Whatever it may be, in this article I’m going to re-introduce sketching and explain why this simple process is important and why people should continue to sketch by providing examples and referencing two artists, Evan Worsham and James Sisti.

Sketching is the most important thing I learned from art school. During my undergrad, Ronnie Lawlor, an established illustrator and teacher made it clear to the class that sketching is important because 95% of the creativity and discovery happens in the doodles and playing around with ideas. I can remember during class and even at critiques she was very much interested in how each of the students approached assignments through their sketches. Imagine, you were tasked to visually represent the Invisible World. Where would you start? What would it look like? How can I make the topic personal?” With your mind racing to discover this Invisible World, you’ll soon notice that your sketches are trying to find this unseen place.

There’s a certain magic that happens while sketching. In the most literal sense, sketching is problem solving. Lets go back to high school algebra…we wouldn’t rush to the solution and say that x=3, right off the bat. You need to plug different possibilities into the equation and see if it works. Artist Evan Worsham has shown below how he arrived at the finish of his pieces Girl and Bush. Notice how, in his approach for Bush, he tried several times to get the desirable impression of Bush Jr. The point is, you may not necessarily make the Mona Lisa in one try, but you’ll learn what steps it takes make her.

What is a sketchbook?

A sketchbook is the physical collection of ideas. However your handy little moleskin isn’t limited to doodles and designs. What I find striking is that words, poetry and even scrap booking is found in a sketchbook! So in that case, why do they call it a sketchbook? It should be named something like “MY WORLD” or “THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD”.

Personalize!

A sketchbook isn’t exclusively a black covered book with white paper! Design the cover! Visit your local art store and explore the different options in paper. Don’t be afraid to ask the attendants either! They might be able to point out some fun surfaces to draw on.

One of the many beautiful aspects of a sketchbook is that it can be made out of anything! My friend and artist, James Sisti was nice enough to share pictures of his crafted sketchbooks, which are made out of various different weights of watercolor paper. The benefit of handmade sketchbooks is that the pages aren’t limited to the standard yellow or white paper. By doing this, you’re opening your book to a world of different papers, weights and textures. Try everything! Who knows, you may discover a liking to use hot press 300 lb Canson Water Color paper or even single ply cardboard.

A way into the Mind.

A sketchbook is a very personal space. I’m not advocating complete privacy, but as the author of such a piece, these pages are blessed with your personal thoughts. In the images below, you’ll notice how Evan Worsham plays with ideas. This is your space, have fun with it!

A sketchbook can also tell a story. In the images below, James Sisti recounts a tragic accident through words and imagery in a sketchbook he made during recovery.

Experiment man!

Your sketchbook is the one realm where no one can criticize you for the wacky and ridiculous ideas you may have. Keep in mind, “Nothing is impossible”. I remember a classmate of mine painted a portrait of a friend out of ketchup. Neat, huh? Below are more examples of Sisti’s work…notice how he isn’t afraid to try new things.

Don’t worry about erasing either. Maybe that misaligned pencil stroke is a mark of genius. Try cutting out a sketch and designing around it. Your sketchbook is the perfect place to have fun.

History of You, Volume 1.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR SKETCHBOOKS!

Sorry for the caps folks, but those Picasso-esque sketches you have now may seem outlandish and irrelevant; however it may become the genesis for your next piece. To this date, I have all the sketchbooks I’ve ever drawn dating back since the freshmen year of high school. If you do the math, that’s about 9 years of my life as an artist.

By browsing Amazon.com, you may find the “behind the scenes” or “the making of” style books for artists and popular movies. The awesome thing about these books is that they offer you a glimpse at what the design team or artist was thinking while creating their work. If you treat your sketchbooks in the same manner, you can track the process and steps you took to come across an idea. A cool practice is to visit those old sketchbooks…you might become inspired again.

Another cool feature is how the sketchbook plays as a record of tracking significant changes in your artistic direction. Remember how Picasso had a cubist period? Well, you may find that point where you grew out of hyper realistic art and went towards a comic book graphic feel.

Goodies

While using Stumble Upon I came across Sketch Swap, which is a neat web browser based sketch space that allows you to doodle and share drawings with people. You can check it our here.

