Your SKETCHBOOK is supposed to be a Mess, not a Masterpiece

I’m going to show you my sketchbooks in this video, in fact, I’m going to show you how unimportant they are to me now, so much so that I often end up sketching anywhere but in the pages of my sketchbook most of the time.
I want to show you two sets of sketchbooks, one that I made when I sort of cared about what the drawings in my sketchbook look like, back when I was studying and the one I use today, which is frankly boring and unimpressive.
Cesar Santos' video:
• Sketchbook Tour 001. C...
James Gurney's Sketchbooks:
• Sketchbook Flip-throug...
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About me (bio) :
Website :
www.florentfarges.com
I am an artist living and working in France. I learned the techniques of the Atelier of the Nineteenth century and now I try to share some of my knowledge with the rest of the world, because I think that beauty still has an important role to play in artistic creation. I do mostly drawing and oil painting, and my goal is always to provide techniques, thoughts and explanations that can be useful to anyone, from beginners to more advanced artists.
The material I use most of the time (not necessarily in this video) :
Drawing
✓ Kneaded eraser
✓ Plumb line (DIY)
✓ Small mirror
✓ An old synthetic brush
✓ Masking tape
✓ Cutter
✓ Sandpaper or sanding block
✓ Mahlstick or Hand rest (DIY)
✓ Level ruler
Graphite
✓ Pencils 2H, HB and 2B
Charcoal
✓ If available: Nitram charcoals (H, HB and B)
✓ Square charcoals
Black and white chalk
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
✓ Square Conté noir : HB and 2B
✓ Chalk or pencil holder
✓ Pencil sketch Conté Pierre noire : H and HB
Sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté : Blood and blood Medici
✓ Crayon Polychromos Faber-Castel : sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Sennelier, Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor and Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt, Blockx, Michael Harding, Gamblin)
✓ Titanium White PW6
✓ Flake White (or substitute) PW1
✓ Cadmium Yellow light (or "lemon") PY35
✓ Yellow Ochre PY42
✓ Raw Umber PBr7
✓ Transparent Red Oxyde PR101
✓ Burnt Umber PBr7
✓ Venetian Red PR101
✓ Pyrrole Red PR255
✓ Quinacridone Rose PV19
✓ Quinacridone Magenta PV19
✓ Ultramarine Blue PB29
✓ Mars Black PBk11
✓ Cobalt Teal Blue (turquoise light) PG50
✓ Phthalo green warm PG36
Brushes
✓ Filbert hog bristle and Synthetic sizes n° 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
✓ Flat Synthetic brushes (same size)
✓ Round sable brush or round Kolinsky sable n° 4, 8, 10, 12 (from the size of the nail (about one inch) or synthetic imitation
Medium
✓ Linseed stand oil
✓ Odorless mineral spirits
✓ Or Alkyd medium (Liquin, Galkyd, Flow'n'Dry etc.)
✓ Safflower oil
Surface
✓ Linen canvas, fine grain universal coating
✓ For studies : Canson oil-acrylic oil paper Figueras
Others
✓ Palette
✓ Sponge and spalter brushes
✓ Palette knife in the shape of a water drop, no souldering
✓ A few small pots, containers, jars...
✓ Paper towels
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#art #painting #inspiration
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Thanks for watching !

[@FlorentFargesarts]

📒✏🖌🖍Tell me, what does your Sketchbook look like📒✏🖌🖍? Is it a Mess or a Masterpiece?

[@viniciuspaolini4007]

As in an old japanese saying, every person has three faces. The first that the person shows to everyone. The second that is shown to the closest people. Third is never shown. The last one defines my sketchbook.

[@exhortationsofanartist8118]

The only way I can describe my sketchbooks is "Glorious Chaos".😅 On some of my finished sketches, I like to try out new materials to see what will work on top of different materials, and it ends up looking like a little kid got a hold of my sketchbook.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Haha, that's the spirit 😂😂👍👍 Seems perfect to me!

