Your First Sketchbook

Wish someone told me this as a kid

Remind yourself that it’s better to have a sketchbook filled with crummy drawings than to have an empty one. If you still have difficulty buy a pack of cheep printer paper and practice on that.

That's literally the phase I'm at right now. I almost got intense anxiety over it until I just told myself, "Dude. You can literally erase any mistakes. Just draw, doesn't matter if it's ugly, no one's grading you." I've been drawing freely ever since.

I burn through my sketchbooks pretty quickly, and the looking back on them is absolutely wild. You really get to see how far you've come

This is the single most important point of advice that I’ve needed about art. Took plenty of courses, looked up books and everything but I would get anxiety touching pencil to paper because I wanted it to be “perfect”. Thanks proko!

Pro tip: If you got yourself new sketchbook, and it feels too nice to ‘ruin’ (which for me it can, even though I buy the cheapest one that is fit for purpose that I can find), just go right ahead and scribble all over the very first page. Just absolutely destroy it. Bingo bango, it already looks like utter shit. Then when it’s got plenty of sketches in, terrible, decent, or otherwise, you can cover it up by sticking a title page in, if you want. Not necessary though. Especially when you’re just learning. Most of it really isn’t going to be good at all, and that’s totally fine!

I really needed this. I hardly touch my sketchbooks because I literally don't know what to draw. If I just draw whatever small thing randomly pops in my head I'll be doing a lot better.

that’s why for my less serious pieces, i draw on grid line paper like notebook paper, it comforts me and tells me to not take it so seriously, it doesn’t have to be perfect.

This motivates me to start drawing again.

I only started drawing last year and it was digitally. Then I got some watercolors and a sketchbook to try traditional art and when I tell you I’m low-key scared of doing anything on my sketchbook bc I fear it’ll look horrible…ugh. I have to get over it at some point lol

you remind me of an old friend of mine. she was the sweetest soul ): she was the first person to ever encourage me, instead of shunning my artwork, for simply trying. had I ever drawn or painted before? no. did she praise me to high heavens? she sure did, and bless her for it. I’ve met far too many people that shame me over sketches I get so excited to share with them, as if it was some art piece I had spent 20hrs on and called a “masterpiece”. it hurt a lot — to the point I completely gave up. looking back, these were sketches I created within a minute, and just from shapes I could makeout from my scribbles. words like these are much needed, and I wish every child growing up could hear this )): I know I wish I had

Personally I cherish every sketchbook I get knowing I just filled my old one with drawings I can look back at one day and think "Look how much I've improved" just a happy feeling I get

even better: my first sketchbooks weren't even sketchbooks, they were those freebie journals you get at events which definitely encouraged me to plough through and use as much paper as I wanted

the advice I needed when I held onto my first sketchbook for a year and a half while barely filling the first 50 pages

This was the sole reason why I’d give up on my sketchbooks almost immediately. Thank you. I wish I’d heard this sooner.

This is probably the best art advice anyone could ever get

"Even your silly doodles" ((Shows up amazing page)) Btw thank you. I'll make sure I fill those blank pages even if it feels silly

2 Sketchbook art tips: 1) Keep a sketchbook that you WILL NOT SHOW ANYONE! It keeps you from worrying about having to make everything look perfect if you know nobody will ever see it anyway. 2) Before you start a piece, scribble on the page. You won't have the burden of needing every line to be perfect if the page is already imperfect.

During high school, life was kinda hectic, like every teen, countless quarrels with parents, confused in life in general. Keeping a sketchbook helped me easy my mind, I used to hang around at rooftops of different buildings in Brooklyn and draw whatever I was feeling, pages filled with stories from past, present and potential future. Good times.

you read my mind. I was so anxious to keep every page beautiful. It’s time to accept the truth. Thank you Proko