“The first thing art directors want to see is your portfolio, the second is your sketchbook.” - What a great insight, Adam. Thank you for sharing! I just bought my sketchbook this week, and wrote down a list of things I want to draw. So ready for daily sketch practice accountability 😁💪✍️ Also, wanted to add that I happen to be reading “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman, and just finished the chapter on cultivating patience. He writes about “embracing radical incrementalism,” which aligns with what you are saying about the benefits of a daily sketch practice. He mentions writers but the same applies to artists: “The most productive and successful among them generally made writing a smaller part of their daily routine...so that it was much more feasible to keep going with it day after day. They cultivated the patience to tolerate the fact that they probably wouldn’t be producing very much on any individual day, with the result that they produced much more over the long term. They wrote in brief daily sessions - sometimes as short as ten minutes, and never longer than four hours...” I imagine it’s different when you have hard client deadlines, but I have found in my own practice that four hours is really the “limit” of any solid creative flow. Anything longer than that and my brain starts to mush. A sustainable creative practice is so important for long term success, I imagine.
I love this Adam. I am an avid sketchbook lover and have a pile of them on my desk. I recently went through them in date order and it was a good exercise to look back on my earlier sketchbooks and see how my drawing has evolved.
An afternoon spent painting was the much needed refuel and mindful headspace I needed. I work in vectors so it’s really interesting to see what beautiful messes come out when I don’t have a plan, and allow myself to paint intuitively. The two completely contrast right now but who knows, perhaps there’s a divine plan to marry the two in some way, at some point in the future ☺️ Who knows where the journey will lead . I’m just along for the ride 😎
“The first thing art directors want to see is your portfolio, the second is your sketchbook.” - What a great insight, Adam. Thank you for sharing! I just bought my sketchbook this week, and wrote down a list of things I want to draw. So ready for daily sketch practice accountability 😁💪✍️ Also, wanted to add that I happen to be reading “Four Thousand Weeks” by Oliver Burkeman, and just finished the chapter on cultivating patience. He writes about “embracing radical incrementalism,” which aligns with what you are saying about the benefits of a daily sketch practice. He mentions writers but the same applies to artists: “The most productive and successful among them generally made writing a smaller part of their daily routine...so that it was much more feasible to keep going with it day after day. They cultivated the patience to tolerate the fact that they probably wouldn’t be producing very much on any individual day, with the result that they produced much more over the long term. They wrote in brief daily sessions - sometimes as short as ten minutes, and never longer than four hours...” I imagine it’s different when you have hard client deadlines, but I have found in my own practice that four hours is really the “limit” of any solid creative flow. Anything longer than that and my brain starts to mush. A sustainable creative practice is so important for long term success, I imagine.
I’m thinking of creating an archive page on my website to upload my sketchbook work. Thoughts?
I love this Adam. I am an avid sketchbook lover and have a pile of them on my desk. I recently went through them in date order and it was a good exercise to look back on my earlier sketchbooks and see how my drawing has evolved.
I’m here also from Wendy’s GUT class! I used to make/bind my own sketchbooks with fabric covers and wonder about yours?
The best way to start the year! Can't wait to see what I can make at the end of the month. Thanks for this, Adam!
An afternoon spent painting was the much needed refuel and mindful headspace I needed. I work in vectors so it’s really interesting to see what beautiful messes come out when I don’t have a plan, and allow myself to paint intuitively. The two completely contrast right now but who knows, perhaps there’s a divine plan to marry the two in some way, at some point in the future ☺️ Who knows where the journey will lead . I’m just along for the ride 😎
Very inspirational piece!
This is perfect timing. This feels like the most doable and practical new years resolution.