Whether in notebooks, journals or the back of an envelope….it’s always fascinating how ideas are captured on paper. This book review: Illustrator’s sketchbooks presents a fabulous array of styles and approaches.
The editor, Martin Salisbury, has selected examples from the past century to current times, where the crossover to digital adds an interesting edge.
Quite apart from seeing pages from each artist, we also get to know how they think about these ubiquitous vessels that contain their initial work.
For John Cuneo a sketchbook is ‘a personal document and a coping mechanism.’
Charlotte Ager feels that they ‘can reflect memories back at you.’
Henrik Drescher’s is ‘a filing cabinet of [one’s] imagination.’
Isidro Ferrer describes it as a ‘visual laboratory’ where he ‘can collect surprises.’
Chloe Cheese finds that, in her drawings, she is ‘grasping the core’ of what interests her.
I loved learning that Christopher Corr buys sketchbooks in the country he’s travelling in – concertina books from China or bound with handmade paper in India – adding another layer of context to his bright marks. He uses sketchbooks to ‘experiment and to make discoveries.’
Read this book and inspire yourself to write, jot, doodle, list and stick things in your sketchbook!
Illustrator’s Sketchbooks, edited by Martin Salisbury, is published by Thames & Hudson.
Order your copy from Golden Hare Books and receive a 10% discount with code bookbinderbookreview31 valid until 6th December 2023.
