Love this maths + art post Nanette! It all equals (see what I did there!?) a very interesting piece and a reminder that observational drawing isn’t about making good art, but about the process! I like to remind myself that I have an art “practice”, not an art “perfect”!
Thanks for sharing - watching the video, I would definitely give you a higher percentage! I have sketchbooks full of unsharable work with very rough pencil sketches of children and animals, and shopping lists, and random notes to myself - but I use them and refer to them a lot. I watched an LDC talk a while ago where the artist said she had been advised by her tutor that you should treat your drawing like a blocked pipe and that sketch books are a way of getting all the c**p out before the good work flows through and I try to remember that!
This is excellent, and thanks so much for the shout-out—absolutely loved your flip-through of the whole thing! I'm also a big fan of starting out with ink blobs ("sqooshy" is a great word) and seeing where they take me.
Ah thank you Jeremy! I think posting on social media has made the private business of sketchbooks into a more public thing, which can be confusing when you're experimenting with your work!
I agree! I haven’t shared any sketchbook art online; I’m apprehensive to because I don’t want agents or clients to judge me on my less than stellar work.
I can live with this kind of math 😊 great post Nanette and so on point! One of the reasons I love Substack is that it feels like a safe space where we can share all of our drawings, not just the considered good ones to share on social media. Drawing from observation is hard and when we stop doing it, seems we turn back and need to re-learn almost everything about drawing, it's still very hard to me to draw from observation especially complex scenes (a fight to battle!). Love the girl jumping to catch the ball on the game drawing 🤩
Thank you Teresa! 🥰 You are absolutely right about how it feels like re-learning everything about drawing! Also, I don't know what the magic is here in Substack but it does feel so much safer to share here 🥰
Oooh, that's a good question Miranda! To be honest, I think it depends on the day 🙊 sometimes it's very frustrating to make less good work but as I get older I'm more accepting of it being part of the process and able to trust that decent work should be along soon ...
Haha! Thanks Jane! I do imagine your sketchbooks as full of very very good drawings - between your comic diaries, community projects and picture books you seem to be drawing almost constantly!
I definetely agree! This is something I've been trying to be okay with this whole year and I think I'm finally starting to get it. It's comforting knowing that I'm not that my sketchbook is a place for me to experiment and mess up in.
Ahh good post Nanette and sounds very familiar! There’s a reason I don’t share lush sketchbook videos- they don’t exist in my world and it would seem in lots of other illustrators wolds either! How reassuring. Here’s to bad drawing and scribbling to the other side 🤗
Love this maths + art post Nanette! It all equals (see what I did there!?) a very interesting piece and a reminder that observational drawing isn’t about making good art, but about the process! I like to remind myself that I have an art “practice”, not an art “perfect”!
Ella! An art "practice" not an art "perfect"! That is a brilliant way to put it! I love that, I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of that
Haha! Glad you like it! X
Thanks for sharing - watching the video, I would definitely give you a higher percentage! I have sketchbooks full of unsharable work with very rough pencil sketches of children and animals, and shopping lists, and random notes to myself - but I use them and refer to them a lot. I watched an LDC talk a while ago where the artist said she had been advised by her tutor that you should treat your drawing like a blocked pipe and that sketch books are a way of getting all the c**p out before the good work flows through and I try to remember that!
Oh I LOVE that idea that sketchbooks are for pushing through the c**p! So accurate! I'm going to try to remember that now too!
This is excellent, and thanks so much for the shout-out—absolutely loved your flip-through of the whole thing! I'm also a big fan of starting out with ink blobs ("sqooshy" is a great word) and seeing where they take me.
I loved your post! It's so good to see the crappy parts of a sketchbook being normalised out in public!
Thanks for sharing sketchbook with us, Nanette! My 3 favorite pieces are the tugboat, yellow store and rain piece. But I do like them all.
Ah thank you Jeremy! I think posting on social media has made the private business of sketchbooks into a more public thing, which can be confusing when you're experimenting with your work!
I agree! I haven’t shared any sketchbook art online; I’m apprehensive to because I don’t want agents or clients to judge me on my less than stellar work.
Absolutely love this! Feeling really inspired. Thank you!
Thank you SO much Alex! I'm excited to have discovered your podcast!
I can live with this kind of math 😊 great post Nanette and so on point! One of the reasons I love Substack is that it feels like a safe space where we can share all of our drawings, not just the considered good ones to share on social media. Drawing from observation is hard and when we stop doing it, seems we turn back and need to re-learn almost everything about drawing, it's still very hard to me to draw from observation especially complex scenes (a fight to battle!). Love the girl jumping to catch the ball on the game drawing 🤩
Thank you Teresa! 🥰 You are absolutely right about how it feels like re-learning everything about drawing! Also, I don't know what the magic is here in Substack but it does feel so much safer to share here 🥰
This is the kind of maths I can get on with. What a great approach, Nanette. Has it actually helped you accept less-good artwork as a path to good?
And I LOVE the football game drawing too. Love those hands!
Oooh, that's a good question Miranda! To be honest, I think it depends on the day 🙊 sometimes it's very frustrating to make less good work but as I get older I'm more accepting of it being part of the process and able to trust that decent work should be along soon ...
Thanks for sharing - I have so many sketchbooks with the same maths!
Haha! Thanks Jane! I do imagine your sketchbooks as full of very very good drawings - between your comic diaries, community projects and picture books you seem to be drawing almost constantly!
My sketchbooks are tragically empty! The only drawing I do regularly is my diary but at least that keeps my hand in...
I definetely agree! This is something I've been trying to be okay with this whole year and I think I'm finally starting to get it. It's comforting knowing that I'm not that my sketchbook is a place for me to experiment and mess up in.
I think there were definitely more spreads that the social media would love. Maybe it wouldn't go viral, but likes would be pouring in!!
Ahh good post Nanette and sounds very familiar! There’s a reason I don’t share lush sketchbook videos- they don’t exist in my world and it would seem in lots of other illustrators wolds either! How reassuring. Here’s to bad drawing and scribbling to the other side 🤗
Thank you so much! It's always a bit scary showing the less good drawings, but I think it helps us show each other how normal that is! ☺️