Sketchbooks are a VITAL design tool for any creative. Although the word sketch is most often connected with drawing, it can actually refer to a rough or unfinished version of any creative work OR a brief account or general outline of something.
With this in mind, sketchbooks can be thought of as ‘collect books’ where we can record observations, experimentations and ideas. In any medium we like, including textiles. Then we can visually connect different sketches or show our creative narrative to others.
Sketchbooks can be broken down into roughly two different purposes; to carry with us and to collate and exhibit our work. The first use is the typical idea of a sketchbook. A book that we can carry with us that allows us to stop and record ideas, the world around us, to record experiences that include ALL our senses! This record could be in either quick sketch ‘snapshots’ or longer studies. In this use, the sketch book is a visual diary.
This personal record allows us to be taken back to that place, to that moment that notes our place in the world.
The only thing to consider for this use is portability. The format can be a book, concertina, octopus or fabric. As textile makers, we should also take portable craft materials with us so we can respond directly to the place, time or our ideas.
The digital world expands the possibilities of our sketchbook. David Hockney has used a digital sketchbook since 2009, drawing with his thumb on his iPhone before moving on to a stylus and iPad.
Digital technology also affects the second sketchbook purpose, to collate and exhibit our work. Sketchbooks for this purpose are less about portability but more about the correct way to bring work together and create a story for others flicking through. Traditional sketchbooks can be large scale folios, small and medium scale sketch books or fabric books. Digital sketchbooks allow us to use cloud storage, image manipulation and contextual links so our sketchbooks can hold and use our work in ways that we could never confine to a single book and create new opportunities for inspiration.
This is the real purpose of the collation and exhibition of our work. Inspiration! For us, as we flick through our work, we can sort out disparate ideas and directions. This activity allows us to sort out our head so we can actually SEE our work! This helps us to resolve ideas and aids us as a tool in our creative progression.
We may only think of sketchbooks as scrap books, fragments of creativity that we can only seek to improve.
But our sketchbooks can be fascinating creative works in and of themselves, allowing others to follow our ideas, our story, our progression. A compelling companion that explains our work in an exhibition or a standalone collection of inspiration for others!
Sketchbooks and YOU!