Pages From My Art Journal 2016-2019

The cover of my Moleskine journal after 3 years of casual use.

A few years ago I decided to put more time into my creative hobbies with a mini sketchbook. It was something I hadn’t done in years. As a child and in my teenage years I always carried a sketchbook and manga books around with me, and drawing was something I cared about deeply. I remember I would sketch in my non-art blocks, I’d sketch at lunch, then I would sketch in my 4th block art class, and I would go home and sketch some more. At the time it was mainly sort of anime styled characters or panels/comics.

As an adult I had less time to create, but it was always on my mind. I had my eye on this sketchbook for months before buying it. I was a college student working a part time job and I didn’t have the funds for it, but I splurged (crazy to think that 25+ dollars was a luxury… yay student life). The nice thing is I’m considered the “artist” in my family, so for any gift giving occasion I exclusively receive art supplies and socks! I can’t imagine being a broke college student and buying all the art supplies necessary to simply have an art journal. A pencil, and some markers will suffice. The supplies I use isn’t fancy, but its free, and I’m thankful for that.

Now that my sketchbook history blabbing is out of the way, Here are my favorite pieces in no particular order. I’m basing this off of sentiment and my own personal progress, by the way. I’m not the type of person who “bullet journals”, and I’m not into creative writing, so there are no fancy washy tape collages with quotes like “take the path less travelled”, because frankly, It’s just not my style.

Some dope watercolor stuff. A sunset toned heart, and a Diana toy camera.

Up until I was 25 I never painted watercolor. I mean, sure I had tried it in art classes, but not on my own. I didn’t have any bad thoughts towards it, but I can say now that it is so much more difficult than acrylics or oils. I can’t tell you how many times I attempted watercolor calligraphy just because I saw a video that made it look easy? haha! it’s not… But no really, watercolor is something I have worked hard to improve on, and these two paintings are really cool, and I impressed myself. the post-it notes are covering my notes for work.

I’m trying to get into my own illustration style and to break away from the anime form I used for so long. Though I loved it, it was basically me just copying a style I liked. It’s been difficult and rewarding. This was done with a set of drawing pencils I got for my birthday from my parents. I’m not great at understanding the different art pencil purposes, so I just made a chart of the shades and precision, and used my favorites! Form isn’t my strength, but I was mainly practicing facial details. I remember while sketching this, I was like “this girl drinks tea and she is an oil painter!”

As a child I didn’t really have Indigenous role models in art or in media, so I’ve decided to take it upon myself to create the ones I wish I had. This was a bus and train sketch I did on my way to class, and it’s obviously not in color, but she’s native.

The yellow post its on the flip-side pages are the ones I used to mark the pages I wanted to show in this blogpost, but this pink one actually has a pretty sad story. At my previous job, I drew this when my coworker explained this turtle to me, and he was like “yeah thats exactly what it looked like!”. We hung it up by our back room computer(where we had many post it note drawings) One day my boss threw it in the trash for no real reason at all. I saw it laying in the empty trashcan, so I took it out of the trash, and put it into my journal, because even little uncared for sketches of soft-bodied turtles deserve to be loved sometimes.

First of all, its me! I think that this was actually from a blank piece of paper I drew on while taking a lunch break. I showed my friend Hayley and she wanted one too, so I sketched her. I taped it inside, and drew little oval picture frames around them! Its pretty simple, but they are cute and I don’t usually do drawings on both sides, but this was an exception. This is actually one of my favorites in the journal, mainly because it was such fun to draw myself and a friend.

A cool fashionable winter lady, and a merchandising floor-set

So as I said before, I rarely draw on both sides of the page, specifically if a drawing is in graphite pencil. Its mainly due to transfer issues, and smudging, but I use those other sides for basic notes when I need a piece of paper. I’m not so much a “presenter” of my art, so to me its not a big deal. Besides, if someone asked to flip through my sketchbook, I would likely say no. It’s just something really personal.

So for this left side photo, its just a girl in wintertime, obviously its not based in my home-state of Minnesota, because she would be in a parka that stops mid-calf, and Sorel boots with a hat, scarf, and snowboarding gloves… This girl is from somewhere a bit warmer, like PNW or NYC. idk, we can’t really dress winter chic in Minnesota, and if you think you can, I’m so sorry that its 2019 and you still suffer for fashion lmao.

A little watercolor painting called “Almost Sarah”

So I actually just sketched a real girl I saw on instagram with a cool and “alternative” look, but watercolors are hard to layer, and towards the end, I realized it looked a lot like my friend Sarah! I don’t know if Sarah wears yellow glasses, but she does look like this sometimes! I say sometimes, because since I have known her, she has had probably 4 different hair colors, and it was red for a solid minute. I think she even has a denim jacket kind of like this one, so basically its decided. This painting is almost Sarah.

Also not to brag in my own art post, but wow I am so proud of this hand! I’ve been alive for 27 years and I’ve been drawing for 22, and I am still bad at hands! I want a business card with a close up on this hand in the background!

If you made it to the end of this blog post, thanks for reading!

Also if you’re interested in what I am creating, or just what I am up to, you can go to my Instagram and check it out. I am not really actively pursuing art, but I feel like its good to pat yourself on the back for progressing at something you care about!