Rethinking the sketchbook habit

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“routine behavior repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.”

“An acquired behavior pattern followed until it has become almost involuntary.”

“Something you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing you are doing it.”

—Dictionary definitions of “habit”:

If we want to make art and we want to get better at it, we’re told to build a daily sketchbook habit. Now, I do create almost every day in some way, and I do keep a sketchbook, but is it a habit?

Definitely not.

I sketchbook in bursts. When I’m inspired. When I have ideas about what I want to sketch. Otherwise, I do something else.

This strategy of course is not a habit, and if I’m honest I’m just not satisfied with my sketchbook practice. It lacks consistency and pages often feel random. I struggle with finding something to draw every day—and while I love art projects, I often wrestle with self doubt when it comes to my sketchbook. (Why am I doing this? What’s the point?) And bottom line, I just don’t work in my sketchbook enough.

I’m not embracing its place in my art practice.

So I had a rethink.

I didn’t seem to like the idea of forcing a ’daily habit’. I told myself that it felt too rule-bound, the opposite of the freedom and spontaneity I want for my art practice. But on closer inspection, was this true?

What was I resisting?

I’ll never forget the afternoon years ago when I first consulted my new fitness trainer (Oliveyah), and she told me that if I wanted to get in shape I would have show up to the gym at 7:30am to train with her small groups three times a week.

Oh no, I said, I don’t do exercise that early in the morning.

Oh yes, she said, that’s what we do—and you should too if you really want results.

One reason I don’t sketch consistently, I think, is because I don’t want to face the equivalent of an early morning workout. To get myself to the page consistently, whether I feel like it or not. To face those cold (blank) pages.

The other reason is that I haven’t believed in its importance.

With exercise, I guess I finally felt bad enough in my body after years of neglect that I started the new exercise routine. And at first it was a true struggle.

For at least six months I woke up every one of those mornings with a pit in my stomach.

I had to force myself into the car at dawn.

I had to force myself to go into the gym against a heavy tide of dread.

And then I had to endure workouts that really challenged my body.

A sketchbook practice is way easier than that!

Finally, one morning many months into my new routine I opened the door to the gym and I suddenly realized that I hadn’t thought about it. I had had no problem getting out of bed. I didn’t force myself into the car or dread the workout on the drive over. I just drove. Exercise had become a habit.

And that habit continues to this day.

I stopped questioning whether I should or would go to the gym (now outdoors). I just went. Could there come a time when I just open my sketchbook and not question whether I should—or would—create?

And the reason I stopped questioning, now that I think about it, is because I came to experience so many benefits of exercising consistently. While exercise never got easier—it’s supposed to be challenging—I feel great after every workout (endorphins are real!) I’m stronger. I exercise with friends and I feel so much better in my body.

Maybe the same can be true for a sketchbook habit.

Maybe I’ve been avoiding truly committing to my sketchbook because I’ve been afraid to confront the challenges a daily sketching commitment—like facing the blank page and making drawing choices every day, not to mention all the other difficult emotions one naturally cycles through in the creative process.

And maybe—like when I didn’t exercise consistently in my life for years (and years) before I finally committed—I didn’t believe my sketchbook was important enough.

Really?

  • The PLEASURE of pen or brush on the page

  • The lovely feeling of being fully PRESENT

  • The surprise when DISCOVERING new line, shape, texture…

  • Really SEEING while drawing from life

  • The absolute fun of INVENTING while drawing from imagination

  • The satisfaction of LEARNING craft

  • CONNECTING with Self—responses, challenges, emotions, voice

  • EXPRESSING my Self

  • BUILDING SKILL over time

  • The unexpected JOY in any of the above.

What might happen if I stop questioning whether to work in my sketchbook each day—and just do it?

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I hope my story helps you think about your own relationship to your sketchbook practice. Next week in Part 2 I’ll share how I’m creating a sketchbook habit that sticks.