Sketchbook Notes
Hello!
Welcome to my tiny little corner of the interwebs! Thank you for making time out of your busy schedules to read this. I hope I can make this a cozy space where I can share some insights, discoveries, ups, and downs, and projects and eventually build a community of likeminded people.
Let me introduce myself, in case you are new around here: Hi! I’m Romina ( she/her), I’m 44 years old and I am an Argentinian illustrator, although I haven’t always been an illustrator (that is a long and winding tale that I will leave for another time), I have a background in Graphic Design and I’ve worked most of my life as a set designer for theater companies.
Only 5 years ago, I took a leap of faith, put together a portfolio, and jumped! I have been very lucky since and I am continually overwhelmed by the response to my art.
This first issue is all over the place (I know!), but it’s because I feel the need of putting everything in context, as many of you don’t know anything about my process, background, etc. I don’t want to make it too long. I know we all have very busy lives filled (or bombarded with content). So I will try to keep it short! Hopefully, as the year progresses, the story will unfold naturally and you will learn a little about me, but most of all, about how to face a long-term project, how to develop a personal project, and how to inspire yourself and recharge your creative jar.
-The Burnout & how to dig yourself out of that hole -
So… last year, after 3 years of working on children’s books non-stop, I finally had a burnout. It was a confluence of many different issues (too much work, a chronic illness, the pandemic and lockdown, and a very horrible covid spell), but the result was: a complete inability to make art in any way. It was evident my well of ideas was dry. I needed time off.
I would say, in the first couple of months of 2022, I was in recovery.
I started by taking some time off, started knitting, decorating, baking, gardening... just to do something different (I know I am immensely privileged to be able to do this!). Then I slowly began doing silly drawings and paintings of things that made me happy during a very dreamy vacation. I kept the bar very low “Just paint what you love, it doesn’t have to be a new portfolio piece… it can just live in your sketchbook, privately.”
Allowing this time to find myself again, was so important. I realized that since I started this illustrator journey I hadn’t stopped to breathe and recharge. Of course, I was going to burn out!
Nothing made sense, but I just kept going. The point of these drawing and painting sessions was to get rid of the fear. Fear of making mistakes, of not having a consistent style, of not being good enough, of not being original enough… you name it, we all have those!
Slowly but surely, ideas started to surface. A little glimpse of a scene. I started to imagine what book I would love to illustrate right then and there… and instead of waiting for that miracle manuscript to fall into my lap, I wrote it. A simple, cute story about a bird. It was a beacon of light that I had to follow, so I re-wrote, sketched, and painted.
I joined a private critique group with some of my fellow The Cat Agency illustrators and the story kept changing and evolving thanks to their input. This group means a lot to me. As illustrators, we are always alone on our drawing boards and rarely interact with colleagues. Especially if you live far away from a city, Zoom meets with other illustrators can be a way to recharge your creative jar. It’s so refreshing to chat with them and learn that we all go through so similar situations with our work and we get to support and encourage each other.
At first, the story was about anthropomorphic animals who lived together in a tomato patch. I was happy giving my little bird a vest and making little miniature houses for her friends. But soon enough, the lack of a human kid was very crippling to the storytelling. I needed to anchor the story to a little girl, who would help and nurture this broken little creature.
My agent: Christy Ewers, and another associate agent: Christie Megill, also read and added to the feedback for this little story. And the story changed again, and again. Here comes the advice part: be open to receiving criticism, feedback, and opinions. Sometimes you are so entwined with your story that you fail to see where it falls short, what it lacks, and what is redundant. Their input was invaluable and I’m glad I have their trusty eyes and ears!
After almost 8 months, there was a dummy, sample pages, and a manuscript.
This little bird book is still a work in progress, and I promise I will keep you posted about the journey and where we land. I just wanted to use this project as an example of how in the middle of despair and apathy, you can start to find some sparkles inside. Follow that spark - it might end up in a sketchbook tucked away- but occasionally if you nurture it and dedicate time, it grows into a year-long project.
A little side note: this little creature below fell from a tree in the park and ended up living with me in the studio for 2 months. Now she is healthy and free but visits my patio every day (because I have the best treats!). Her name is Bertie! Proof that life imitates art imitates life!
- The daily sketchbook practice -
Now, as I am starting this new year, I feel like I am in a new place, creatively. I decided to take seriously my daily art practice. Something I’ve tried many times but always fail. When I’m on a break or between jobs, I dedicate time and effort to sketching daily, but as soon as I am swamped with work, the sketchbook is abandoned forever.
I realized that I was putting too much pressure on what a sketchbook practice should be. I imagined doing beautifully painted pages, and character studies with carefully designed layouts…. but the truth is, my sketchbook practice is messy and my pages are not tidy (sometimes they are, but sometimes they are a beautiful mess). Of course, the practice goes out the window when I get busy so I have to remind myself to keep it simple. For that, I made a sketchbook that I bind myself, out of Fabriano Mixed Media paper, so as to be free to play with gouache, pencils, inks, and anything and everything.
I am painting a little something every day since the beginning of the year. Somedays I make detailed illustrations or studies from textile artists like Josef Frank (Obsessed with his designs, but failing hard to incorporate all that color into my own practice). Somedays, I do small ink drawings that occupy a quarter of a page. But still, I sit for an hour, and work my creative muscle. The first week was so hard, I had to force myself to sit and not give up ( just like going back to exercising!)… “It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to show it to anybody”.
In fact, that is why posting pictures of it here is a bit weird because I still want to keep it a safe space where I am allowed to do anything I want. I encourage you to try it, it is fascinating how quickly you unfold when there are no other eyes on the page. I am now looking forward to my sketchbook time because it’s like a play date with my art supplies! Let me know if want to know more about this practice and I will make an Issue on just sketchbook practice.
If you want some inspiration for daily art practices I recommend:
Alena Kudriashova - Gastaldi ‘s IG and Youtube where she explores a daily art practice and makes incredible watercolor studies and plein air paintings.
The Countryside Chronicles IG and Youtube This one is aimed at nature studies, and if like me you love collecting specimens, then you will find endless inspirations here.
This short documentary about Beatrix Potter that inspired me to keep on pursuing my silly animal drawings.
Thank you for reading me! Hope I didn’t ramble too much! It would be an honor to meet you again next month when I’ll talk more in-depth about the Picture book process: Thumbnailing, Character sheets, Rough Sketches, and Finals using my newly released book: A Gift of Feathers as an example.
Pip Pip!
Romina