From my experience, teachers of art classes try to ingrain in
their students that having a sketchbook is necessary and crucial to success.
Having a sketchbook on you at all times = success in the art world. I
understand how this works because there have been times where I am about to
fall asleep and had a great idea to write down or sketch out and my sketchbook
is down by the TV. But then again I know many people who don’t use any sort of
a sketchbook and don’t write anything down. Now these people are still successful
so can we really relate that back to whether or not they use a sketchbook?
Yes I agree, it depends upon the person. I am very forgetful
so I have my sketchbook at hand (almost) all the time. But then again, I rarely
draw in my sketchbooks instead, I write things out. Like I said in my mini bio,
it helps me understand things better and I visualize everything in my head so a
small detailed description is all I need to remember.
Some people use their sketchbooks as if they are their brains,
scribbling everything down and constantly doodling mini masterpieces. I
honestly wish I could be one of those artists. But are these people always
going to be more successful than people who just write words down or people
that don’t even own a sketchbook?
Let’s look at some examples.
-Claude Monet used his sketchbooks to draw, often times
whatever surrounded him or inspired him. http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/monet/sketchbooks/
-Mexican director Guillermo Del Torro uses his sketchbooks for
mainly writing things down but he also includes some sketches
(For further pictures of famous artists sketchbooks heres a
good group I found this interesting post: http://flavorwire.com/232810/inside-the-sketchbooks-of-famous-artists)
I guess it comes down to personal preference. My boyfriend is
very successful at his art but because his work is all electronic he finds that
he doesn’t need to write anything down. In my opinion, he should still write
down the process and therefore he can easily duplicate processes or fix them
down the road. But, for him, it works.
What do you guys think?
Sketchbooks have been the bane of my art classes. Using photography as a medium is not a sketch type of medium it is more of a record keeping medium. When using older processes such as film and historic processes it is imperative to keep perfect records, that is all that I keep in my sketchbook. My true sketches are my film negatives, from which i have thousands of photographs, but that is not a sketchbook in teacher's eyes. Professors always told me to sketch my ideas and draw them out, but this is simply not my process. Working in digital photography has opened me up to new form of sketchbook, a digital sketchbook. While working on images through photoshop I save many different versions of the piece, those are my sketches. I keep them all in a digital file. This digital sketchbook is an easy way to keep all your images that are not finished organized and is also a way to keep costs down on printing. So instead of carrying around a sketchbook carry a laptop, tablet, or even just a usb so you always have your "sketches" with you. All in all keep a sketchbook the way you like it, this is the method I use and love. Awesome Blog Art Otter!!! p.s. if you were an actual otter that would be legendary!!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, thank you!!
DeleteSecondly, I didn't even think about photography when I was writing this (so thank you so much for incorporating it) and I agree that a digital sketchbook is just as important. It's interesting comparing digital negatives to sketchbooks because they are pretty much mock-ups of a possible print. But even in my photography classes, the professors require that we keep a sketchbook of ideas and found photos that we like. So in a way you're sketchbooks are like mine, where they are mainly filled with words.
Also, I found it interesting how you mentioned carrying you're sketchbook on a tablet because I have heard of many people bringing their portfolios on tablets instead of bringing in their original works. I'm not so sure if that works for mediums such as drawing or painting, but for photography or graphic design that is definitely an option. Maybe I'll write a post about portfolios sometime...