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Perfect 👌

[@alik2897]

two years ago I started focus more on quantity in my sketchbooks, not quality, because I realised I rendered anatomical incorect sketches for sake of looking good... but now I just sketch. I dont care anymore. I often do exercises on time - like faces and gestures in two minutes and I got better at drawing tremendously! Nobody looking in my sketchbooks anyway, it's very liberating this way

[@trisht5064]

i am much the same ! and i dont care who sees them 😅 its usually only me . i think they are a place to do make pencil/pen miles

[@lmiller1356]

Thank you for this video. My sketchbooks are for planning, sketching out ideas for future pieces & practicing composition, perspective , things I want to improve on (I also write ideas/notes to myself too). I always felt like what I do in a sketchbook is “wrong” because I don’t produce pretty/finished pieces in them so I don’t show them. Now I appreciate that private space where I’m free to do what I want, everyone else sees what I do on social media in forms of painting videos or photographs but the sketchbook process is just for me.

[@ssssssscrow]

Fabulous Florent! I no longer have a sketchbook for much the same reasons you state! My sketchbooks now are scrap books as most drawings for ideas are done when the idea pops up and in whatever material is to hand . I can then edit these , 80 percent ending in the bin and if I feel something has some interest , relevance or I just like the look of it ; I stick it in the book. Thankyou for your great instruction and observations!

[@allenvoss7977]

My time is very limited, so must’ve Caravaggio. I sketch it out like you. I want most of my time spent with the paint brush, not the pencil.

[@TheCompleteGuitarist]

I love art in book format. So I love a good art book. I love well made illustrated children's books and graphic novels especially when they are wordless. So many talented people working in these small formats. I also love medieval psalters. Even Van Dyck started out making incredibly tiny drawings and paintings for these prayer books. And of course who doesn't love a great youtube sketchbook video tour. As you say there are some incredibly talented people out there who produced beautifully 'manicured' sketch books that are a work of art in their own right. I went to art school in London in the 80s and still own one or two of my early sketch books and I can honestly say that on every level they are awful. I am not a professional artist but I still draw and want to get back into painting and I use sketchbooks now as a way resolving problems, either design wise, or technique or just as a way of exploring ideas without commiting myself to a final work. They contain some interesting peices but as a unit they are not pretty to look at and fairly inconsistent. The best thing I ever did was date a page or work so I can keep track of progress.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks for your comment. Indeed, keeping track of your progress is huge, I didn't talk about about and I always forget to date my sketches as well but it's can be a great benefit to the experience.

[@turdleyurtle]

I feel like James Gurney's sketchbooks aren't "practice" works, they tend to be plein art paintings fully done, just in a sketchbook. It's important to remember that when looking at them - those beautiful paintings are fully done paintings, mostly Alla prima, just done in a portable form. Totally different from practice/academic study, and thumbnail sketchbooks! I do those, and thumbnail or practice like you do. Also as someone who studied art history forever I LOVE imperfect sketches and sketchbooks, the scribbles, mistakes, various thumbnails, etc.

[@ArtByHazel]

Thank you. ⚡️ Embracing the mess is helpful because that’s how you learn anyway.

[@mountainside26]

I love your honesty- calling yourself out! Very refreshing. 😊

[@nancie66612]

I use mine to practice, sometimes travel sketching or colour mixing, experiment and play and hopefully improve. I love seeing beautiful sketchbooks but for me it's more about practicing in private, trying things to see what works and what doesn't.

[@SchaeferArt]

This is a really great video and well put together. I like how you explain the different ways artists use sketchbooks and how you use it yourself. Gives insight into the mind of an artist. Made me want to grab a sketchbook and experiment with new ideas.

[@kimberlyjeffers1623]

Just like you, as a place to hammer out ideas. I’m embracing that more and more these days.

