I have decided to start a monthly sketchbook review. I will share my sketching practice once a month here on my blog, instead of Instagram and other social media. We will start with last month: August 2024. It wasn’t a very busy one, sketching wise, but there are still a few spreads to share.

When I went back to find my August sketches for the first monthly sketchbook review, I realised that this August actually wasn’t very strong sketching month for me, but still, let’s look at what I drew.

In my botanicals sketchbook I added a page of strawberry explorations. In this sketchbook, I try to capture my subjects realistically and go way into details. I use alcohol markers for these sketches. Some of them I outlined in black pen and some with coloured pencil. I must say, I like the pencil outlines much better. However when the sketches are small it’s just easier to use fine liner. I tried different approaches and learned quite a bit, though I wasn’t very happy with most of the sketches.

This small strawberry is my favourite from this page.

Next I dedicated on a spread to some pear sketches. I never drew pears before and thought it sounds fun. The big one above turned out well, but I’m not too happy with how boring the colouring is. It feels too restricted in greens and yellows. While realistic doesn’t make for a lot of dimension and interest. If I was to do it again, I’d use some pinks for warmth and blues in the shadows for depth.

The small sketch I added to the next page turned out way better. I let myself deviate from the colours in my reference image, which helped a lot in making it come alive. My lesson from this spread is to not rely blindly on references, but take liberties and be creative!

There’s still space on this spread, so I need to finish it, but I haven’t decided with what yet.

I drew a Hortensia blossom few months ago and quite enjoyed it. The plan was to draw another one on the next page, so I left it empty, but didn’t come back to it until August. I went for a different variety of Hortensia and got pretty lost in the details. Looking back, I see some issues coming from my sketch in terms of proportions, but all in all I had a lot of fun with this one and am fairly satisfied.

I also started a new sketchbook!

For the first page I chose to draw various pens, pencils and markers I may or may not use inside. I also used each of the pens and pencils to draw their own sketch in order to see how the paper would perform. Unfortunately I was pretty disappointed. Everything besides the pencils bleeds or ghosts, so I wouldn’t be able to draw on the backs of the pages meaning I would have to skip a spread every time I draw. I later realised the sketchbook is meant primarily for pencils and crayons, which are not materials I’m very interested in at this time, so I will continue to use it for pen and markers.

I decided to indulge myself in drawing some of the things I’ve always dreamt of heaving “when I grow up”, in this case: a little “mountain house” and a vegetable garden”. I have a weakness for A-frame cabins and generally speaking houses with slope-y roofs, so that’s what I drew.

On the next page I sketched some vegetable plants I love and must have in my future garden. I started adding text to my sketches, because I like the look of it and to practice a bit of lettering. I understand it may look silly and unnecessary (and it is), but I enjoy adding it and having it on the page, so that’s good enough for me!

And that is all I added to my “just for fun” sketchbooks this August. Let’s see if we can start a tradition of monthly sketchbook reviews!