Keeping a daily sketchbook is, for me, similar to keeping a written journal. You have to find your style, play with the layouts you’re comfortable with, decide whether you focus on one thing or lots.
To be honest, I’m new to the sketchbook field and am still playing with formats and layouts, learning how to categorise my days. Some sketchers stick to a daily formulaic approach. On some days I split my double page spreads into 5 or 6 boxes and whip out my sketchbook when I have 10 minute slots of time. You can see a blog post about formatting here. I’ve also discovered I’m not necessarily faithful to one sketchbook all of the time either! (see the Three Amigos post!)
So, for example, on this featured flip through if you take a look at the psychedelically coloured 24th May it was clearly obviously going to be a crazy day. I got stuck on the A1 and took the opportunity to sketch in the traffic propped up on my steering wheel, (the car oil ran out too I seem to recall!), it was dress down Friday hence my odd trainers, my little girl loved these colourful turtle party plates and insisted on her meals being served on them, I made a cup of lemon tea, and that evening drove to Peggy Skylights in Nottingham (oil re-filled and no traffic!), drank lime gin and listened to jazz. There were over 5 boxes to document that day as I went!
Whereas, a few days later on the 28th May a simple picture of my hairdryer (bought 17 years ago at Kwik Save) and makeup case served to remind me of a particularly busy work day where my corporate self was in the driving seat.
The rule is simply to sketch what you can when you can. Even if the minimum you can dedicate a day is 20 minutes or you have the luxury of a few hours over a weekend!
