How I start a new sketchbook
Music by RomanSenykmusic
I love new sketchbooks. I love the white pages, the smell of fresh paper, how it feels like a new beginning. I love the idea that I am going to fill this sketchbook with amazing drawings and little paintings, and brilliant ideas and observations, and oh, it‘s going to be perfect. Then I put my perfect new sketchbook on a shelf, where it slowly collects dust among all the other perfect, unused sketchbooks. That perfect moment, where I can draw and paint like I imagined it, will probably never come. And secretly, I know it. I have the same problem with notebooks, too. I just don‘t want to mess them up.
So here is my solution: Mess it up on purpose! If there is a child in your life, let them choose a random page in your precious sketchbook, and tell them to go wild. My daughter loves drawing on my stuff. She has zero perfectionist tendencies. Theoretically, you could do it yourself too - draw with closed eyes, upside down, or use some other technique that forces you to give up control.
I now start all my sketchbooks and notebooks like this. It immediately takes away the pressure to create only "perfect" drawings. That ship has sailed even before I begin my first "proper" sketch. On top of that, it feels like there‘s a secret page, waiting to make me smile. Imagine you‘re halfway through your sketchbook, and you turn a page to find a squiggly drawing of a pooping tyrannosaurus rex. You can tell from the bold lines that the little artist was not experiencing any self-doubt, but instead probably giggling with joy. That joy is contagious. It is a reminder of what a sketchbook is for, which is to play, experiment, and loosen up your imagination.