How To Fill Your Sketchbook

we've all been there you're sitting working in your sketchbook and you're just thinking to yourself man i'm drawing and i just don't know what to do with all this white space wow so many empty pages so empty today i've got some tips for you on how to fill up all the empty page spaces tip number one dump an entire bottle of green paint on your sketchbook that's right now it's all green and all your problems are solved no more white space i just love the color green don't you i can't believe all the white space is gone just like that i can't believe it was this easy to fill a sketchbook all along this video has been brought to you by wikihow and the color green okay i'm sorry i know this is dumb i'm gonna give you some actual tips now so don't worry hey what's up lads i'm sorry if i'm looking like kind of just a dirty boy today i didn't really feel like putting on makeup or basically being like a person so uh excuse me so i've been making a lot of sketchbook content lately because i guess you guys like that for whatever reason so today i'm going to be talking about ways that you guys can fill your sketchbooks nice so this video is going to contain a lot of other ideas that i've just gathered over the years from watching other artists and filling my sketchbook myself so those of you who are a little bit more experienced might not find the most value in it you might have heard this stuff before but it's mostly just the principles that i use when filling my sketchbooks i've now done like two completely full ones so like not perfect but i have something under my belt like here's the belt here's the sketchbooks so there's something there now yay so a lot of this stuff is going to be more for beginners people who have never filled a sketchbook or never filled a sketchbook that they were pleased with so bear that in mind when watching this but i'm sure more experienced people can get something out of it my cat is now behind me hi i feel like she is going to knock something down we're filming outside again so um yeah i have this one to worry about we weren't invited but i guess you can stay wow look at how much she doesn't care section number one make the task of filling your sketchbook seem less intimidating endless pages in a sketchbook can just be super intimidating i don't know what to do with like 200 pages that's a lot of white space so one of my favorite things to do with a sketchbook with a new sketchbook is to just mess it up right off the bat now you have nothing to worry about but yeah in all seriousness this helps people a lot of people like to just scribble on their first page they like to color it completely black or pink or red just like completely painted like the green thing at the beginning of this video was a joke but you could legitimately do that with the first page if it helps you to feel less intimidated and more like you're gonna actually start filling the sketchbook the thing you can also do is then once you finish the entire sketchbook go back and paint something cool on that first page you'll probably have more experience more practice and feel a little bit less intimidated now that you've filled the whole sketchbook with nice sketches that you kind of sort of probably like some other things you can do is buy just a super cheap sketchbook or a smaller sketchbook a lot of people buy sketchbooks that are super cute super pretty they have designs on the front they put some of their favorite stickers on it and then it's like oh my gosh i feel intimidated to draw on this because i don't want to mess up this expensive sketchbook a way you can combat that is just to buy crappy sketchbooks in the first place that's what i do the first sketchbook that i ever finished was just a sketchbook that i had lying around my house i probably got it for a birthday present or something i don't know i had old trash drawings in it before i actually finished it and what i did um was i ripped them out so it already looked kind of bad and trash but it was just super cheap didn't pay any money for it so i thought to myself hey if i finish it great if not i didn't pay anything for this so for me having a sketchbook that's not super cute super nice does help it to feel less intimidating another sad thing is i did put stickers that i really liked on my first sketchbook and i kept my first sketchbook in my school bag when i went to college and my water bottle leaked all over it so now the whole thing is water damaged so another thing you can do is just water damage your sketchbook or mistreat it like i do definitely makes it a lot less intimidating for the record i'm just kidding don't do that that's a bad idea don't be like me that's another tip in this video tip number two don't be like me another thing you can do is start drawing in the middle or end of your sketchbook instead of the beginning once you have a couple drawings completed in the middle of the sketchbook or the end of the sketchbook it almost acts as like checkpoints and it feels a little bit less intimidating to go through your whole sketchbook start to finish like that's a lot to put on yourself just doing random sketches at random places in your sketchbook can also help i know some people don't like this because then their progression of art is a little bit less chronological but it still helps people to feel a little bit more motivated to draw on their sketchbook you can also sometimes treat your sketchbook like a scrapbook i do this too i'll put notes or letters or things that people send me in my sketchbook sometimes just so that i know where it is i know it's safe and it helps to fill