Sketchbook XI

As many of you probably saw on my personal blog, I finished my first graphic novel last week.  This lined up almost perfectly with the end of the semester at CCS, and as luck would have it, I also finished off my tenth sketchbook yesterday.  Since I'm officially on Winter Break now, I spent today building a new sketchbook from scratch.

As you can see here, I covered it with an old flannel of mine that was starting to fall apart.  I cut out the pocket from the shirt and sewed it on the front to hold pens and scraps of paper.  I did the same thing with my 9th sketchbook.  If you are interested in making a sketchbook of your own, check out my Flickr set with step-by-step instructions and links to all of the tutorials I use.  It's really fun and imbues your sketchbook with a lot of personality.

Probably my favorite part of making a custom sketchbook is picking the paper.  I chose some yellow copy paper that I have had lying around forever.  The cheapness of the paper frees me from being too worried about the quality of work that goes on in here.  I believe sketchbooks are a place to experiment and have fun.  In the back I put some nicer drawing paper, which I will use for quick brush pen illustrations.  I often do final work right in my sketchbook, instead of on loose bristol.

Next week I'll get back to posting actual art... maybe something from these very pages!  Happy holidays everyone.