The Messbook

Sketchbooks! I love them. I have a lot of them, and I use them for a lot of different things. I assume some people wonder why all my sketchbook work is so neat and tidy, and if I ever doodle or actually sketch or anything like that. Of course I do!

I have a few different kinds of sketchbooks, and the ones I'm especially fond of and work in regularly are the ones I call my messbooks and neatbooks.

The kind of sketchbook pages that I've shown thus far have been from my neatbooks, where the goal is to get each page to a finished state, to practice working in different media, and to be spontaneous and well thought out at the same time, in varying degrees. It's an exercise/experiment/workout/practice sketchbook, and everything is pretty tidy. Hence the name, neatbook.

Now, what most people would call a sketchbook, I call a messbook, because I go wild and make a mess. In it, I plan out illustrations and compositions, draw ideas and plans for toys and puppets, write, draw from observation, and of course, doodle endlessly. If I like something in there enough, it becomes the starting point for a new neatbook page, a painting, a plush toy, etc.

So, here is a little sampling from my messbook sketchbooks, just to give you an idea of what I mean.






















So! There you have it. I've made a new collection on flickr called Sketchbooks, and in it are the sets for my Messbook and Neatbooks No.1 & No.2. Well, from here on out, I'll be posting sketchbook images both neat and messy!