Should I get a sketchbook? I've been drawing for a while

>>3063763
>I also read something about filling at least one sketchbook per month. How many pages are we talking about?
200

If you're remotely serious about developing your skills then I would say a sketchbook is mandatory. Don't rip the pages out, keep your shitty drawings as you'll need them when you become more advanced. If you ever feel like you suck at drawing, assuming you've been diligent in your studies, you can always look back and see how much you've improved.

Or it can serve as a wake-up call to work harder. Don't over-think it, put all types of drawings in there from quick sketches to finished illustrations if you want.

Hope this helps.

>>3063770
Thanks for your input, guess I'll do that.

Could it be a normal notebook with blank pages or does it have to be one of these more expensive ones?

I would advise against getting a regular notebook. The quality of the paper is usually shit and it actually impacts how the pencils, pens, and so on move on the paper. Another shitty thing about crap quality paper is that everything seems to destory/bleed through it, especially markers!
A good sketchbook is not too expensive. You can probably get a decent one for 10 or so dollars. You get what you pay for.

>>3063782
The more expensive ones are expensive because the paper is higher quality. You might as well get a nicer one with heavier paper, when you go to erase instead of just smearing the shit everywhere like on printer paper it'll actually come off cleanly. Personally I like using midtone sketchbooks so I can play around with more values. I would recommend Strathmore, they have a ton of sizes and a scale of quality ranging from 'dicking around' to 'pro graphic artist'.

>>3063803
Ok... I'll get a good one and try to fill one every month, I'm still a little scared of filling it with shitty drawings but that would just mean that I'm a shitty artist right...

Maybe its better being shit than being nothing I guess. Gotta get that mileage.

>>3063812

different anon
yeah it kind of sucks to make shitty drawings in a sketchbook but the benefit is that it's not on like some 6 dollar piece of paper and it's a much better upgrade than a notebook.

if you really hate a drawing a lot in your sketchbook you can always draw on something else and glue the drawing on top of the really bad drawing.

>>3063833
>draw on something else and glue the drawing on top of the really bad drawing
This. And I've also seen people use sticky notes to cover up drawings.

>>3063833
hahaah thanks, this makes me feel a little better.

>fill an entire book per month

ok senpai

>>3063770
Or it could be great reference when you have an idea for a(n intentionally) shitty look and need it as a guide.

But yea, Sketchbooks are pretty necessary to help in your skills OP.

I've been working with loose leaf paper for years and finally got a sketchbook last month.

It's great. Not only is it portable, it's a useful tool for tracking my progress. I can see what I was drawing on any given day, and I can tell how much I'm working based on how quickly the book fills. And when it's done I can sit it on my bookshelf and have a permanent archive.

>>3063802
>>3063803

The only downside to more expensive sketchbooks is they can be very intimidating to draw in.

It's best to have two sketchbooks, a nicer one for more presentable pieces and a cheaper one that's nothing but a surface to get ideas on.

>>3063770
what's wrong with just using sheets of paper, putting the dates on them and keeping them all? That's what I'm doing right now since sketchbooks are more expensive than paper, though I have some sketchbooks and use them for drawing outside,
I'm thinking about just getting some cheap paper binded with a spiral, to make sketchbooks for pencil and pen drawings, just for sketches and quick drawings outside.
I know that expensive paper is better, but I don't think that I need it for simple drawings and sketches, learning the basics and so on, I'll use it when I'm better and when I actually need it.

what do you people use for serious drawings? just a random sketchbook?

>>3064835

Unless you bind the loose sheets it's very easy for them to get disorganized.

>>3064841
Bristol paper for serious finished works.

>>3063812
start your book in the middle and fill it in both directions, mask your shitty progression and psychologically get over your book having a beginning and end, eventually it will be full. You can even go back and clutter bad pages with new work later to fill it out.

>>3064841
Bristol, Stonehenge, BFK Rives, Illustration Board

>>3063763
>I also read something about filling at least one sketchbook per month.
Artificial measure. Draw what you want, however often you want.

Ask yourself if you want to fit in or make a masterpiece.
If you want to fit in, get a sketchbook.
If you want to make a masterpiece, find whatever is cheapest and spend as much time as possible practicing. Printer paper and a clipboard.

Do musicians record everything they play? Let your studies die.

>>3065070
Holy shit everyone has a different opinion about this, I just don't know anymore.

I got a binder, I think it's a great solution to sketchbook anxiety. Mine fits A5 paper so it's pretty small, it only cost like $5.

You can fill it with different paper (I've got plain, toned and watercolor), and you can also take stuff out/move it around easily. It takes any of the stress of potentially 'ruining' a page away because you know you CAN take it out, though I still recommend keeping your bad drawings somewhere.

I cannot fucking believe there is seriously a thread where there is someone asking if he should buy a sketchbook, and whether or not he should then draw in it. Do you ask permission to tie your goddamn shoes too?

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>>3065135
pretty depressing isn't it?

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dooooo eeeettt .
fucking slaker.

