When I got back into drawing after a long hiatus, I initially started off working in sketchbooks, particularly Moleskines. At the time I had it in mind that this would be my main medium. I envisioned myself creating my own sketchbook picture book of amazing pointillism drawings that would later expand into printed volumes to fill a bookshelf. It was an ambitious idea.
Well, things change.
I just so happened to stumble upon these delightful little things called artist cards and fell in love. Immediately I found the cards to be easily mobile which was great for when I did any traveling but still wanted to get some drawing done. Add to that they’re easy to mount and with the size of matte board that I use it’s relatively easy to find a frame for them. To top it off the idea of creating these wonderful works of art at such a small size, I found both challenging, fascinating and a bit against the grain. In a culture where we tend to try to do everything big, going in the opposite direction is liberating and less exhausting. There’s something about art that is small but draws you in that creates a certain quiet intimacy that I never really felt while looking at a larger than life painting. So I made a complete switch to artist cards and haven’t looked back.
The thought of presenting a well worn Moleskine full of completed pen and ink gems is still a lovely idea to me so here are a few sources of inspiration from artists who have done just that. 😊
Carve & Draw 
Thank you for the terrific post. Beautiful work featured here. An enjoyable and inspiring experience. And you have inspired me to look into doing my own sketches on artists cards. Falls under the “Yay” category of life. Thank you again!
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Oh, I love your art whatever it is done on. I’m hopeless filling sketchbooks so I rarely buy new ones. That said, I bought one a couple of years ago which has a cover I love – so it’s nice to look at even if there’s very little inside it – and I bought it for fabric-design ideas, but nothing much has happened.
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Did I tell you I love the idea of using artists cards? Thank you for sharing; I’ll have to invest.
And I adore that elephant. Is it finished?
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Yes, the elephant is a finished piece. It’s a drawing from my sketchbook.
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You’re selling it? 😃
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Well, I could sell it to you if you like. It would be a page cut from my sketchbook.
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I would absolutely love that! If you’re open to it.
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Great. It’s available on my website at qrumbley.com. 😊
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thank you 🙂
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I so admire these! Largely due to lack of time I am always too impatient to spend much time sketching when I can move on to the real thing instead. The other thing I find is that I lose my incentive to draw something once I have ‘captured’ it once – so revisiting the same subject doesn’t appeal once I have sketched it.
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I’m the exact same way. I go straight for the finished piece. If I do any sketches, it’s little thumbnails to work out the composition but that’s about it. If I flesh the sketch out more than that it turns into a finished project after which I done with it. Having to turn around and do it all over again outside of my sketchbook exhausts me. I’ve grown to accept that I’m not a sketcher. I just draw.
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Exactly. I had to produce a sketchbook as part of my diploma but found it painful. In the end I padded it out with my reference photos and just managed an acceptable grade.
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Back in college we had to keep sketch journals. My instructor was often baffled at how my projects were always good but my sketchbook work tend to suck. I was horrible at keeping it up. Good to know I’m not alone. 😊
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😀😀😀
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