Sketchbook: A Creative Process

It has been over twenty years since I last regularly worked in a sketchbook. When I have drawn or painted, I have sat down with a clear idea and reference photos to produce a finished piece. Color me curious when I picked up the itch this month. 

In my last blog post, I shared that acquiring new paint markers sparked my creativity and told you a little bit about the markers themselves. This time, let me walk you through the good, the bad, and my favorites from my latest flurry of sketching.

Intersecting wavy lines, the spaces they create filled with different shades of browns.

Intersecting straight lines. The spaces created filled with shades of green.

Intersecting circles. The Spaces they create filled with shades of orange.

I don’t doom scroll; I Pinterest scroll, and while on Pinterest, I have seen many ways people doodle. Scribbling out random lines, shapes, and patterns, then filling them in with color, is a good way to fill a blank page. Doing so can get you past that hurdle of a white canvas, give you free space to play with color combinations, and help you develop muscle memory for holding and using your materials.

Simple palm tree outline, outlined with light green, then outlined with dark green, black background

Simple line of three waves, outlined in light and dark blue on a black background

Dark purple background, white cloud, outlined with pastel colored rainbow.

As my Posca markers are almost exclusively medium-sized bullet-tipped, they feel best suited for bold, clean lines rather than the fine details I am practiced with. I spent a few pages exploring this style while playing with colors.

An orange on a blue surface in the sunshine.

Yellowstone scene of mountains, pine forest, and open field.

A field of lupine wildflowers in shades of purple, pink, and white.

The joy of color wasn’t a problem, but you can see how difficult it was trying to shake my habit of realism. It started to slip attempting to shade an orange, I nearly ruined the mountain scene before I caught myself and painted over large swaths of hatchmarks. It entirely ran away when I hit a field of wildflowers. 

Dark grey background with lines indicating wind gusts shaded with light grey and blues.

Representation of a heat wave, black, reds, oranges and yellows turn from a wave shape into fire.

Falling back into my habit of detail did help, though. It showed me where my limits were with these markers. I revisited simple shapes to capture the dark, blustery weather one day. Then, I pushed the details just a little for the angry heatwave we endured without air conditioning.

Finally, a home run. I am delighted with this page. Hermit Thrushes live around our home and have the most beautiful songs. For such a small, somewhat plain-looking bird, you wouldn’t expect the sounds they make. I wanted to show this contrast of an innocuous-looking bird and vibrant, colorful music. 

While the notes aren’t accurate, they’re somewhat a visual representation of the actual sound print of the Hermit Thrush song. Once I had the notes down, I wanted to add a 70s vibe and clean lines to pull everything into a completed page. I am in love with it!

I have been carrying my markers and sketchbook around because the desire to create is always close to the surface. However, I don’t draw every day. Some days, I fill two pages. Usually, when inspiration strikes, I mull it over as I knit. Once the idea is fully formed, I almost can’t help but draw it and let it out of my headspace.

Not every page is a winner, but that’s not the point or purpose. The point is being creative, and the purpose is feeling good. 

Also, in this day and age of computer-generated everything, making something with your hands feels like an act of dissent. People matter. You matter. Your life, experiences, and how you perceive and interpret the world. No computer could ever hope to replicate that. The spark of life inside you guides your physical self to create and put something into the world. It becomes a piece of you, separate from you, that you can share with others. It doesn't matter if it's perfect. It's beautiful.