[@mikel4757]

Great Video! Very liberating to hear. I simply like to doodle in a sketchbook. Sometimes an idea for a painting my come from it. Even in meetings at work I doodle while listening. Actually helps me focus better.

[@dotbase3PF]

You’re my favorite fine artist. I appreciate your opinion on sketchbooks. My stroke technique improved from listening to you. Thank you!! I see my sketchbooks as engaging with my imagination. Showing myself thoughts… I’m visual, auditory, technical. Then adding sticky notes and annotating creative art direction. I have a tendance towards intense details and depth of comprehension of overall production about the role my imagination plays in my creative art process. I’ve had 100s of sketchbooks. I’m at the point where I am keeping three sketchbooks to keep track of multiple art projects and creative endeavors.

[@erniecelindsey8418]

I use my sketchbook to develop my style and experiment with color. My paintings and drawings are usually pretty finished in my sketchbook. I finish them for myself cause I like to go back and look at them and see how I am progressing.

[@majer__art]

Brother I love your videos so much! God bless you!! Greetings from Austria Vienna 🇦🇹 ❤️ 🙏 🙌 ❤️ you're really really awesome! I follow you since a long time! Keep up the great work!!!! 🎉

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you so much, I appreciate ❤🙏

[@theghostofsabertache9049]

It’s the same with journaling. The internet will show you journals that are works of art filled with perfect calligraphy and watercolours on all the pages. The reality, if my own journals are anything to go by is pages of sometimes messy hastily written notes on train journeys and lunch breaks and maybe a few rough pencil sketches of diy projects or doodles of plants when I’m bored or have a bit of spare time. What you see on the internet are art projects not organic journals that are filled with the detritus and small notes accrued over the course of an average day like shopping lists, task lists, random phone numbers you jotted down for one reason or another and never wrote a name next to so 6 months later you I’ve no idea who that number belongs to a notebook or journal is a realistic snapshot in to a the writers life not a display piece that’s written for the admiration of others who may read it.

[@josheridan9746]

This is great - I've never understood why there is so much effort put into sketchbooks, and now you have given me permission to use them in a way that makes sense... ❤

[@Jules_Pew]

My sketchbooks are a mess too. Sometimes I'll spend longer on a sketch if I'm enjoying it, but quite often it's just polishing a turd. I do travel with one as I often arrive early, so take it out to while the time away sketching what's around.

[@sapoley8638]

Great video. I sketch and doodle somehow loosely, with whatever type of pen I have at the moment, and very frequently not always on my sketchbook! For me, creating a tight or a more finished sketch it’s somehow rewarding, but it normally develops after I’m doodling that idea for while. Many times I used the “final” sketch as a digital icon on my communication media. Sometimes the smaller digital icon looks better than the original.

[@SmartStr33t]

Thanks for this important point. I am a musician who enjoys drawing as well. I bought a sketchbook but have not drawn anything in it because of the KZbin-perpetuated idea that a sketchbook should also be a work of art. Think I need to break the back of it and just do some doodles to get started.

[@Jules_Pew]

Forum I used to belong to recommended drawing a dick on page one. There - it's ruined now, so might as well just use it for crap. Have fun.

[@originsbeyond]

Yes yes yes 🙏 love this.

[@trisht5064]

hi florent i agree with the way you use your sketch book. i sketch for drawing practice i never finish a sketch 😂 i just go with the flow when im fed up or no more time i close the sb until another day. but what i feel having watched your great video is i could just right my ideas in there too! 👌instead of a tiny note i either loose or ignore 😅 thank you florent. i am going to buy a few more sketch books and have them around the house🎉

[@dancordova1004]

GREAT VIDEO! My goal is to one day paint, I have been using my sketchbook to become better at drawing. I feel like my drawing has to be very strong before I attempt to paint. I don’t want to end up with a bunch of bad paintings. I feel like I’m almost at the point to try to transfer my drawings to canvas. Your grid technique is very smart! Thanks for sharing!

