November is all about drawing. It’s my focus this month. And not only up here at Tessie’s Projects, also in my non-digital daily life drawing is taking over. A serious project! More on that will follow. ASAP.

I’m no illustrator, have no serious talent when it comes to paper and pencil. But I like drawing (or in my case more scribbling and doodling). I like the idea of being able to draw. Being able to sketch what I see, even. Giving form to the ideas that hide in my head by putting pencil on paper. For my study Interior Design it is handy to have or develop sketching skills, too. It’s ideal if you’re able to quickly sketch the ideas of your client, for instance. So I try my hand at drawing, sometimes. The best way to develop sketching skills is the simplest way: start sketching. Every day. Not for 5 hours. Just one thing a day. A simple thing to start with. A mug. Your telly. Knives, forks. Whatever. Easy peasy. Child’s play.

But not for me. As always, when I have to (no, want to) practise things such as sketching, I start doubting myself. Get scared even. And to prove myself that indeed I won’t be able to, I set the bar too high. So I can’t reach. Easy peasy! Mostly this results in not doing it at all – procrastination. My favourite hobby. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love you. Tomorrow.
Same with writing. The ideas are enormous and are fired at me by my brain. I can’t keep up. So I stop before I even start. Even a simple diary must be a master piece. Let me illustrate (did you see that one coming?) this: in March 2013 I started a diary, inspired by a tip I read in some book. The tip was perfect, especially written for me: Just write one sentence a day in your one-sentence-a-day-diary. No pressure at all. And so I went to a cheap shop. Bought myself a cheap notebook. And a cheap ribbon. And I started. Of course I added an accompanying sketch a day to the just-one-sentence. To practice my sketching skills. Otherwise the bar would be too low.

It’s a shoe! A day, a sentence, a sketch.

It didn’t even last a month.

As it’s now November and I’ve sworn to draw a lot this month, I dug up the one-sentence-a-day-diary. And I’m gonna do it again. Every day. One sentence. One sketch. I’ll report to you.

To keep up the good work I often seek inspiration on the internet. There’s a lot of illustrators to be found, all unique and independent. It’s always inspiring take a good look at their technique, their fantasy, their solutions. Also, sketching-diaries are booming at the moment. Just type “visual journal” or “visual diary” on google and you’ll get results aplenty. My favourite isn’t a contemporary, however. It’s Christiaan Andriessen, who drew in his diary daily from 1805 – 1808. Trendsetter he! The book “De wereld van Christiaan Andriessen” (in English “The world of Christiaan Andriessen”) is the publication of this 19^th century Dutch artist’s diary.

From the trendsetter’s diary. Christiaan Andriessen.