Sketching, Illustration, Design and Everyday Life.
Copyright by © Nina Khashchina except where noted.
I like making my sketchbook covers special! Sometimes it happens at the very beginning, sometimes I add stickers, glue, and paint on the cover as I work in them. And sometimes it is something that I do as a way to say goodbye to a sketchbook - like it was with the latest one - Sketchbook # 141 - with a crocodile!
I am making a series of illustrations with animals that come up in my conversations with my parents. Many of these start while we are talking so I end up with many versions - some of them even become stickers - see my latest sketchbook cover below!
Somehow tapirs got a lot of votes! Text on the page says: With the nose like this one you cannot be a carnivore", Mom.
And another page contains parts of our conversations about the war - during our video call.
I recently started sketchbook #131 - it is a cappuccino hahnemuhle A4 book, and I thought that somehow fall is the time when I always crave some toned paper. I went to the shelve where I keep most of my books and realized that I was right.
My favorite toned paper sketchbook used to be Recycled Earthbound Cachet Sketchbook from Daler Rowney. It has a lovely ochre paper with fibers of all colors showing on the surface. It was pretty thin and not suitable for water media, but I loved how it worked with ink and markers, and buckling does not matter that much to me anyway. The joy from drawing and painting in it was always bigger anyways.
And over the years, these books would always come out in the fall - here is a shot of the sketchbooks #36 (2009), #60 (2011), #70 (2012), #93 (2015), #109 (2017), all laid out on my table. I decorated the cover and had a lot of fun drawing my life in them. And this year, I found the only spiral bound Recycled Earthbound, so the cappuccino book is getting a chance. It does not have the same colorful surface but, it is lovely smooth and has a peachy ochre color and seems to be a joy to work on too!
