A while ago, I started filling another small sketchbook with rough line sketches corresponding to letters of the alphabet. This is my second book of its kind. This time through, I drew all the pages in black ink before I started painting any of them. I gave myself some rules for this sketchbook. No pencil pre-drawing at all. I drew quickly and directly with indelible black ink so that I would not be tempted to fuss the drawings too much. I also did no research about what things actually look like. I relied on my memory alone. This was a challenge for me because I feel like I can draw anything as long as I have a good snapshot of it, but I can't draw anything well without some tangible reference material. I pushed myself to draw from memory. It was a great exercise. Of course, some of the drawings are pretty bad. But, some are pretty okay. :) I also enjoyed decorating the pages with designs inspired by my lifelong fascination with fabric, embroidery, and lace. I tried to follow a color scheme for each page. I didn't always succeed, but it was a good challenge to think ahead of what the overall page would look like after it was painted. As a child, I loved coloring books. This sketchbook felt like my grown-up coloring book, except I actually got to choose what went on every page. I'm not sure how many times I could do this, since I tapped out several letters. How many Q and X words are there really? Here is the inside of the front cover, with a reminder to myself of the rules I set for this book.
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| Alphabet 2 Rules |
