The Difference Between An Artbook And A Sketchbook

Artbook

his is what an art book looks like. This is the sort of thing you get applause for, “nice drawings.” You do your best to make every drawing, page, and book beautiful. Drawings, books, and pages you can show to the outside world. Art you are proud of.

The problem with art books is that they can become intimidating. Every drawing needs to be good. Every page needs to be good. The white page stares you down, and you hesitate to start drawing.

Sketchbook

And this is what a sketchbook looks like. This is where you play, experiment, and have fun. You try out designs, you try to draw things from imagination, you doodle.

Sketchbooks and artbooks are different. It is helpful to keep both a sketchbook (which you keep private) and an artbook that can be shown to others. In practice, my sketchbooks are artbooks in the front and sketchbooks in the back. No one sees the back.

It’s easy to get stuck making only art books. The applause is addictive, but you stop growing! Do yourself a favor and keep a private sketchbook beside a public art book. In your sketchbook, experiment!

Yours sincerely,

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Highlighted Resource:

MEMORY DRAWING WORKBOOK

Download the free PDF with a self-contained drawing course that includes image references. Improve pen control and learn to draw from memory and eventually imagination; increase your ability to visualize what you want to draw and see where lines should go and where they are off through short daily warm-up exercises. Always have a warm-up drawing exercise ready to start the day.
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