Sketchbook Hack Inside

February wasn’t quite as prolific as I’d hoped in terms of creativity. Between time-sensitive admin tasks, my dad’s mid-month surgery, creating YouTube videos, as well as various other Life Things^TM , I simply didn’t have a lot of energy left for creativity. When chronic fatigue rears its ugly head or those life things fill up my day, the thought of trying to sketch something from imagination can be so crippling. I still wanted to make daily doodling a priority though, so on the days I didn’t feel like coming up with a new idea, I reached for my Nano Satchel, pulled up some cozy cottage reference photos on Pinterest, and did some pen studies.

Working with pens helps me let go of the fear of making the “wrong” mark (because they’re absolutely INEVITABLE with a permanent medium), choosing a subject to study helps build my mental library of things I can draw from imagination later (and these cottages gave me the opportunity to practice perspective, too), and studies are a way to be creative even when I don’t have the mental space for a new idea. I’ve also really been enjoying playing around with line weights and creating values without a true greyscale. The opportunities to create variations in value are endless! Cross-hatching, dry-brushing, line weights…

Anyhoo, if you want to get into your sketchbook but don’t have the energy to create something new, give studies a try! Pick a subject that makes you smile like birds or cottages or books and a medium you haven’t reached for in a while (I’m lookin’ at you, glitter pens and acrylic markers!)