Sketchbooks are tools that can be used to generate ideas for works of art. This is how I think about them for the most part. Fleeting thoughts about shapes, colors, textures, compositions, etc. can just fall out of my head and onto the pages of one of my books without judgment. If I end up creating something interesting or compelling, I might use that image as the jumping off point for a more "finished/polished" work of art somewhere else. I imagine a journal or notebook might serve the same purpose for a writer or a musician.
I try not to treat my sketchbooks with kid gloves, though I regularly have to work at this. There's a part of me that wants "perfection" every time I put pencil/marker/paint to paper. Of course, I know this is not how the creative process works. It's a process of trial and error. I've heard it said that all works of art go though an "ugly phase". A sketchbook is a place where things can, and perhaps should, get unapologetically ugly.
So why am I carrying on about all this? While I have enjoyed sharing my art on Instagram for a couple of years now (@brianwcreates), I have some concerns with that platform (I'll likely get into detail about this in a future post). Because of this, I wanted to find other ways of sharing my art online. I've been kicking around the idea of starting a blog for this very purpose for a while now. There are already few posts that I've created that are collecting dust in my Google drive at this moment that I've deemed "not ready for prime time" for one reason or another. I keep coming back to edit them, add/subtract sentences/phrases or in some cases delete them entirely. On top of the written component, I've been playing around a lot with the blog's layout, color scheme, font style, etc. All the while I've been working towards something closer to "perfection" before I put it out there for the whole world to see. Waiting for this to happen, though, can be like waiting at the train station for a train that will never arrive.
"'Perfection' is the enemy of 'done'", a wise man once said.
It occurred to me recently that I should take an approach to this blog that is similar to the one I take with my sketchbooks. It's an experiment. I'm "doodling". I'm okay with it being a little ugly. Ultimately, I'd like to create a blog that is more professional looking than what I can create/publish for free here on Blogger, but before I make that leap to someplace like WordPress or Squarespace where I'll have to pay a monthly fee I want to make sure this blogging thing is something I can stick with in addition to figuring out how I want this whole thing to look. My plan is to post something every month for a year before I decide to graduate to another platform.
If you're reading this, you can help me work through this process. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated! Please feel free to leave a comment on anything that I post. It looks as if you'll have to have a Google account in order to comment directly on this blog. If you don't have a Google account and you don't want to start one up (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't), you could just send me an email (brianwcreates@gmail.com). Over the course of the following year (through July, 2025), I'll experiment with layout, color scheme, etc. I may go back and edit things that I've already posted or maybe delete posts entirely depending on the feedback I receive or my own personal reflections on what I've created.
Wish me luck!
- Brian
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