Chloe Rippe
Reporter
A student’s sketchbook can be as personally guarded as a cellphone, but senior Katie Melland pulled out her sketchbook with a smile. She flipped through its vivid pages full of colorful ink and collaged pictures from the web. “It’s really just a mix,” she said.
Many artists like Katie said that sketching helps to sort and plan their ideas when they aren’t sure whether they will actually work.“It helps an artist progress in the process of getting ideas out of your head, along with planning out a process for a sculpture,” senior Sunni Zannini said.
Similarly, junior Olivia Healy finds sketchbooks help her with her artistic process. “They help to conceptualize work through an idea,” she said.
Sketchbooks, however, aren’t only important for high school artists like Katie, Sunni and Olivia; they are also an important tool for experienced artists. Art teacher Lisa Floryshak-Windman still uses her sketchbook to plan and explore her ideas on a daily basis. “My sketchbook is basically for process,” she said. “It’s for notes, inspiration and observation.”
While sketchbooks provide a perfect blank slate for planning, a lot of artists tend to use them to improve their practice and technique.Olivia has three sketchbooks, two for classes she takes, and one that she uses for practice during her free time. “Don’t be afraid to go back and redo something,” she said. “It might sound cliché but practice makes perfect”.
Artists also said they find sketchbooks to be a place with no limits and expectations. Included in a sketchbook could be anything from abstract art to still life drawings. What she typically uses her sketchbook for, Katie said, is, “observational drawing, and a lot of it is just doodles.”
Sunni uses her sketchbook for similar reasons. “I use my sketchbook for mostly doodling and drawing my surroundings along with the people in it,” she said.
All sketching done in free time can help develop various forms of artistic technique. “Part of the problem of being a young artist, is lack of experience. Having a sketchbook is a way to develop experience and keep doing art,” Ms. Windman said.
Ultimately, artists who desire to improve on and follow their passion love their sketchbooks as much as a brand new iPad. “People shouldn’t be scared to keep a sketchbook,” Katie said. “What a sketchbook really is, is a visual diary.”
