Last year, a couple of friends (Mike Oliveri, Cullen Bunn, and a few others) were really talking up using a small writing or sketching book to jot down quick ideas. I’ve carried a larger sketchpad in my backpack for a long time, but I’d considered something smaller to compliment it.  So, I ended up purchasing a Moleskine, one with frames for storyboarding, that fits right in a pocket.

It’s been one of those things that, as an artist, has really helped how I work.  I use it for practice sketching, as well as for jotting down quick ideas. Sometimes it’s an art idea, sometimes a story idea, or both:

Other times, I’ll get some quote or idea running through my head, and I just need to get it down quick.  It can be decently detailed, just a line, or even just a scribble.  Believe it or not, I know exactly what all those scribbles on the right mean:

Since I’m working on both painted and cartoon work, I’ve also been toying with character ideas and sketches.  I’m trying to expand the idea in my head of what a person looks like, since there are so many variations.  I’m also trying more elaborate poses and emotions as well:

I decided with all of my general sketching, a long time ago, that I just have to go with the flow.  Sometimes it’s horror, sometimes it’s a cartoon or a thumbnail.  Often, I’ll jot some smartass remarks in as well.  This is a good example, as the Moleskine’s two frames per page design switched in the middle of the book to a more frame-by-frame setup, and I didn’t know where to start:

A page like this one is a bit of a combination of everything.  Some of it’s an idea for a painting, some of it is really just doodling. The helmet was inspired by a series of photographs from a lost WWII jungle battle, found 65 years later.

The Moleskine has allowed me to easily (and inexpensively) grab a sketchpad and take it nearly anywhere.  Whether it’s a restaurant, the doctor’s office, the car (while I’m a passenger… of course…). It helps keep those quick ideas from getting away, it allows me to practice my work wherever and whenever I get the chance, and it’s simply easy to deal with.

Much of the time, I really just want to sit and do art.  Sometimes, due to life, that’s not possible.  But having a small, easy way out to the imagination is very useful, and can at least bridge the gap between full studio time and dealing with real life.

Opinions?


Russell Dickerson

Russell Dickerson has been a lot of things over many years. Author, artist, designer, winner of awards and recognition, pursuer of the truth, leader of the earth after armageddon.

5 Comments

Andrey · July 8, 2010 at 4:40 am

Isn’t it LOST leg of Sebek?) on a first pic?

admin · July 8, 2010 at 6:59 am

I think I had the poem “Ozymandias” in my head at the time, but certainly Lost might have been in there as well. Thanks for checking it out!

Bailey · July 8, 2010 at 9:16 am

That’s some great stuff! I use Moleskines for writing (I only doodle), but I can definitely appreciate their portability in a similar way. They’re just so darn useful.

Fran · July 8, 2010 at 10:27 am

LOST’s leg has 4 fingers, not 5.

admin · July 8, 2010 at 9:40 pm

Thanks! It’s been very useful, and I’m getting well into the second half of the Moleskine now. I’ll be replacing it very soon, it really is helpful.

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