up empty space in my sketchbook and helps to add pops of color so all the points in tip 1 are really just there to get you started that's one of the biggest hurdles of filling a sketchbook because it can be so intimidating but now the other daunting task is keeping up with it and working in your sketchbook consistently [Music] section number two how to find things to draw in your sketchbook sure you've gotten your sketchbook started that's awesome hats off to you my dude but then you might be thinking wow uh keeping up with the sketchbook and knowing what to draw in my sketchbook can be really really intimidating too it's okay we've all been there i used to draw the same stuff in my sketchbooks over and over again it got boring so that being said a sketchbook can be a really interesting and fun place to experiment with the type of subject matter you like to draw and find really niche things that you like to draw that you didn't know you like to draw before for example now i like to draw stuff like fruit food and simple still lifes and i never really would have known that i liked doing stuff like that without just experimenting and messing around in my sketchbook so the number one thing that you can and should be doing in your sketchbook is just practicing doing studies figure draw gesture jaw draw from life draw your pets your family objects around your home and also nature basically just practice and do studies it's a great way to find things to just draw in your sketchbook sketchbooks are also obviously a great place to do unfinished work that doesn't have to be posted on social media or shown to anyone so focus on working in your sketchbook for yourself don't pressure yourself into showing your drawings to anyone unless of course you want to a good rule of thumb can be to not post any of the drawings in your sketchbook on social media or show them to anyone until your sketchbook is completely done this is what a lot of people do with sketchbook tours and why people like sketchbook tour so much because you really don't know what people are up to in their sketchbooks you can also do landscape studies and other small thumbnail drawings in your sketchbooks i have basically a whole section of landscape studies in my old sketchbook and some more in my current sketchbook too just drawing little boxes and filling them with scenes or concepts or ideas are a great way to practice landscapes and composition this can also be a great way to come up with ideas for full finished future drawings that you're going to be doing either digitally or traditionally this is also known as thumbnailing and it's a great practice to keep up with i have started thumbnailing before almost every big illustration that i do and it really helps to nail down composition i actually keep a sketchbook just for thumbnailing i don't have a lot of thumbnails in the sketchbook because so many of my thumbnails are done digitally and then sized up to serve as the base sketch for my drawings but it really helps to just have something rough close by that you can use to jot down an idea that you get or just practice composition and landscapes in general i like to do a lot of these thumbnails either ballpoint pen or watercolor just remember not to spend too long on thumbnail sketches i usually don't spend more than 30 seconds to a minute on these you can also draw fan art and studies of art from other artists fan art probably comes naturally to a lot of us in our sketchbooks who doesn't love a nice little casual drawing of naruto but i also see a lot of people studying the art of other artists in their sketchbooks this can be a really practical way to study other art styles and begin finding your own just remember this isn't the type of work you should be posting on social media without prior permission from the artist and if you do include this sort of work in your sketchbook tours or in pictures of sketches on your instagram you should either credit the original artist in your description or write down the artist's instagram or twitter handle next to the drawing section number three give your pages an interesting composition meaning compositions that consist of big medium and small in other words don't draw everything at the same size if you're drawing a full body person on one page then maybe draw a slightly bigger headshot or bust of someone on the same page and then draw a small study of the back of the head or an eye having a composition of big medium and small and your pages can help guide your eye and the viewer's eye and it closely follows the rule of threes the rule of threes is everywhere faith medium small middle ground foreground background the role of threes with dividing your composition into knights on a page and even the golden ratio human beings just like the number three for some reason i don't know why but this doesn't mean you just have to draw three things on a certain page this just means having a good balance of big medium and small and other composition rolls on your sketchbook pages can really help to make them look nice remember doing varying sizes and shapes can really make for a pleasing composition in my sketchbooks i really like to do full or single page spreads in a single page spread i like to subconsciously use the role of threes to guide the viewer's eye and arrange all of my sketches in a nice way in a full page spread i also like to sometimes use the role of threes and a landscape format to guide the viewer's eye when you do this keep in mind how the full page flows together and treat it like its own piece of art you can also give your compositions an interesting background element