The second sketchbook in this circle presented a lot of new challenges to me. The unit guide for Illustration Sketchbooks explains that one of the uses of sketchbook circles is responding to and being inspired by the previous artwork in the sketchbook. I really wanted to focus on this and build off of the first ten pages but found myself feeling restricted and confined to these rules. In the last sketchbook circle, each participant selected a specific topic within the overarching theme of ‘the everyday’, which made it quite easy to build off previous work.
Working in this sketchbook also confirmed that I need sketchbooks with heavier paper to be happy! The paper was really thin, and this added to my feeling constrained. Any ideas I had or wanted to explore felt stuck behind a barrier of ‘I can only use dry mediums’, making it difficult to make progress. As you can see, I did overcome this and found ways to experiment with wet media throughout my ten pages.
I’m really happy with the results of my pages. I feel like it isn’t obvious how much I struggled, which surprises me, though it shows how far I’ve already come in using my sketchbook. After a few days of trying to fit into this narrow box of ‘everything I create must respond to the previous pages’, I loosened up a lot and created some work I’m really proud of. I sort of feel sad to be letting it go! I did respond to the previous work, but I also let my own responses inspire me, and I just went where I felt I should go with the work.
I tried a lot of new techniques that I really love – especially using the paper cut offs as stamps, and the ‘box of objects’ and it’s background. I’m happy with my progress here and my ability to create freely.
Learning Log 