Also, I highly recommend anyone who loves filling up sketchbooks or wants a challenge to participate with the SketchBook Project 2012. I’m participating and here is a brief blurb about the event, “Sign up to join the 2012 Sketchbook Project. Each participant receives a blank sketchbook that will be exhibited on the 2012 tour and cataloged permanently in the Brooklyn Art Library”. (Sketchbook Project)

Conclusion

I hope that after reading this article, you may appreciate sketching and personalize those sketchbooks. Just remember, to have fun and keep sketching!

Thank you to www.psdgraphics.com for allowing me to download their blackboard graphic. And a major thanks to my friends Evan Worsham and James Sisti for happily sharing their art for this article. I highly recommend that you check out their stuff.

Supposed you worked for Time Magazine and the following scenario happened…

“You and your design team have been working to the last-minute to meet a publication deadline for the latest issue of TIME Magazine. Its 9am, your team’s job was to provide the Art Director with the finished InDesign document containing the latest issue however, instead of “packaging” (refer to packaging later in the article) the documents, you grabbed all the local files onto a zip and emailed it. All went smoothly until the Art Director realized that the illustrations and photos are missing and the fonts aren’t recognized. Because of this small mistake, the deadline wasn’t reached on time and Time Magazine postponed their publication by several days.

Though the above example may seem drastic but missing files, lost typefaces and even folders that aren’t properly sorted can affect people’s livelihood especially when facing a deadline. The reality is, something simple as a missing linked file can put a hold on a project, and potentially mar your career’s reputation as a professional.

During my undergrad years at Pratt Institute, I can’t tell you how many times I saw students…even seniors print out their children’s book or graphic design project only to find that local files were missing all because of a little laziness towards organization. If used properly, this guide may help you avoid the potential mistakes and headaches associated with poor management.

Regardless of your discipline and your current place of work, files and documents need to be organized! As a budding professional, it’s your duty to be on top of your database. So with that said, I’m going to share with you my system.

Simple is Nice!

The purpose of a file management system is to help you or the users find what ever file. For my friends who prefer the desktop space, here’s a refresher on sorting. Keyword: Ease.

Below is how I treat my files.

This system follows a basic 3 folder system.

• Assets: Thats where any photos, textures and stuff you added to your work should go.

• Artwork: The raw art files go here.

• Press: It’s a good idea to have versions ready for Print and Web. Saves you the time.

It could be that simple!

However, a file system can be complicated.

Note: For my folks using InDesign CS3 -> CS5, you can “package” your document so that all linked files and typefaces are grouped together in an easy bundle. AWESOME!

Whatever the case be, your file management system should make sense and work for you. Now that I shared my system, below are some tips to keep in mind.

Discipline!

A decent file organization system lends itself well if properly used. In other words, don’t make an elaborate maze of files only to become lazy and dump your files onto the desktop! Your documents shouldn’t be an “organized chaos” or be constructed meticulously. The point of a system and this article to help you, the reader, locate files easily by properly sorting your folders and files.

Did you forget to Save?

It’s a simple practice, but the average designer and student doesn’t save nearly as frequent as they should when working on the computer. RAM intensive programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya and After Effects are notorious for crashing when least expected. Like in your video games, save often!

Past, Present, Your Success

A good tip is to have your files backed up either online or via external hard drive. Personally, all the work I produced in college is stored on my 1TB Lacie. I suggest having a small flash drive…something like 4gb+ to carry whatever local or project files you were currently working on (this saved me multiple times!). I recommend visiting Cnet.com in regards of purchasing the right external storage device. You can also look into an online backup service to ensure that all your files will never be lost.

Nothings worse than losing those precious illustrations and designs you worked endlessly on.

Iterations

By definition, Iterations are newer versions of the original file. Lets say you’re coloring in a line art drawing of a character. A good habit is to save versions of each major change separately in a new file while leaving the original file alone. By doing this, you can always retrace your steps and not worry about damaging the original artwork.

Benefits

Throughout this article, I kept mentioning “organization” and using every derivative of that word, but I can’t stress this point enough! In the third year of my undergrad as an Illustrator, I wished that I knew half the points mentioned in this article. I pulled a rookie mistake by having missing files for an After Effects project that I needed for a critique. After several near failing marks, my professor at the time showed me how my files should look like.

Avoid simple headaches and mistakes.

By knowing where your stuff is, it cuts down the guess work and allows for easy transport. For example, if your digital painting project is sorted and grouped together, you’ll be able to pick up and work anywhere.

Bottom Line:

Being organized is a must for any professional.

So what do you think? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below.