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April 29, 2021

Your Sketchbook Is a Tool

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You’re getting this email because you’re awesome. And because you signed up for it on taptapkaboom.com. You can unsubscribe (|UNSUB|) or share with others. (https://ttkb.me/blast) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSi710fPCe4&ab_channel=TapTapKaboom

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Are you striving for a beautiful sketchbook? So was I a few years ago. Like, you know, the ones you see on Pinterest right? I wanted my sketchbook spreads to be full of faces, imaginative scenes, characters, hands, pen drawings, and Posca marker illustrations.

But I never got there. Not even 10 pages of beautiful spreads.

It bugged me for a long time. I started digging into why I could never get there. I asked myself why I wanted a beautiful sketchbook. My reason: to look creative and appear imaginative. Whoa! I felt shallow. But my sketchbooks weren’t empty. The exact opposite was true. So I decided to audit the contents. What did they contain? Doodles. Thoughts. Ideas. Wireframes. Designs. Rants. Notes. Tasks to be done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSi710fPCe4&ab_channel=TapTapKaboom

It was a journal of my life and work. Wow. I never intended it to be one. It indicated what was important to me. It showed what was going in my mind. It dawned on me that a sketchbook is a tool. A tool to help you get from where you are to where you want to be. It’s a log. A way of processing. A way of progressing. An account of the passage of time. A deeply personal thing. Not a sketchbook, but a journal. In which I occasionally sketched and doodled. A tool for the journey. Not the final destination.

I imagine those beautiful sketchbooks I’d seen were indeed part of a journey. A journey towards a career as a concept artist. Or toward a 7th solo illustration exhibition. Or toward a 22nd published picture book. Or just what was on the artist’s mind that day. Or something they were curious about. Or wanted to try out. Not the destination. The pages in her sketchbook helped her get somewhere. Become someone. Achieve something. They were experiments. Prototypes. Tests. Play. Curiosity indulgences. Not the end goal. Not their best work.

Maybe as my dreams and goals change I’ll end up with a beautiful sketchbook. But it will be a byproduct of where I want to be. Of what I want to do. Of intention. Of goals. Of a journey toward something.

If you’re struggling to fill up your sketchbook, or if it’s sitting there full of untouched blank pages, and you have a desire to fill it up, ask yourself, “Where am I going? Who do I want to become? And how can this book help me get there?” Start. Experiment in it. Prototype. Make notes. Make it a tool. Use it. Bend it. Tear pages out.

You may discover that you‘re already on a journey somewhere. Already becoming someone. And that this desire to be someone else got in the way. Prevented you from walking your authentic path. You could also start by asking, “What do I want to fill my sketchbook up with? And why do I want to fill it up this way?” See where these questions lead. If you’re someone who does have a beautiful sketchbook, you can ask yourself the same questions.

Is this sketchbook the end goal? Or is it a tool for helping you get somewhere?

Hit reply and let me know how you use your sketchbook!

On a separate note: Skillshare are hosting a month-long workshop (https://www.skillshare.com/workshops/make-creativity-your-career-a-4-week-intensive-with-creative-entrepreneurs/1029/classes) called Make Creativity Your Career: A 4-Week Intensive with Creative Entrepreneurs. My Just Start class is featured alongside Bonnie Christine’s and Amarilys Henderson’s classes. If you want to get started on making creativity a thing you do for money, or if you want to level up your entrepreneurial skills, then check it out!

❤️ Big loves from Amsterdam – Rich from TapTapKaboom (https://taptapkaboom.com)

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