As Foundations begins again, and I embark on my sixth journey through it, I thought I’d create A Series to look back at my previous attempts at Sketching Now Foundations.
April 2019. I did not get very far, but I loved what I did at the time!
I did this class as an independent study. I’d really looked forward to it when it was scheduled, but then the schedule changed, and I wanted to do the class anyway so I stuck with it. Here is the wrap-up:
Hmm, apparently I haven’t uploaded many of the remaining pages for these either. Interesting. So here is some of it. I may have to edit this page at some point in the future.
Last week’s sketchbook pages had a lot more focus on sketchbook design since I am taking the class as an independent study program.
Having recently finished the Travel Sketching class, when I had the opportunity to walk Stonecreek, I brought my sketchbook with me, and tackled a scene that has long seemed very intimidating. This landscape view from the bottom of the pond. So I began with 5 shapes, and then added texture and details. Many of the details arrived while sketching. When the flock of Canadian geese flew in and landed on the water, so I had to add them in. When the American Coot swam up and gave me extended side-eye, perfectly posing for my sketch. He swam off just as I finished his addition! A cardinal in a tree branch, with the grey pond behind him, highlighting his colors. (He was so quick to fly off, I could only catch him via photo, and painted him later when I finished the page.)
I added the map, the titles, and the text block to finish off this page.
This also happens to be the first full spread page in my new sketchbook! I’m sticking with the 7.5×7.5-inch Stillman & Birn Softcover Alpha for now. The smaller pages are satisfying right now, and feel good. Keeping it simpler to encourage building a daily practice of sketchbook pages.
For this spread I used colored ink for extra notes, and the two ink color swatches to fill in a space. The ink is Diamine, and those are two of my favorite autumn colors.
This is a part of an Alley of Ambience image. Drawing campfires is hard, but I may be in love with those pumpkins!
This page is a little more abstract. I love Elisabeth Alba’s art and I had these various stickers of hers. I’d also put the 5×7 prints I have of her work into a newly purchased portfolio album. This simple spread marks that for this week. The raven is also on a half sheet, which flips over for a second color block of transparent red oxide, which is fun and interactive in my sketchbook.
I will cut half pages sometimes when I have a lot of collage, to reduce the overall bulk in the finished sketchbook. It’s a fun way to do interesting pages.
As usual, my participation in the Sketchbook Design class has me sketching more pages, and putting a lot more thought into their layouts and designs. I love them even more when I’m putting in the extra effort and time! I also seem to have leveled up in my drawing ability! Don’t ask me how THAT happened! It seems to happen at random intervals and I’m sure it’s a product of practice. And the many lessons, of course. That Travel Sketching class really did seem to help me level up, didn’t it?
Onto the next week! The holiday season begins in earnest and I wonder what my sketchbook will capture next?
Adding elements really does round out a sketchbook page. One of my favorite elements to add are maps!
There is a public walkway next to a golf course that I like to walk at when the weather is cool enough. They have a manmade pond that attracts birds and other wildlife. Since the temperature dropped down to 93F/33C (finally!) I took a walk. The one-mile round trip walk from the parking lot to the end of the pond is a perfect map to draw for the sketchbook, and for this sketchbook design element.
Color Blocks are another one of the Sketchbook Design elements we are working with in Sketching Now Sketchbook Design class. Here I’ve used a simple color block to balance and add interest to this minimal page of the stickers I’d placed in my book.
I’m working my way through the seven elements. So far I’ve done one for text, white space, color blocks, and maps. Three more to go!
I’m really happy with how the text blocks makes this page look so complete! Without the text these disparate sketches looked adrift in the odd sea of the page. The headings and text blocks really make it look like there was a plan, when there wasn’t!
I realized that the white space on this spread really highlighted the sketch of the pumpkins and that I should definitely leave it alone and let it shine! I tend to struggle with white space, so being able to see this as I finished off the page is something I’ve learned!
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My sketchbook and materials for this class. I am currently preferring the smaller size and the alpha paper. I have two going at the moment, a 6×9-inch landscape that I started for the Travel Sketching Class, and a 7.5-inch square that is my everyday. It’s almost finished! I am also carrying around an A5 Stalogy that I was using as my food diary sketchbook since it’s pages are super thin and it does take watercolor without bleeding, so I can have a longer period of time in one book. I haven’t kept it up, so I may abandon it soon? This trio of sketchbooks I’ve been carrying around for a couple months now, so it feels very familiar. (Note to self, I’m looking forward to taking Foundations again in January, because I’m still not getting the angles on stacks of books right! Hardest thing to draw! Ever!) These two sketches are actually on two different pages of my sketchbook, but they would have looked quite good together in one spread!
Should I continue my memory lane search for the materials sketches I did in previous iterations of this class?
My materials and palette sketch from the January 2021 class. The palette in particular brings me back, because I’ve used a variety of palettes since then.
My materials sketch (and a food sketch!) from the August 2021 class.
Sketch of Materials I did for the January 2023 class. I see I used a similar stack of sketchbooks for my composition! I never did use that Etchr sketchbook, though. Interesting. Both those Alpha books got filled up since then, however.
Sketchbooks hold such wonderful memories, don’t they?
Always a fun page to do for Sketchbook Design Class. This year I’m keeping things simple and using only different widths of pen for headings. I have been opting for fast over style lately. As ever, I always use my own cursive for the majority of my text, as it is very easy and very fast for me.
I got curious when I did this page to see what I had done in previous runs for this class.
This one is from January 2021, when the sketchbook design class premiered. It was a revelation the first time I took it, and it improved the overall look of my sketchbooks a hundredfold!
August 2021 was my second run of the class, and I consider the pages I was making then the best of my work. I aim to get back to the skills I had then! I have always loved this page spread so very much. Especially those sunflowers! August is sunflower month, and I enjoyed capturing that, and the fresh cut flowers I had when I did this spread.
Then in January 2023, for class I did this spread. I like it, too.
Now I’m taking my fourth run through this course to reinvigorate my sketchbook design skills and practice. Looking back through these older versions of the same assignment certainly does inspire me.
The first of the Intro Assignments is to draw a page, and list our goals for the class. Apparently I forgot to share this one when I did it. So how about I continue on the memory lane with this same assignment from previous years?
From January 2021.
Same spread I showed for the Handwriting tips, because I put both on one spread. What a huge difference in my Sketchbook Design is plainly visible in this spread, done just a few months after the first run of the class! This blows my mind!
Here is the Goals page I did in January 2023. My goals themselves don’t change much, but there is such an evolution on my style I’m not sure I ever would have realized if I hadn’t been showing these back to back!
My latest spread, I knew I was going to be starting this class, so I thought about the page design before I began. While this spread has a title on it, I haven’t been doing headings and titles as much lately. They really make a difference!
Jamie's Sketchbook 