![]() My preference lately has been for the Moleskine Classic Large Plain Notebook because it’s just the right size for my needs, it withstands daily abuse, and it closes securely with the trademark elastic band. I make exceptions only under special circumstances: when I want to do guilt-free experimentation, when I find a handsome sketchbook that inspires me, or when I receive a sketchbook for free or as a gift. My only lasting criteria for a sketchbook are that the pages be free of lines and that the paper accept ink well. I like holding a different book in my hands every now and then, perhaps to make me feel like I’m producing new thoughts and ideas. I’ve never stuck exclusively to one particular brand or style of sketchbook. ![]() When I got tired of pages falling out from constantly folding them back, I switched to higher quality Strathmore and Canson sketchbooks with smoother, brighter paper and sturdier binding. My earliest sketchbooks were large, back when scale mattered more than portability, and they were usually cheap Aquabee drawing pads with coarse-tooth paper. I started keeping regular sketchbooks around the age of twelve, but exactly how I came into possession of my first one escapes me (it is likely that my mother or my cousin may have bought me my first official sketchbook, which I no longer have). Superhero drawings, 1989-1992 (yep, I was a Marvel guy) But I came to realize that this method would prove inefficient if I was to take my drawing more seriously. Over time, I accumulated a lot of paper of varying sizes and types, which I eventually kept in a portfolio. I would spend hours recreating scenes from my favorite shows, like Voltron and the Thundercats, or tracing panels from Fantastic Four and Wolverine comics (among many others). Cartoons and comic books were my inspiration and my “goal” as a young artist. As a child, I drew on whatever paper I could get my hands on: notepads, copy paper, legal pads, napkins, envelopes. His reflections on note taking and the habit of recording thoughts regularly on paper stuck with me, not just as an insight into his creative process, but as a motivation to reflect on my own relationship with my sketchbooks. 23 years, 36 sketchbooks (stacked in order by size)īack in 2008, Michael Bierut wrote an excellent post on Design Observer about his collection of notebooks - how he started, what kind he uses, what purpose they serve. ![]()
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