Months ago I signed up for the
2012 Sketchbook Project. This is a project where folks all over the world draw in a special pocket sized sketchbook for a year. The sketchbooks then tour the country before they are cataloged in the Brooklyn Art Library. I had heard about it for a few years, and this was my first time participating.
My little book arrived and I promised myself I would complete a page a day.... And then I became frustrated after a few
ugly pages. I really hated my start, and my little book went on the shelf for a couple of months.
I had picked the theme "Time Traveler." Eventually it dawned on me that I
have a
time traveler character. He's from a web comic I've been working on for about a year, called
The Dust Age.
The Dust Age is currently only a plot with pages of text and a series of
sketches. It has the distinction of being my most complicated and thankless project.
So I took my little book off the shelf and ripped out the false start. I began again. Many of the sketches are drawn very loosely (in the idea of the time traveler keeping a notebook for his own purposes).
Here are some of the pages:
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| The ruins of Seattle. |
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| The front cover. |
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| The front cover flipped. |
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| The time traveler himself. |
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| The Clockwork Widow |
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| The East Witch |
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| The Ruins of Seattle, full page. |
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| The Bear Queen |
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| The inside cover. |
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A Lady Triangle?
(I don't know what to call this one). |
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It's one of my favorite pages though,
a little tighter than the loose sketches of the traveler. |
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| O Raan, a 25 foot tall character. |
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| The last page and inside cover. |
I mailed it off yesterday, and I'm already planning to sign on for the
Limited Edition Sketchbook Project, once funds allow. This new project sounds very exciting to me. The idea is 5,000 people will fill the sketchbooks, and when they are returned they will be turned into a series of books. If you're creative, know a creative person, or have been wanting a creative outlet, it's a great project.
Now that I have completed mine and watched
videos by other
artists, I have actual ideas for next year's!
As badly as I wanted to do this last year, I felt like I would have just failed it. I love to doodle and draw, but mostly I make ridiculous pictures of Asian-looking angry stick figures stabbing and sword-fighting other Asian-looking angry stick figures. This one time I drew Jesus on a whale with a glass of wine in one hand and a fish in the other (on a bar napkin - which is surprisingly where most of my best work has taken place), just because I was feeling ridiculous. These are the kinds of things that can be appreciated on the internet, but I feel would be completely lost in the world of real art if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteYour sketchbook is so amazing. Everything you share is incredible and you have such talent. I was literally wondering just the other day if you ever completed it, because I remembered you applying for the sketchbook last year and you hadn't blogged about it at all in a while.
Thank you so much, Jaime!! You should do one--many people keep them as a sort of journal, and I think you would make a fantastic one. You may just see them as doodles, but I really love the drawings you do for your blog, they're so cute and funny!
ReplyDelete<3 <3 <3 You just made my week!
ReplyDeleteSuper cool!
ReplyDeleteLady triangle,hmmm? That's what I call my. . .ummm. . . Lady Triangle.
Haha!! Lady triangles are pretty powerful :D
ReplyDeleteI love the ArtHouse Co-Op. I've done two of their print exchanges. So much fun. I've wanted to do their sketchbook projects, but my new resolution for this year is not to start anymore projects until I finish the ones I've already started :)
ReplyDeleteReally phenomenal work on this. Thank you for sharing it.
I actually have a thing about Seattle. I've never been there but I dream about it. So I especially connected with your ruins drawing, beautiful and surreal.
Seattle is a very cool place, it has grown on me these past two years. If you ever get to visit the city, we should grab lunch and I could show you around!
ReplyDelete