like i did here with the dragon here with this red pattern and here with this weird racing stripe like all rules and art some are meant to be broken so even though keeping single page spreads to one page can sometimes look really nice and clean and intentional you can also just sometimes let your drawing spill onto other pages i do that all the time you can see that each of these pages kind of have their own internal composition but then zuko's hand is spilling onto this page with aang you can also see it happening on this page with this cabin spilling over in the ladder i don't know i just like doing that i think it looks nice i also like to treat my sketchbook pages and my compositions like a puzzle now i don't know if i have any great examples of this but one artist that does an amazing job at this is lois i think her name is luis lillish i don't know she's the famous artist i'm sure you guys know her so here i'm gonna have some drawings from her instagram of sketches that she's done where everything kind of just fits together on and how you do this is you just draw like one sketch in the middle of the page that has an interesting shape and then all of your other sketches just sort of form around that like you know a puzzle i love sketching like this i think it looks so cool so dope i may be like not as great at doing it as i used to be i used to do this all the time i don't know what happened but it's a really great way to fill up your pages and fill in empty space [Music] speaking of empty space section number four fill all your pages okay so this tip is going to be mostly for people who really want to fill all the white space in their sketchbooks but it can also help to give you really interesting compositions and just a lot of different ideas of what to do in your sketchbooks in general okay step one if you want a full sketchbook draw on the front and back of every page to make it look you know full i used to not do this i just did a sketchbook tour of three of my old bad sketchbooks you can check that out like on the card if you want to i don't know why you would want to but immediately drawing on the front and back of every page made me feel a lot better about my sketchbooks in general because my spreads would leak onto other pages i just felt like i had way more freedom to draw that way so absolutely aim to fill the front and back of every page so another great way to fill your sketchbooks can be to experiment with mediums i use mediums like ballpoint pen markers watercolors acrylic paint feel like i've also used spray paint in my sketchbooks because i'm weird like that you name it you can also use colored pencils i don't i don't know why i didn't list colored pencils but yes they're super safe to use in your sketchbooks go for it just be sure that your sketchbook can handle whatever medium you're using supplies that are alcohol-based especially tend to bleed through certain types of paper and watercolor will often warp pages even though i use watercolor anyways you can also tape in other drawings and doodles that you like so you can keep track of them and fill empty space you can also use colorful sticky notes and other pieces of paper to cover up mistakes and other drawings that you don't like or just to add a pop of color to your sketchbook you've seen my past sketchbook tours i do this all the time it is my saving grace like honestly there's one there's one there's three actually here's just a bunch of pieces of paper taped in i literally do this all the time and it actually makes your sketchbook look more interesting at least to me so don't hesitate to do it if there's a drawing you don't like don't mess it up just put a sticky note over it because then you'll have a new drawing that you can see when you flip through and if you really want to see your old bad drawing you can just like flip the sticky note up also don't hesitate to use a bunch of these tips in one page use a bunch of different mediums on one page do interesting compositions and like add sticky notes and it'll really make like individual spreads look really cool just use a bunch of the techniques together it makes for such an interesting look one of my favorite spreads in this sketchbook if i can find it is this now maybe don't do that on every page because it can get really busy but it can really make some of your spreads look very unique and very nice you can also doodle fillers in the white space on your sketchbook like random objects that are around you flowers birds my personal favorite is to doodle cats that look nothing like cats so yeah there's endless potential there just get in there you can also just tape a bunch of random stuff in your sketchbook uh you can journal in your sketchbook like the bullet point journaling that the cool kids do you can also just like scrapbook and write random quotes in your sketchbook i do that a lot too it's great i've also seen people like print out the reference that they're using for your sketches and put it in your sketchbook that way you can look at your reference right there uh and then look at your sketch and then you know like what the reference is and like where it came from and whenever you're like doing a sketchbook tour you can also credit people if you like used an instagram model for your reference it's great it also helps to like again fill up white space and like add pops of color in your sketchbook like even if your art doesn't look great look here's a picture of a flower nice so in conclusion to this point the roles are meant to be broken here i've collected some rebellious photos of rebellious people doing rebellious things to