It's okay to have bad sketches

I clearly hated this so much I didn't even give the bear another hand

The amount of art and sketches that I was too embarrased to share is ALOT. My sketching phase is messy and blobby and crude and the list goes on. I recall feeling so mediocre in art school when it was time to draw something from scratch rather than a still life. I'd picture it in my brain and then when I went to put pencil to paper I was severly unhappy with the outcome. BUT, over time I realized it did not need to be perfect immediately. I could keep sketching over it and over it again and again until I reached a happy spot. It did't mean I was less worthy than others, but it meant I just had a different process. I don't think it was until the past few years that I have embraced this feeling. I destinctly recall a moment in 2020 where I could not believe how icky one of my sketch attempts made me feel. After being inspired by artist Rebecca Greens sharing of her "uglies" as she calls them, I thought it would be fun to open up my sketch books and art drawers to find some random baddies and random goodies. Let's dig in!

This is my art drawer (shout out to IKEA), and most drawers are filled to the brim with artwork!

Opening two of the drawers you can see how jam packed they are with artwork. Stacks on stacks on stacks as one might say. There are sketches, finished illustrations, first attempts, swatches, and second attempts. I pulled out some random sketches to share below.

I honestly don't recall what this elephant was for, but clearly I didn't think he was worth showing at the time. Looking at him now, he definitely makes me laugh.

This sketch was an attempt to draw animals without looking at them for reference. They're a bit crude but I do think that was a fun art assignment for myself.

I actually wouldn't consider this a baddie at all, but I forgot about this little astronaut drawing. I believe it was one of my first ones ever!! I was figuring out the style I wanted in my astronaut series and this was one of the attempts.

So, if you recall I wrote the book I'm working on waaaay back in 2017, and at the time I made a few sketches for the charachter and the book. At the time I thought they were awful and I was so overwhelmed by the project that I hit pause for several years. Looking at them now, they aren't bad by any means, but I'm honestly glad I abandoned ship because I really like the art direction now.

Random animals in tubs for my bathroom animal series. I think I was toying with a playful style versus a realistic look and ultimately went realistic.

This random bear and sheep...Very childlike, but ultimately he's cute and playful and I think he may be wearing a swimsuit. The sheep is the opposite direction and (gasp) legless!

Repetitive fox faces and one bear

Two more to go: Random roller skaters and a very sassy girl eating a sammie!

And final sketch share: This may be the winner...an entire page devouted to this "c" shaped line. What was it supposed to be? And why did I decide to move on so quickly?

I truly got a kick out of exploring my sketchbooks and my art drawer. Definitely has reminded me that it's okay to start out rough and likely it's not as bad as I think. I would also argue this is a lovely reminder to not be afraid to jump right in to creating art. Even if its rough at first...ya gotta start somewhere!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to chatting with you again in May!

xoxo, Rachel