7 things I learned from my recent sketchbook

how I entered a growth phase, knowing it would be in public

This weekend I wrapped up and posted a new Sketchbook Tour video that you can watch at the end of this dispatch. The process of finishing this one was a constant back and forth between joy and slog. I designed a Go Bag zine with it, made a bunch of weird art with it for a class I took, and then left it in a drawer for several months, fully overwhelmed by it.

I was sure I would not finish this sketchbook.

Despite writing clear intentions in the front, I found myself ignoring them and longing for the book to have a clear focus. Was I only going to use it for zines? What subjects did I want to focus on? For a large part of last year, the book became a place for student demos in classes and on tutoring calls. It turned into a space in service to others, rather than to myself.

That all changed at the start of this year, when I pushed myself to draw something in the mornings in my planner, locking my phone in another room. If I wanted to drink coffee in bed, I had to draw rather than scroll.

the first page of drawings in my planner, playing with text and different materials like markers and crayons.

Challenges like this are hard and skipping days activates serious shame in me.¹ This time was different — I was drawing on cheap copy paper in my planner, adapting to my varying energy levels, and on occasion catching up or batching drawings.² Simply committing to some kind of gentle tap in, I just experimented. After 3 weeks with the daily practice, my desire to draw was reignited and I took off, finishing the final third of my sketchbook in a span of two months.

Every time I put one of these videos out in the world, it is a vulnerable thing, to show the uncomfortable growth phase with strangers on the internet. I do this because it feels essential to show the work and the struggle as an educator. How else would you trust me to teach you if I didn’t also sit in the trenches, spending a year and half finishing one book?

an alternate thumbnail I made for the sketchbook tour using a drawing of rocks I made in October 2024 on the left, and another drawing of rocks on the right from February 2026. It seems I’m really into rocks.

Here are my favorite things that I learned from this sketchbook to you to keep drawing:

1. Let yourself draw things that feel forbidden. I started the sketchbook drawing Baldur’s Gate 3 fan art³, new interpretations of tarot cards, and utopian commune lots I built in The Sims 4. It was cringe and freeing. Ultimately starting this way engaged real discomfort for me, but it was a refuge to sink into. I needed a place to play without judgement and make to avoid giving up. Please embrace drawing the things you like. Your quirks and varied interests are what makes your work uniquely human.

   

   one of my sims houses, made with a green roof out of shipping containers that exists in one of my commune builds. made with colored pencil in my sketchbook

2. The myth of consistency hurts artists⁴. Deprioritizing studio time is simply a reality of trying to make a living while being an artist in these times. As much as I want to perform consistency, trying chase that is a fool’s errand. I’d rather model divergent and chaotic practices that acknowledge that artists are sensitive and tender beings. This book happened in cycles or phases that were distinct and varied. Please, do not put pressure on yourself to “stay consistent.” It’s okay to abandon the practice and come back, gently, when you’re ready.

3. Learning to leave it. Have you walked a dog recently? Any dog can get curious about things that it shouldn’t, and that is the magic of teaching them the phrase “leave it.” In art, it applies a little differently. My version of “leave it” is knowing when to stop. Keeping a sketchbook makes me acutely aware of how often I will overwork a painting or keep pushing on something beyond a level of tiredness I am okay with. Resting is part of the process! I highly recommend learning to leave it by compassionately speaking to that dog in you that wants to dig things up and make a mess at the end of your studio session. If something feels magical or strange, it’s totally okay to leave it.

4. Use a medium that you never considered. About midway through 2025 I got some books out from the library on collage and after, I began cutting up my junk mail into fun shapes and gluing some of them into my sketchbook. Next thing I knew, I had a box of slices and was practicing regularly. By embracing beginner’s mind with this process, I developed a renewed relationship with design and illustration. Working tangibly I ended up creating some album art this year using collaged parts, and every single thumbnail I make on YouTube is collaged now. On a rare occasion, you end up liking a material so much you teach a class on it.

one of my favorite junk mail collages with characters I cut out of a timeshare sales ad and some text I painted. These guys are REALLY excited about painting.

5. Fill a page with crayons. When I read Syllabus by Lynda Barry last year my outlook on drawing changed. One of her assignments was to fill an entire page with cheap crayons. A student of mine had gifted me a set of 24 crayola’s after a session and I reluctantly did as Lynda Barry said and drew with this cheap and frustrating material. It was liberating, and connected me to my inner kid! This led to making crayon color charts, crayon-brand comparisons, and research into other types of crayons, including Lyra Crayons which transformed my practice.

6. Escaping the trap of the photo. Since art school, I have taken either a Vermeer approach, using a projector and a photo, or a whimsical impressionist approach, from life. Whenever I have worked from a photograph, my brain lets the academic painter take over and autopilot mix every color to be exact and constrained. I know how to make something look exactly like a photo and that is… a trap. The shapes fall flat and I often feel like a human printer. Subtractive drawing solved this for me. Using Lyra Crayons, a thick blobby graphite crayon, to cover a section of the paper and draw with my eraser, allowed me to start making more interesting shapes even when using photo references. I am now completely obsessed with this practice because it forces me to shut off the part of my brain that wants to explore perfection rather than leaving certain things be.

   

   drawing with Lyra Crayons first CHANGED ME. this process really helped inform more playful and painterly shapes once I took on the same image in gouache.

7. Clarity of presence. Near the end of the book there was quite a bit of writing and travel journaling happening. Another thing I felt I was not technically allowed to do. Didn’t I need to keep a clear line between serious Art and just documenting my life? Where did this come from? I just embraced taking notes and being present, observing the different plant species I saw and using the book as a way to share my memories of travel. This felt really freeing and led me to quicken the pace at which I was turning to the sketchbook.

I’d love to know: do you ever start a sketchbook and then stop midway through for some reason? What seems to be the things that stop you or get in your way? I’d love to hear from you in an email or in a comment below.

Thanks for reading, here’s the full tour you can watch at your leisure this week:

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Last week I totally redesigned the portal that my clients use to book time with me for Tutoring, Project Support and Retreat sessions and omg… it looks sexy? I now offer 30 minute sessions too if you just need a short check in on your work. You can check out the lil one-pager website and book some time to work with me here:

If you would like ongoing support and community, we have a small cohort already forming in the Emergent Classroom on Patreon! I’m genuinely so excited to start working with folks, growing their craft, and making space for gentle accountability.

This month we are:

• Gathering for a 60 min LIVE tutoring session

• Sharing studio time, coworking on projects

• Doing a reading together about imagination (like art school without the ego!)

Emergent Classroom folks also get access to: my DIY Creative Retreat PDF, Cycle Zero of The Hikers Way, and the recording of my class on building a foundation for your year. Want to join us? It’s $19/month.

1. this is one of many reasons why I always give up on The Artists Way

2. I’ve never completed a challenge consistently. I’ll have bursts of excited energy, and then rest and contemplate. My life is too varied to finish a 30 day or 90 day challenge without needing adaptation, batching, or breaks.

3. not intentionally at first and then entirely intentionally. I am, in fact a nerd.

4. this was the title for an entirely different video that I shared a few months back over on youtube and it really seemed to resonate with folks. you can watch that here.