inspire you to be rebellious and break all the rules in your sketchbook wow what a really lovely day is that sketchbook on fire [Music] section number five go easy on yourself don't compare yourself to others and instead prioritize learning all right listen the first sketchbook you'd fill and do probably isn't going to be the most amazing thing in the world like hey it might be if it is like dang first of all i'm jealous and second of all that's awesome for you dude sit but also remember to take your time and that not everything has to be perfect not everything will be perfect and that's okay that's great that's what sketchbooks are for they are organized chaos and it's great sometimes if you're me maybe not so organized just remember that sketchbooks are primarily just a place to draw freely practice and get out rough quick concepts and ideas i know it can be really tempting to aim to fill your first sketchbook with like full beautiful finished work because so many other people fill their sketchbooks with finished work but if you can't do that just go easy on yourself it is okay except the drawings that you don't like in your sketchbook and learn from them because that's what our existing past art is for it's for learning it's for critique and also for being proud of ourselves because we've improved and we've come a long way since we did those drawings and hey if you really do hate the way your drawings look just remember you can cover them up with stickers other drawings sticky notes pieces of paper you don't have to look at it if you don't want to there's a lot of really amazing sketchbook tours online but just remember that a lot of these people are also professionals they do this either audience supported or they work in the industry a lot of people have been drawing so long for most of their lives they've been working on those sketchbooks for a really long time and a lot of those sketchbooks are even being made specifically with the intention of submitting them to a college for consideration basically as a portfolio like you see a lot of the cal art sketchbook tours i get so gosh darn jealous of the cal art sketchbook tours but remember those people are applying to like one of the top art schools like in the nation if not in the world so if you're not there don't worry like you'll see even a lot of the best cal arts sketchbooks don't get accepted because things are just so competitive now so don't compare yourself to those people even if they are really great instead see what you can learn from them and look up to them and emulate them because the best artists they steal they don't art theft don't do that but they steal like style and like ideas and all the great stuff you know what is it what's the quote let's see what the quote is oy it's like so hot outside right now look at me i'm glimmering yeah apparently pablo picasso is widely quoted as having said that good artists borrow and great artists steal so go steal from artists i'm just kidding like study other artists see what you can learn from them and stuff all these techniques that i've listed in this video i've stolen from other artists who had already filled sketchbooks and they knew what they were doing so now i'm like hey i know what i'm doing too because i stole your techniques okay and finally to wrap this up i know this has been a long freaking video art block happens to everyone and that is okay sometimes you just need to take a step back give your mind a little bit of a break from everything and come back refreshed whenever you feel more inspired just go at your own pace give yourself breaks when you need them give yourself little boosts of inspiration when you need them i really like watching other people's sketchbook tours it gives me a lot of inspiration when i do that i have a sketchbook tour right here if you want to go watch it do studies and learning whenever you feel like you need it and before you know it you'll be well on your way to having a beautiful full finished sketchbook that you can be proud of all right guys i hope this was helpful to all you folks if you have any questions about anything at all just leave them down in the comment section and i'll do my best to get back to them i still try to reply to all of my comments i love talking to you guys love giving you advice you can also dm me on my instagram if you have any questions about art or anything in general and i'll try to get back to you as soon as i can just help each other encourage each other down there and do your thing you guys have already been doing that really proud of you bit of an update my upload schedule might be a little bit weird a little bit irregular for the next couple weeks heading into the fall because i'm currently finishing up my summer semester and we might have finals soon i really don't know things are a little bit crazy here still because of the coronavirus pandemic so if for some reason i miss a week or post a video late that is why but i will keep you guys updated on my community tab so follow me on my social medias and uh like my instagram my tumblr i post like all my art over there it's great great time to like it go follow me thanks for liking and subscribing and doing the notifications and all that good stuff thanks for watching go draw something today i have been a confused boy and i am going to go eat food now okay goodbye press the subscribe button for more of the color green what am i doing [Music] you

Channel: PricklyAlpaca

Views: 659,483

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Id: sc8A-GSJgrk

Length: 20min 56sec (1256 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 21 2020