Once again gobsmack by your sketchbook 😩
I got a Q if you have the time. Do you plan the layout of a single page of your sketchbook? If so, how? I find myself starting at one corner of the page then sketching as I go to the other corner but non of the sketches seem to interact with one another 🤔
(I'll get that art study done one of these days 😩 Employed but at what cost)
.So the only pages I kind of plan out are my artist studies, because I need room to write big long rambling paragraphs about what I notice in the art and stuff I do or don’t like. It’s also VERY HARD to do artist studies and not feel like a massive arsehole when you bungle some of their work, so having them separated is good imo. (I am NOT posting my other studies lmao 👍💕 This guy is dead so idgaf about posting these).
.Other wise, no planning, free balling the art so to speak 🙂↕️👍 I think mine connect with each other because sometimes I intentionally draw too close to other pictures. The best thing to do is to kind of gauge how big something is going to be when you draw it, so you can sort of imagine that they’ll end up overlapping. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it looks absolutely horrible and I have to fix up sections with sticky notes. I am drawing from references constantly in this sketchbook, so I already know the final image that I’m drawing as opposed to just drawing from my imagination.
.Using different types of media (or colours lmao I’m just doing pink 🌸) can also kind of ease you into connecting pictures if it’s too frightening to attempt, because there’ll be a distinctive separation in one way but a physical overlap in another.
.This isn’t to say they MUST overlap (you do you, babes!!), sometimes I’ll stop at the edge of another image so it’s just tucked nicely beside it. I’m not saying lay torso over torso or anything like that, but extremities can settle over each other nicely.
.I think a lot of it is mentally being accustomed to potentially destroying one sketch with another, and moving into the idea of using as much space as possible on the page. I do leave space for stickers and tape because I know I want to decorate the pages with them, but with having a designated set of pages for my individual studies I know how much I can leave and that I usually start flagging at page 5/7 😔 so I can choose to have negative space to be filled in later. (I AM a hater of negative space.).
.BUT I don’t really draw in that much detail in my sketchbook, so there aren’t any pieces which are super detailed that are on top of each other. Because, even as maximalist as I am, I don’t want to have some horrid amalgamation that isn’t really decipherable when I go back to look at it. Also it’s worth saying my earlier pages (see: guns) are a lot simpler with just two pens, a bit of sticker and tape, whereas now (see: fish) I have a billion pens and stickers and tapes. Which means it’s not as important for me to overlap images, because I can do it with other media, but I still like doing it.
.Some other ways of connecting images, if you don’t want to layer them lineart over lineart, is to connect backgrounds. Whether it’s like a solid block of colour or stripes etc. it does give off a kind of continuous look for the whole two pages. Stickers and washi tapes on top can also do this 🙂↕️ Or you can use sticky notes or patterned paper as a more physical background, and draw continuously over both (eg. so the picture is both on plain paper and coloured paper) to make it feel more connected with other sketches.
.Also! I suppose, that since my sketchbook is more of a study book than and idea book, all of my pictures over 7 pages are of the same thing, it’s a connecting theme right from the bare bones of it. If I had a sketchbook and was drawing idk say Hansry and then T1800 on the same page I wouldn’t be too pressed to have them connecting since they’re not the same thing (even if it would be boys kissing 🥴👌).
.On another note I also start at the corner of the page and draw left to right across which is just Sketchbook Layout 101 💁♂️✨ But mixing this up by either changing the starting position, or by intentionally drawing too close to the edges of the page can help to guide you into using space either more efficiently or more insanely idk 👍 overall my sketchbook has been a progress of learning, both in drawing things and using multiple different pieces of media. It’s all a fun experimentation in the end ✨🤗✨.
.HOPEFULLY this makes sense haha idk what I’m doing 🤫💕.
