In our visual language studio sessions we were briefed on the importance of keeping a sketchbook as a place to develop ideas and images. These are the fundamentals of what it means to be an illustrator and therefore if we want to achieve our goals, whether they be academic, personal or professional, we must develop a deep and meaningful relation ship with our sketchbooks.
Sketchbooks should therefore be a place to:
-Draw: from life, reference, imagination - even if it is bad.
-Repeat: the only way to get better and gain a greater knowledge into a process or subject is to keep repeating and trying until it works.
-Take risks: they are for personal development and therefore you shouldn't worry about making bad images with them but instead focus on pushing and challenging your current processes and of thinking through experimentation.
-Express and explore your personality and who you are as an image maker: should be free/unrestricted to be stupid, serious, be curious and ultimately explore and develop what interests and challenges you.
It was also important to stress that we shouldn't stress too much about the appearance of our sketchbooks or make it into an academic document. Therefore censorship, being overly decorative or tentative and attempting to make 'illustrations' rather than drawings should all be avoided.
James Jean is a good example of how a sketchbook should be used to both explore and develop your understanding of subjects and there form as well as explore and play with new processes and media. Furthermore, given the meticulousness and refinement present in his finished images it also demonstrates the freedom one should have within there sketchbooks.
Although neither the best examples of either image makers or illustrators, I thought the sketchbooks of the various members of the Broken Figures graphic arts collective were an effective example of what a good sketchbook should be like. They are not afraid to play and make both personal and bad drawings within there sketchbooks. Further more they both draw and photograph images obsessively that serve to both document and reflect upon there nomadic lifestyle.
This obsessive approach to sketchbooks and drawing is also reflected in the work of Jonathan Edwards but in a much looser approach shower the range of different voices individuals have within there own sketchbooks showing that there is no right or wrong.
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