The paper used in most sketchbooks is a good-quality white cartridge paper, but you can also choose brown or black paper, or paper for a specific medium such as watercolour or pastels.īuy a durable sketchbook with a hard back and strong binding. Some are small enough to fit into your pocket for convenient location drawing, while the bigger ones can be used for larger-scale artwork. Sketchbooks arc available in a variety of sizes. Internet research exhibition information artist/designer references postcards historical references (text or visual) personal recollections photographs relevant imagery, for example from magazine cut-outs fabric swatches found objects.This can include any or all of the following: The best way to begin creating a useful sketchbook is to gather research materk from a variety of sources. Here, lightning has been reproduced onto a newspaper background with coloured inks and metallic glitter pens. Below rightĮxperiment with various media in your sketchbook. 68), showing how the theme of bad weather was Investigated through a series of magazine cut-outs and references to original artwork. This sketchbook page is like a mini mood board (see p. All of these techniques, first explored in the research, demonstrate the value of researching and exploring a theme in your sketchbook.įind a theme to explore and research it, using your sketchbook for experimental work and to collect inspirational material. Topstitching and garment details were drawn using silver pen. Heated copper was used to create a bodice and skirt while other outfits arc made up ofappliqued leather and denim. ![]() The figures were sketched in permanent marker and paint, with the clothing added separately. Instead of the obvious white paper, sheet aluminium was used as a background for the artwork. Inspiration from the research also carries through into the fashion illustration. Much of the research imagery of rusting metals and soldered cars is also reflected in the garment shapes. ![]() The design roughs show how the colours explored in the research, and the woven, metallic fabric experiments, were interpreted in the garments. The "Hot Metal" sketchbook research (facing page) gave the designer plenty of scope to create a collection of womenswear. By organizing a sketchbook into a precious album in which the artist arranges experimental work at the end of a project, creative spontaneity is often lost, The sketchbook then becomes a useless tool rather than a rich resource for imaginative artwork. Generally this method of working results in tedious sketchbooks of carefully planned pages, often with Post-it notes acting as a reminder to fill blank pages. Sadly, this advice is frequently ignored and sketchbooks are produced whose clean pages are decorated with neat cuttings, ordered sketches and unused material from presentation boards. Academic design and illustration briefs often request a sketchbook containing appropriate research to be submitted for assessment, Ideally the sketchbook presents an explorative journey around a chosen subject area.Ī working sketchbook should be impulsive, experimental and in constant use, becoming an accumulation of ideas and research from which to draw inspiration for design and illustration. Producing useful working sketchbooks is an essential part of an art student's development. ![]() Some you will use for researching specific themes while others become constant companions for recording ideas that will provide future inspiration. Like Picasso, you will have numerous sketchbooks throughout your education and career. Me often used his sketchbooks to explore themes and make compositional studies until he found the subject and concept for a larger painting on canvas. ![]() Picasso is said to have produced 178 sketchbooks in his lifetime. Most artists keep sketchbooks in which they experiment with ideas and collect insightful imagery. Sketching scenery, such as interesting architecture, also helps lo create ideas for illustration backgrounds. You can develop figure studies by sketching the people you see at a local park, or on a train, or even by sitting on a bench in the high street and drawing the shoppers. A sketchbook provides you with the opportunity to practise design, drawing and illustration skills at any time and in any place. All may, one day, provide that essential spark of inspiration. It is a personal response to the world and can assume many different guises, varying from being a portable scrapbook in which to collect interesting pieces of fabric or pictorial references, to a book of observational drawings and ideas. A sketchbook is a visual notebook or diary.
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