Best Ideas to brighten up your Sketchbooks

Yes, a sketchbook is the best place for putting your thoughts out on paper. Whether you want to practice pencil portrait drawing or use the sketchbook for acrylic painting, it is the suitable art tool where you can do the following –

• Researching about the idea and the topic,
• Brainstorming about the art project or the assignment in hand,
• Experimenting with your skills and drawing techniques,
• Testing them effectively,
• Analysing your expertise and your ability to assimilate new thoughts and techniques, and
  Refining compositions.

Thus, a sketchbook documents your artistic journey and helps you fine-tune every piece of relevant knowledge and technique that you have gathered in the process. Sometimes, you can even add the elements that offer inspiration before giving a form to your ideas and eventually painting on paper. Therefore, for an art student, a sketchbook can also offer depth and backstory to the journey towards artistic perfection.

Having said this, we must emphasize that a sketchbook is not just a tool for an artist but for anyone who resonates with art.

It does not matter whether you are a professional artist, an art student, or someone who simply wants to explore his artistic inclinations and discover the nuances of art. A sketchbook will be your ultimate companion in all these artistic quests.

Ayush Paper has some of the supreme sketchbook variants in its store. You can check out their collection and purchase your coveted sketchbooks online to give wings to your artistic desires!

Pre-bound Sketchbooks:

These are pre-bound and generally contain good quality paper ideal for dry and wet mediums.

You can find pre-bound A4 sketchbook variants, which offer tremendous ease of portability. These A4 sketchbooks fit within an artist’s bag and are less likely to be damaged during transit.

However, if you want to put every preparatory material alongside your creations to document the developmental process, you can go for an A3 or A2 drawing sketchbook.

Loose sheets of paper bound in a booklet or contained within a clear file:

Often, a pre-bound sketchbook does not meet your unique paper quality requirements. You will need the best paper for acrylic painting, and so you can go with individual sheets.

Once you zero in on the quality acrylic paint paper, you can insert a spiral using a manual binding machine or put these papers in a clear file to make your very own sketching pad.

At Ayush Paper, you will get unlimited access to premium stationery, including canvas painting paper, paper for acrylic paint, and other superlative paper variants that you can use to create a personalized sketchbook.

Now, let us imagine you have purchased a blank sketchbook. And you want to embellish it with your journey of art exploration. How to go about it? What are the elements that will make your sketchbook visually attractive? How can your sketchbook be a prima facie document of your artistic growth – illustrating your exploration of composition, design principles, and visual elements?

Let’s dive deep to explore formidable ideas that can brighten up your sketching pad!

Following an art prompt:

Art prompts have gained a massive following in the last few years, primarily due to the presence of powerful social media platforms. There are seasonal prompts, targeting particular months that have generated a massive craze.

These are evident from the banner of #Inktober and #MarchOfRobots, which compel you to follow a particular theme every day and create your artworks based on that theme. You will not only find a superb way to document your artistic prowess in a drawing sketchbook, but it will also help you interact with the global artist community who are engaging in such creative pursuits.

Alternatively, you can follow perennial art prompts that are available across the year, under banners like #CharacterDesignChallenge, where you have to follow a particular theme and create your original character (OC). Following these popular art prompts helps you break out of art blocks and nurture your artistic self. However, you need to be online on social media platforms like Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Facebook to stay in touch with these prompts and know when they are rolled out.

Creating a theme for your Sketchbook:

You might go forward with a sketching pad that contains random stuff – your visual material, incomplete and experimental, as opposed to finished illustrations. But if a theme loosely binds all these drawings and paintings, it creates an impeccable impact on the viewer.

The thematic consistency of your artworks could be in the form of any art trend. It can be a traditional one or something completely new. For example, artist Shawn Coss is known for his unique brand of art by which he is trying to fight the stigmas associated with mental illnesses. All his artworks stand out and give meaning to this theme.

Having consistency in Style or Medium:

This is quite similar to having a thematic consistency throughout your sketchbook. There is a subtle visual splendour when there is an order in the apparent chaos. Similarly, you could try to establish an order with your style or medium while letting your inner chaos be demonstrated through the artworks you create.

You could be doing pencil portrait drawing, doodling, or using the paper for painting with acrylics, but keeping the medium constant throughout your sketchbook creates a solid impact. Artists like British-born Sam Cox, aka Doodle Man, Kerby Rosanes, and even those back home like Santanu Hazarika, Upamanyu Bhattacharya, and Debangshu Moulick are known for their unique, eccentric, and ingenious brands of artwork that create an indelible impact on your mind.

Journaling:

Art journaling is creating a diary that records your experiences in the form of visuals, texts, prints, and even collages. These can document anything specific or just your day-to-day life. You can use your sketch pads to create the most compelling forms of art journals using writing, illustrations, painting, drawing, and every other form of self-expressionism.

The art journals of yore like Leonardo da Vinci’s diary, Frida Kahlo’s diary, and others still create a stir amongst artists. More recently, there are modern art therapists like Lois Bender who provide tips for healing and self-restoration through art journaling.