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>>3065135
are you a little mentally inept? I don't see whats wrong with anon asking.

he basically wants to know if theres a difference between mantaining a sketchbook and just drawing on papers and throwing them away later, which is fine for someone starting, even moreso because sketchbooks are kind of expensive.

you should think more before posting drivel like this.

>>3065047
Which is the best one when you use copics?

>>3064803
This is a good idea, I bought a really nice hard cover sketchbook a few years ago and was terrified to 'fuck it up' with stupid doodles so I bought a $5 doodlepad as a buffer. It's nice to have the professional looking sketchbook with more fleshed out pieces and concrete concepts and a little doodle pad for when you want to draw stupid shit or need to practice.

>but honestly you'll get over the newness of the pro sketchbook over time and soon enough you'll be doodling dicks in the corner of the pages

>>3063763
Filling a sketchbook in a month can be extremely difficult depending on what you're drawing and how big your drawings are vs the size of your sketchbook. Don't worry about filling it in a month, just focus on drawing something everyday and you'll be buying a new sketchbook in no time.
I've been drawing for about ten years and I only have something on the order of 25ish filled sketchbooks.

>>3063763
The sketch books I use go anywhere from $2-$5 for 60 A4 sheets at my local everything store (big W in aus). You can find decent quality stuff for cheap at office supply stores instead of art stores. Back to school sales are your friend and also some of those asian deal websites can come up with good stuff, but the quality there varies a lot.

I put a lot of whatever in my sketch books. Studies, gestures, doodles, shopping lists (usually I go back and illustrate them later), story ideas, notes/write-on self crits, sometimes photos and cut-outs, I test different materials, design prompts, life-drawings - pretty much anything that I could possiblyneed a piece of paper for that I could relate back to art in some way. Admittedly I probably wouldn't be as free if I were using higher quality materials, but since I can get a sketchbook for cheaper than a coffee I don't see any harm in it.

I used to be afraid of sketchbooks when I was younger, mostly because it was my parents that were paying. I didn't want to waste the 'good paper' on bad drawings because I didn't want my folks to look and think they wasted their money. These days I don't worry so much because I'm an adult and I can do whatever I want and no one ever has to see it.

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>>3065135
>>3065148
faggot OP isn't asking that, he's asking if it's worth getting a sketchbook at all compared to a generic notebook and if he should only use it for serious drawings or also use it for practices and quick sketches he may not like once done.

Get fucked, both of you, for bitching about someone for something you can't even read correctly. Are you really this retarded?

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>>3063763
My suggestion is get two sketchbooks, one good one and one cheap crappy one. Just focus on the crappy one, doing everything in it and treating it like scrap paper to practice on but never remove pages. When you feel that you want to try hard on a good drawing, use the shitty one. Once in a while think about using the good one, you'll probably not want to ruin it with mediocre and bad stuff and so you'll put off doing anything in it and it'll ruin your motivation. This way when you feel like you want to draw but not worry about wasting something valuable you can do stuff in a cheap blank notebook without concern.

>>3065088
kek, get something crappy so you don't stress over it.

>>3065632
don't listen to this guy if you want to get good. in the beginning when you're shit, put high value on quantity as you learn the most from your mistakes.

or you could end up as a 10 year experienced artist who's only filled in 25 sketchbooks and still browses /ic/ when he could be in his artistic prime years

>>3065686

anon, some people draw digitally as well.

>>3065686
Don't listen to this guy if you want to get good. If you put your focus on quantity of sketches and doodles over spacing out exercises with work you actually think about while making you're going to get into the habit of half assing it and still be unable to draw an anatomically correct figure in 10 years while browsing /ic/ /beg/ threads.

>>3065688
I draw both traditionally and digitally. I do minimum 1 presentable piece in digital daily and however much I feel like doing in my sketch book. Usually go through about a sketchbook every 6-8 weeks.

>>3065695

And?

Not everyone is going to have your workflow, it doesn't magically mean they draw less than you.

Is filling a sketchbook per month actually the norm? I've been drawing for like 2 years and I've only gone through like 10 sketchbooks.

clipboard and printer paper, final destination.

>>3065718

No.

It's an ideal, the thing everyone suggests but only a handful of people actually do.

It's not really -hard- to fill a sketchbook every month if it's not too big, but usually people who do waste a lot of space on their pages anyway. I think hours spent is a more useful metric than pages filled.

>>3064082
nigga i've filled up 8*11 inch sketchbooks in less than a week with every page covered in drawings, front and back pages and all. get to work, faggot.

>>3065677
get fucked yourself. It's obviously worth it. You can get a decent one for like 13 dollars and mine last me quite a while. It's not like shelling out a couple thousand for a fucking tablet.

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>>3064803
Thanks for the tip anon, just bought two sketchbooks, one expensive and another 1/2 the price of the other.

And I'm in love with the cheap one, I'm filling it with info and drawings from Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing book and will fill it more with Anatomy.

To be honest I don't even think I'll use the expensive one, when I finish this up I'll just buy two of the cheap because they are so good.