Sketchbook Look Back
Take a tour of a recently completed sketchbook
Sketchbooks: what are they for? Some would say sketching. Others would say drawing. Me? I’m a doodle boy, baby. I recently filled up a sketchbook I’ve had for years, so I thought it would be a fun bonus post to share some highlights.
For a big chunk of this last year I tried setting aside 15 minutes at the beginning of each day to draw in my sketch book. I definitely benefitted from the warm-up, and enjoyed the experience of doodling on paper as a break from my slick Wacom screen.
I became a fan of “mindless doodles:” really taking the pressure off and drawing anything that popped into my brain. Sometimes themes would develop, sometimes full comics would emerge.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a fan of the spooky season. I spent a lot of the year doodling all sorts of creatures and ghouls.
Fun fact about me: I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (real fans know to drop “the” from the title!) It’s surprisingly breezy, and it’s fun to think about a time when readers picked it up not knowing the twist (spoiler: the Doctor and the Mister are the same person!) Reading it again this year inspired one of the comics in Sorry Thank You Vol. 2, where you meet the character Dr. Normal and Mr. Small.
The above blobby insects inspired what would later become “Busy Bugs,” which I shared previously. You never know where a doodle will take you - especially if you never set aside the time to do it.
Read All About It
My good and talented friend Matt Chester joined Substack, sharing his thoughts on movies / life / whatever he dang well pleases. I particularly enjoyed his post about Limelight. Give the nice boy a follow!
I recently finished Sea of Tranquility, a great time travel novel, with a few pandemics thrown in for good measure.
Also just finished Bark Bark Girl, a sweet and unique graphic novel that perfectly captures a whole lot of adolescent feelings.
A coworker recently defended the use of Ai-generated art by saying he was “on the side of possibilities rather than limitations.” It made me want to jump out a window. Instead, I shared this article, which does a good job of showing how Ai art (specifically made in the app Lensa) is currently hurting artists. These artists aren't "anti-possibilities," they're upset about being exploited for profit. This article ain’t bad either.
This New Yorker article is the closest I’ve gotten to understanding TikTok.