📝 On Keeping a Sketchbook
A playroom for ideas. A room of one's own.
So much of the adventure of the life we lead rushes past us in a blur. Velocity is the culprit. Velocity and pressure. A sketchbook freezes time. It is an instantaneous form of meditation focusing us on the worth of every passing moment. — Julia Cameron
A sketchbook is a playroom for ideas. It’s a safe space for imagination, a place to have fun.
I began using sketchbooks when I started Architecture at university. Back then, I got used to the classic Moleskine cahier: thin, light, and flexible. They’re still sold in packs of three (though now double the price) and I still use them at work. Those early sketchbooks are filled with architectural designs, sections, construction details, and notes and drawings of buildings.
After finishing uni, when I suddenly regained most of my time, I began exploring other types of drawing I hadn’t had the space for during my studies. I started sewing my own sketchbooks using leftover paper (always used Canson Basik) and materials from models (recycled greyboard) I’d built during my masters. I then began experimenting more with illustrations and character sketches, drawings of elements I felt drawn to. At the time, I was hugely inspired by Paula Bonet’s earlier work.
The beauty of a sketchbook is its versatility. It is, truly, a room of one’s own. Just as a playroom can be filled with LEGO, Barbies, or all sorts of toys, a sketchbook can contain your personal fascinations and interests.
These days, I see my sketchbooks as extensions of my mind: places to jot down thoughts, but also canvases for memories, mementos, quotes, places, events, projects... Things I am designing, looking at, or things I want to remember. I still keep a sketchbook for exploratory drawings and design at work, but my personal sketchbook(s) extend beyond my career. They are spaces that reflect a broader interest in life and art.
My current sketchbooks include a pocket-sized A6 sketchbook I bought in Australia last year, where I sketch my daily small assignment and jot down notes and quotes, and a Leuchtturm A5 dotted journal, where I plan and draft ideas.
Personally, I think it’s helpful to have different sketchbooks for different purposes, just as a home has distinct rooms for different functions. Of course, this should be done with some sense of balance as keeping too many sketchbooks can become messy and counterproductive. The key is to spend enough time in each playroom and nurture that space.
When I reflect on the sketchbooks I’ve kept and used over the years, I realise there are three main ways I’ve filled those blank canvases that are their pages. Of course, they often overlap and could be expanded much further—these three are simply the main ones I’ve used and continue to return to:
1
Problem-Solving: Exploration, Design, and Discovery
This is a playroom where I unleash my imagination to solve problems. There are a couple of ways I approach this: one is straightforward—using the sketchbook as a workbook to explore design or craft ideas, whether for work or personal projects. The other is using the sketchbook more actively to dissect things I find interesting, usually places or images I want to study more closely. Looking back through these types of sketchbooks, at what caught my attention and what I enjoyed sketching, I’ve started to notice patterns and uncover clues about myself.
2
Visual Thinking: Planning, Mapping, and Visualising
This is the closest I get to a planner or journal, somewhere to visualise and organise time and ideas into mental maps and diagrams. It’s similar, in a way, to the previous approach, but with a more structured and organised feel. Some might argue this doesn’t really count as sketching, as it leans more towards the abstract organisation of thoughts. However, I believe there’s real value in this type of sketching ideas, especially when combined with the previous approach in the same sketchbook. It allows ideas to be arranged from language into a more visual and spatial way.
3
Collecting Memories: Capturing Moments and Urban Sketching
One of the ways I’ve kept a sketchbook in recent years and the one I’ve come to love the most is what Julia Cameron describes as capturing ‘the many small adventures of life as you actually live it.’
I’ve kept travel sketchbooks during bigger trips, like the one to San Francisco, Normandy, and more recently, the Kiwi Chronicles. And I’ve sketched alone and with others—the post below is a celebration of some of the drawings I made during one of the wonderful urban sketching sessions with the Urban Sketchers group in Auckland, New Zealand:
These are more personal and evocative sketches, and I tend to accompany each drawing with a bit of text, and sometimes I’ve consciously chosen a special sketchbook for a particular trip, like the yellow San Fran book, or used one of my self-made books, like the ones I used for Normandy and Summer Back Home.
It’s a beautiful way of storing memories. Hockney says that a photograph captures just an instant in time, whereas a painting or a drawing contains time. The experience is richer, deeper. When I look at a sketch I made during these trips, the recollection of the journey or of the specific events feels more emotional, more layered, more vivid than what a photograph evokes. It’s as if I can re-paint the memory in a more vivid colour than if I were just looking at a photo of that same place.
Of the three sketchbook approaches I’ve used, this has recently become my favourite one. The one bringing me the most joy. The key, and what I’m trying to apply these days with small daily sketches of London, is not to wait for a special trip to draw those moments. Instead, it’s about making it a daily habit in the wonderful city I’m fortunate to live in. Yes — everyday life itself is also an adventure.
I’ve truly enjoyed writing this letter and going back in time through my own sketchbooks. This is a reminder to everyone but mostly to myself: sketchbooks are sources of joy. Even if it feels meaningless, or small, or silly, or you think your drawings are rubbish, just keep sketching. Keep going. Do it for yourself, and for no one else.
✏️✨
Happy sketching!
Ana