I have been working hard on my sketchbook for the Sketchbook project in New York. (If you don’t know what I am talking about look here: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject2012)
It is now pretty much finished and I will send it off soon!!
After sending it to them I will be part of a whole lot of sketchbooks touring around the world, being seen by loads of people! So excited!
First, after I got it some time in November, I left it sitting there for like a month (naughty me…) and I was so busy because of a lot of family stuff going on and of course Christmas. In between that and New Years i finally got started on it.
As I know myself by now and I am notoriously slow with coming up with stuff to draw without having a brief, I needed a crutch for myself. I had started with my first image, a viking ship in wild waves, inspired by a documentary I saw and it had turned out quite well, but then I was stuck. I wasn’t sure which direction to take from then onwards and I needed some more inspiration.
I love stories. As an artist, I also think of myself as a storyteller and very often create stories as well. Even single illustrations have some kind of little story, even if I am the only one who knows it. So I thought to myself, why not create a story in my sketchbook, if this is who I am anyways? What’s wrong with creating a continuous series of sketches?
So I simply continued with my little viking ship, thinking of who would be on it and where they would go. As my topic was Uncharted Waters, it must have been an unknown place! The rest is what the book is all about.
I have left the ink sketches black and white, partly because for me, this usually is the end of my sketches stage and I colour digitally from there onwards and also because I have lost my watercolours God knows where :-). But I think, it works like this too. I have given things textures and shades so that they are easier to recognize too.
Have a look through each page and follow the story here:
If you want to have a look what are people have created for the Sketchbook project, look here: