How to create a sketch book like those of Leonardo DaVinci. Save your sketches from everyday life in an art journal.
If you like to draw, keeping an art journal is a great project for this year. In the journal you will sketch and label bits and pieces of the season’s sights. Draw ideas and designs. Leonardo DaVinci kept art journals in which he made sketches of invention ideas, things he saw that sparked an interest in him, inspirations, and things he saw in nature. He added notes to himself that would help him later when he was developing ideas.
You can start an art journal too, and you don’t have to be even an aspiring artist to enjoy keeping such a notebook. Many ideas for writers, workers, cooks gardeners, mechanics, parents, indeed any life path you might choose, slip away if they are not written down.
One mechanic keeps a small notebook in his shirt pocket and refers to it as his “brain.” In it he sketches ideas for his farm and shop. He draws maps to places he plans to visit. He writes appointments and meetings dates and times down. He keeps a running parts list and shopping lists. You can look through his "brain" and find what his wife asked him to bring home for supper last Wednesday. You can find the price of gasoline and look over the diagram of a tractor engine he used to explain a repair to his son. You will find the name of a tree he saw on a trip that he plans to plant in his back yard, and check to see when he had his teeth cleaned.
The “brain” is more of pocket calendar with notes and drawings than an art journal, but a small size is easy to carry with you and provides a bonus of always being at hand.
Your art journal will be filled with sketches. Sketch the chair you like best at Grandma’s house. Sketch the pie you baked for Thanksgiving dinner. Sketch a bird you see at the feeder, an idea you dream up for a coffee pot that doesn’t dribble when you pour. Sketch your new kitten, your dog or your goldfish.
Sketchbooks
A sketchbook can be as small as a pocket or as large as a scrapbook. In fact, a scrapbook can be used as a sketch book. The primary consideration is what sort of paper you want. Bookstores like Barnes and Nobles and Borders sell hardbound sketchbooks (like diaries) with thick, acid free art paper for pages.
Craft and department store carry spiral bound sketch books which are also filled with art paper, but have the convenience of the artist being able to turn back the pages fully and so are easier to draw in.
Any book with unlined pages will work. Decide on a book with a cover you like. An old ring binder can be used with sheet protectors to insert drawings into if you don’t want holes in the pages.
Utensils for Sketchbook Art
Pencils are the best for sketching since their marks can be erased. You may want to use colored pencils or graded art pencils. Carry these in a plastic zippered bag for easy access and also to protect tips from breakage in a backpack or purse. Include a small sharpener and an eraser if you like. A short ruler might come in handy too.
What to Sketch:
- People—nothing has to be exact. Try for the basic shapes. Is the face round, oval, square? Are the legs short or long? Is the hair curly or straight.
- Pets—you want to try to get the pet’s personality as much as his basic shape.
- Zoo animals or farm animals
- Plants, flowers, leaves, trees
- Birds, eggs, feathers, butterflies, moths
- Furniture, lawn furniture, old rockers, different styles of chairs
- Dishes
- Designs, shapes, textures
- Close-up sections of things
- Everyday items in your house
- Ideas and Inspirations
Labeling
With your pencil, label each item as you draw it, with a short blurb underneath or beside it. Write what the item is, even if it is obvious. Also, add where you saw it and when. For example: “A bluebird I saw one morning in May, 2008” or “Abandoned house by Grand Lake, July/08”
Check out a book about Leonardo’s sketch books from the library. Here is one you might like. Leonardo DaVinci , by Diane Stanley [Morrow Junior Books, New York, 1996].
Decorate the edges of the pages with doodles and designs. Take care of your work of art and save it. Enjoy your summer and the art all around you.
