I notice he’s using roaring spring composition books. Roaring spring makes the only engineering notepads worth buying - the glue holds up, unlike all the others, and the paper is the right weight. I would expect their composition books to be better than the 99 cent ones.
On keeping sketchbooks
21–30 of 86 posts
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#22Posts like these make me wish I could be consistant and keep a single notebook until its done and then move to the next. I always end up starting a project or scibbling down a thought on random scraps of paper. I try to organize and consolidate but really there is not much point after the fact since, if the note is made, transfering it is just busywork. I leaned into it last couple of years, I have a 2 corkboards (a…
The book Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher helped me get through notebooks. I could only ever get a few pages in one before switching interests.
This is the book: https://amzn.to/3OQxX4J
I started with these, and got through them easily: https://amzn.to/3YJwBx7
Now I use notebooks like this: https://amzn.to/47VJeJI
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#23> Plus, I love the disconnectedness of a sketchbook. I can sit and think and plan in a sketchbook, and it doesn’t distract me from what I’m doing.
This is why I still keep pens and physical notebooks on my desk. It's so much faster to flip it open and start writing than opening a 99th browser tab and navigating to an empty page on Notion, all while more desktop notifications start popping up on screen. Another side benefit is the act of writing / drawing out stuff actually helps me remember things better. Sure, my handwriting is atrocious but I rarely go back and read them anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#24I have a couple of nice leather covers for my composition books. One for personal notes and one for a work notebook. https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00ITXB8UQ>
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#25I kept all of my notebooks. They are a completely different insight into my work and thoughts. Travel notebooks are particularly interesting to re-read.
I went digital about two years ago with my iPad Mini. It's more convenient, especially if you keep different kinds of notes in separate sequences. However I miss flipping through the pages, and the satisfaction of finishing a notebook.
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#26In my drawing graveyard there is a couple dozen sketchbooks and (if stacked) a 5 foot tall pile of loose paper.
Sketchbooks are useful to me when travelling, they keep everything thing neat and in chronological order, but beyond that I like the idea of a sketchbook more than the reality.
When I start a sketchbook it's usually a belaboured drawing that sets a standard I feel obliged to live up to, and that can turn into a creative constraint.
If I really want to explore or experiment, I feel a lot more freedom with loose sheets of paper that I can crumple up and chuck across the room if the drawing isn't turning out.
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#27This is awesome. I love this kind of stuffs, especially when it involves pen and paper. Reading the article, and seeing the dates on the notebook, made me felt bad. The author did realize the logic of a better dating system than we use everyday; the Big-endian is, to the best I know, easily sortable, sequential, and likely to be understood by all other cultures.
In normal conversation (either for business or personal), I like to use the "MMM DD, YYYY" format as it is easier to read and there is no ambiguity. While for recording/archiving or appending as part of a file-name, I've found YYYY-MM-DD to be most reliable.
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#28I throw all my sketchbooks. I don’t have a lot of space but whatever I do like, I cut them up and keep them in a “Big A3 Book” (some terrible quality paper I bought form ASDA i refuse to touch cause it upset me)
I got the advice from an artist to just throw away your drawings if you don't immediately love them, to get over the hoarding instinct and be less precious about art. Hard for me but probably a good idea!
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#29> But it DOES help me actually THINK. Just like people say ‘writing is thinking’, drawing / sketching / and even note-taking is thinking for me as well.
A picture, as they say, it turns out, is worth a thousand words.
Re: On keeping sketchbooks
#30oh if I could draw worth a damn, it is probably all I'd ever do. I used to draw a lot as a kid, I just never got good at it.
It's a learnable skill that just takes time and effort.
I recommend the book "Drawing on the right side of the brain".