I have a very odd problem, I brought a sketchbook ages ago with the obvious idea of using it to sketch in. Things started off ok. I was more than happy to sketch away and do little doodles and fully rendered pieces etc. But then I stopped using it for a while, I went entirely digital with my art. Now I've been wanting to start doing more pencil sketching, but for some reason I'm kind of 'scared'(Thats not really the right word, but it's the closest I can come up with at the minute) to use it. It's like I don't want to mess up and ruin a page. I seem to be fine just sketching away in little cheap as hell notepads, but when it comes to the sketchbook I just kind of sit there blankly looking at it for a while then open up photoshop and start working in there again.
I've never had this problem before, and it's really starting to bug me. I know my reasoning is ridiculous. Even if I 'mess up' a page, big deal, that's part of the learning process. But my brain just doesn't want to accept that.
Has anybody else ever had similar issues?
Buy 10 packs of printing paper, thats 5000 pages. You wont ever worry about messing anything haha.
Just dive in feet first, stop caring about it and treat is as it is. A sketchbook. :) Meant to be taken everywhere with you and get dog eared and coffee stained, fill up blank spots with new doodles and sketches. Stop using an eraser and just carry pencils or pens with you. I have mine with me a lot, even put them next to the bed. If in a moment of inspiration something looks cool that I want to follow up on, I'll either transfer it to a working surface or scan it.
I think its a pretty normal feeling, its why I don't really go for expensive sketchbooks.
do anything but do something or else you stay at the same point sometime you need to get inspired so before using the sketchbook watch a movie, read, go outside ,talk to someone,broswer the internet,go to deviant art etc. i know that feeling it really like you don't want to see something ugly come out of that sketchbook but remember 10 page of waste is worth 1 page of good stuff or something like that.If it because you don't want to spend to much on supply then go for printing paper
That exact same thing happened to me years ago, when I bought my first sketchbook. I treated it regally, as if it would mean something outworldly for the rest of my life. I revered it, and it occupied the most prominent spot in my bookshelf.
And you know what? it stayed there for a long time. I never dared take it with me!
But in the end I decided that no, that wouldn't be "the sketchbook". It would be "a sketchbook", or not even that, just a group of papers glued together. The mysticism died, but the art grew from then on. To this day I believe it was a great decision!
Thanks for the replies guys. I really do just need to get over it and start using this sketchbook. I just need to make sure I have the right inspiration and situation to make a start.
I think it's a lot like most things, getting started is the hardest thing. Once you get past that hurdle, it's all easy.....or at least relatively easy
A blank page or canvas can become a mental block, just scribble on it, or as Mccaig does, put your coffee mug on it, spill something on it, let the dog lick it and then incorporate that into your doodles. :)
Good luck and have fun with it.
Yep, been there. The worst is the first page of a new sketchbook--it feels like there should be something momentous on there. It helps if you are in the middle of something (like working through an anatomy book) when you make the change. Then you just keep going where the last one left off.
Another way to trick your brain is to set a goal that conflicts with the fear, e.g. to fill the sketchbook by the end of the year, or to draw 100 faces in there. The manic thrill of having a goal with a deadline overcomes the depressive fear of making mistakes.
the best way to use a sketchbook is at the toilet or in the transport that my opinion
I fill my sketch books up with small challenges I give myself, like 100 faces in 30 days or 100 hands in 30 days. When I do these challenges I always improve my art and It always leaves me with great ideas and reference material for future paintings.
Eric
I thought of something odd, why not come up with a set goal like I need to work on my hands, and then start drawing lots of different kind of hands in different views etc.
Why not find an error or a problem in your work even digitally. I think this what I'm been trying to pick up Elmst has a good idea too
Draw a half human half guitar!
I know that feel man. Back in high school I would blast through a $21 sketchbook with drawings or even collages of found items without a thought, and now I have a stack of blank or mostly blank sketchbooks, too scared of "wasting that page" to start. There really isn't a way to change that except to just start drawing, and not think about it. Block it out by obsessively thinking only about what you're drawing - easier if you're drawing from life and not imagination.
If it helps, start by hold a little private ritual or funeral for that sketchbook, proclaiming it's already dead and passed on to Sketchbook Heaven and on to next life. Now you can do whatever to it 'cos it's already dead!
Or don't treat sketchbook like it's your friend, with rights and feelings. Treat it like they're medical interns, and you're the director.
If it is the "pretty" sketchbook, I´d suggest to buy another one... I use canson ones to carry around, they are not the most expensive and they are pretty nice to work in... After you get used to them, you can doodle in the "pretty" one again.
Otherwise just put a line or two on the page in random way and go from there, it might help... Even if you waste a few pages with some pretty random composition sketches without any real subject matter, if it gets you working, it is worth it.
OR how someone mentioned here before, the copy paper IS pretty cheap to get used to drawing again, it works best with markers and permanent pens, though...
I disagree with the statement that you need to start with the right inspiration. Do you think that illustrators and concept artists go for a walk and watch a movie before getting to work in the morning?
It's a sketchbook, and it's YOUR sketchbook. No one but you will look at it unless you make them look at it. You can fill it with studies, doodles, notes crap, genius stuff, we will never know. I know it's fashionable to have an online sketchbook on CA or here, and some people loook at these and think that their own sketchbook is not up to par. But 1) You are not some bigshot concept artist, no one is having any expectations about you. 2) Even big shots don't post every scribble they ever drew online for all to see 3) if you don't censor yourself (by only trying to do "good" stuff in your sketchbook,) you will learn faster 4) even bad drawings can contain good ideas that you can redraw properly later.
When you pick up your sketchbook, decide what you want to do, thumbs, concepts, studies, brainstorm, put your butt in a chair, grab and pencil and go for it. Even if in the end you toss the sketchbook to the recycling because it's full of crap, the next sketchbook will be filled with better stuff.
Also, When I get started on a sketchbook, I write the date I start, and when I'm done I write the date I'm done. That way, I can tell how long it took me to finish.
this is the 'first hand' dilemma as i like to call it. anything you buy (like a bike and a guitar in my case) will be so precious you dont want to scratch it, so you dont use it properly. the trick is: make it 'second hand'. ie if its your sketchbook, spill some coffee on some pages, splash some ink around to find some cool shapes and just generally stop caring about how it looks. as soon as it starts looking dog eared you will start using it properly i guarantee.