn like a couple of miscellaneous sketches into one cohesive designed page, depending on how you use this technique, like,
you know, by engulfing them, all the sketches in it. You know?
Sometimes I'll do this while sketching, but other times
I'll actually just go back to old pages that just need a little extra love, and bump up the fun meter, and
just add a little wash to the one specific sketch that I want to make pop on the page. Like that. Tada!
Fourthly, you can actually add contrast in the texture of the page,
by adding all these like, loose sketches you have laying around, and taping, and
stapling, or otherwise, or fixing them to the page.
I like to do it, so it's almost interactive where I can like, lift up a sketch to find another sketch underneath.
This is probably the most gimmicky of my suggestions, but I find it's
the best way to, you know, keep track of any sketches you draw when you don't have your sketch book handy, and
it's just fun to flip extra pages inside a page.
I don't- it's just- just a personal preference. And my final tip, which happens to be the most time-consuming,
is, uh,
cramming the page with sketches, you know? Just filling every nook and cranny with doodles, or sketches, or
detailed bits of-
Pencil lead? I don't know. (Laughter)
You could actually use this technique in conjunction with all the previous tips to make it more interesting, and
add contrast to the page by making your eye look at a specific sketch on the page, if I can speak.
For example I still added contrast to the page by outlining my favorite sketches to make you look at them, you know?
But, you can actually easily add a watercolor wash or color your favorite sketch on the page.
I mean, any of the previous tips can be mixed in with this cram the page technique, so just have at it,
and, you know, spend an hour or two filling just one page. It may take a really long time,
but, it's one of my favorite to look at afterwards, and some people can spend a long time looking at it,
just looking at all the little individual tiny sketches, and I just- I really like this technique,
and I definitely recommend it, and I think some of my best
sketchbooks have the most of these, so.
Yeah, there you have it. Those are my 5 tips to improve the overall appeal of your sketchbook.
I mean, all of these tips can be applied with your current artistic skill level and none of these tips require costly tools.
I mean, since most of them can be done with cheap art supplies.
You know, like pencil and highlighters, or Crayola colored pencils and Scotch tape and dollar store paints and napkins.
I mean, basically whatever you have around the house.
You can apply these cool contrast-y techniques to your sketchbook with. You know, pretty cool, I think.
I wish I had had some of these
tricks earlier on in my artistic sketch booking career.
I actually, if you're wondering, I don't
think through these techniques like, in my head,
they just sort of started happening after learning them so like, you- if you start applying them
you won't even have to think about it. You know, it just starts happening and your sketchbooks can look a little cooler?
I don't know. It's just a lot better than drawing
four sketches on one page in each corner of the page. That's just kind of blah,
you know? So, this is just a fun way, you know, add a little bit more interest to your sketchbook.
Yeah, anyways what I do, you guys asked. Here it is, you're welcome.
And, if you're wondering what tools I used in this video
I'll actually have them listed below, but I mean never feel the need to go out and buy supplies.
I just don't feel it's necessary. I've used the cheapest of stuff for the longest time and
you still improve in your art.
It's fine, you know, and you can actually go check out my own sketchbook flip throughs with my old colored pencils and
limited art supplies.
I think there's some of the fun ones to go through, especially since you can see
how I've been proved over the last, is it almost 10 years?
*existential crisis*
Anyway, um,
(Laughter)
Oh, and you can also check some of my newer sketch books, and actually see how I've applied some of these techniques without thinking about it.
So, that's pretty cool.
Yeah, anyway, all of these tips are not really meant to put down any other way of filling a sketchbook.
These are just sort of recommendations I have for if you wanted to look a little bit more like mine. Or you know,
maybe you feel like your sketchbooks are missing something. You know, try one of these techniques. I definitely recommend them,
they're really really fun, and I think they add a- you know, just that extra interest to each page so, yeah.
I think each page should be considered its own little, you know, artistic
piece. That makes sense. Anyway. Hope you enjoyed the suggestions, I had fun making this video, and
yeah. I can't wait to see what you guys do in your new sketch books now that you have these techniques, aye?
Thank you guys for watching. I'll see you guys all next week, and I hope you have a delicious evening full of waffles.
Bye