[@bencourtwright]

Love all of your videos

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you so much 😊✨

[@InfinitaGioiaPatCHesall]

Thank you for sharing 😊

[@elleeo1495]

Sketchbooks have so many varied uses. I have several. They are mainly for practice. I might use one in the future for studies of specific subjects, such as animals in many poses. I do love a beautifully designed sketchbook, but I don't have any that I would want published for all to see.

[@thomasmacdonald8145]

I think your approach to sketchbooks is great. Used more as a stepping stone towards final paintings. I think if you’re a beginner artist and doing more studying per say, stick to newsprint or loose sheets until you feel you’re at a stage where you ready to complete finished works. Until then nothing is precious and it’s a lot cheaper!

[@rajeshvishwakarma7943]

Your videos are very helpful

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Very true and useful video

[@krismaki757]

My sketchbook has some magazine pictures I've cut out to use in the future for drawing or painting, and a few drawings as I'm trying to improve that skill.

[@kartusink8501]

I tend to often treat my sketchbooks as a portfolio in itself and that quite often holds me back from experimentation. I need to try to do what you're suggesting in the video!

[@socratesthecabdriver]

My sketchbooks 🤔 I found that I really don't like books that the pages are fixed because they get stuck on the second or third page psychologically thing for sure, I do most of my sketching in the taxi while waiting for passengers on the taxi ranks,my favorite is spiral books just because I can easily tear out a page and gift it,because I know that the main goal is canvas,,still on pencil color scares me still got material paints but don't use them as much as I should..I don't think I have the peace of mind for it yet..I do spend some time on pencil when I think it's good enough.

[@pagansart]

When I was in school we were taught that our sketchbooks were basically about development of an idea. That’s it. Ugly or pretty didn’t matter, it was about reaching a point where you become comfortable with your vision and have worked out any hiccups you may have encountered with execution. I really really want to be one of those people who can create gorgeous tomes but I just ain’t. My sketchbooks inevitably become ugly repositories of misshapen ideas…lol

[@phyllisriley1013]

Fluent what is your favorite sketchbook?

[@Flintknife]

Grouping sketchbooks in to one or other of the 'camps' probably doesn't cover how most people use them. I've used them for over 40 years as a basis for ideas, small finished works, notes, colours, composition, scrapbooks etc, all mixed in the same book. My guess is that's the most common use. Also, they are a good place for experiment and fun.

[@rainerburmeister5758]

My sketchbooks are very chaotic, lots of unfinished drawings, color exercises and random stuff.

[@welcome1875]

Embrace imperfect👍

[@Herr_Vorragender]

Fortunately my language allows a difference between messy and tidy sketches. 😅 For the former we use "Schmierzettel" (smear paper). For the latter we call it "Skizze" (sketch). Because what's the point of using a binded book, when I only brain storm ideas into it 🤷‍♂ A piece of crumpled up recycled paper that came as stuffing in a post box is plenty fine for brain storming, I think 🤔

[@greekveteran2715]

What's the best paper or sketchbook for Red chalk (Conte/Kohinoor)? Please anybody?

[@manicangel7796]

Paradoxically, a chaotic, messy, barely describable words with x-d out pictures can make a notebook a masterpiece. Yes?

[@kerriemckinstry-jett8625]

My sketchbook is non-existent. I do sometimes make sketches of I'm trying to work some composition or other out, but they're loose papers which end up everywhere. Then again, I *only* do art for fun & in a very haphazard manner.

[@haidaralhaibi4416]

U have over 45 sketchbook ..I draw and paint without any preparations. And it looks perfect...some artists are perfectionist...i think this is destructive..

[@shuvoDhar.5537]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@FlorentFargesarts]

✨🙏🎨😊

[@blackbox5906]

🥃

[@mematron]

ALWAYS CHASE PERFECTION! There's nothing wrong with expecting the best and reaching for it.