old sketchbooks.

Sometimes when I’ve run out of creative energy I feel the urge to look through my sketchbooks. Forgotten pages of quick sketches and magazine cutouts serve as some great reference material for projects I don’t know how to start. Last night, I stumbled upon a stack of my old sketchbooks from college and high school. To be honest, most of it is useless to me now, but it reminded me of my frame of mind–or maybe my motto– in art school. Just draw something.
I don’t know if I had a finished product or work of art in mind when I filled these few hundred pages, but when I look back at my doodles now, I remember exactly where I was in my life, where I lived and how I felt.  At one time I had eight full-sized sketchbooks in progress at one time.

My Drawing Anatomy for Illustration professor in college highly influenced my obsession with always having paper and pencils at hand. In just a short little comment, that may have gone unnoticed by most students, our professor shared with the class that he, as a practicing professional painter, never went anywhere without his books.
I began to draw everything I saw, and especially things I wanted to simply remember. Above are two rough Prismacolor marker sketches I did when I moved to Center City, Philadelphia. I vividly remember the second one, done from my apartment building’s front steps in early evening. I had just walked down Pine Street and purchased a few single bottles of beers that were completely out of my price range, and spent time watching people walk home from work, drawing little things I saw, (oh, and drinking), and enjoying my alone time in the city.

I’m taking the time to revisit my old sketchbooks, and maybe I can find something that inspires me for projects I have planned. It has always been my goal to integrate my own work into my Etsy shop, although I also find a certain kind of inspiration from vintage. Even if, for right now, “just draw something” means, Just Draw Something Again.