Thanks for joining me on this creative journey! I’m going to do a series of pages like this that will explore how I do my art, and hopefully you’ll be inspired and pick up a few ideas along the way.

There are a lot of “how-to” books out there that explain things with more accuracy and in more detail than what I’m doing here, and I’ll share with you some of my favourites. I’m a self-taught artist. I’ve drawn since I was very small, and I’ve always loved doing it, which I think is the best reason for doing art. My knowledge is gained by studying my favourite artists, reading books, and lots and lots of practice. So you won’t see a lot of technical stuff in these journals, but you’ll find lots of my own thoughts :)

So let’s start with drawing, a basic skill to every graphic art, and a skill that even seasoned professionals can benefit from practicing. When I tell you to draw all the time, I mean it, even though I’m speaking a bit hypocritically here. I love drawing, but most of the time I’m drawing for a project or commission. This ongoing journal is encouraging me to have more fun and return to my sketchbook more often!

My favourite tool is a mechanical pencil (brand doesn’t matter--find one that fits your hand comfortably) with 0.7 mm B lead (softer than HB, with a slightly bigger tip than the standard 0.5), and a putty eraser. It comes in a nicely wrapped square, but it quickly resembles silly putty, and it can be squished into small tips or smooshed against the page without leaving a bunch of eraser bits on the desk. My personal favourite sketchbook is the Robert Bateman 8.5x11; the paper is nice and smooth, like the Bristol I do my badges and commissions on, and it takes pencil, ink, and marker very nicely.

Illustrator Cliff Wright has a beautiful book, “The Magic of Drawing”, that has many great exercises for drawing and learning how to really see: http://www.cliffwright.co.uk For now, just start! With any pencil, with any paper. Don’t let yourself make excuses. Sit down for 10 minutes and look at the world around you, see the shapes all around you, and scribble them down.

I’ll see you here again for the next leg of our journey: drawing children. Feel free to leave comments and questions below!