What to do with multiple planners? Create a doodle planner!

 

 

 Way back during Black Friday, I took advantage of the sale Michael's had going on where their planners were on sale.  Both the Recollections brand and the Happy Planner brand.  Even though I already had a personal planner for 2017 and only needed one planner for work for 2017, I ended up buying two extra planners that day.  One I have since given to my niece as it did not end up suiting me and she needed a new planner, and this gorgeous Unicorn covered planner.  I had no idea what I was originally going to do with this planner, but ultimately decided that it would be perfect for doodling!

If you've following me for awhile, you'll have noticed that I haven't drawn much of anything in ages.  Maybe a doodle either or there, but nothing much.  I've barely even touched my Wacom tablet in ages on my computer.  I'm hoping to eventually try to save up to get the Ipad Pro to remedy this, however for doodling, I decided this would be the best option.  Something I can keep track of and post everyday and know when I miss a day.  For 2016 I tried the Year of the Doodle book, which you can see me talk about here.  While I absolutely loved the look of this book, I found that it did not work for me in the way that I wanted.  It comes undated, which normally would suit me well, but actually worked against me.  I couldn't remember what day I was on and forgot to check on it daily.  I would also work ahead and then get behind constantly.  It also had a basic glue bound spine where as I tend to work better with spiral or loose leaf pages.  It also had prompts on several dates, though not all, that ended up crippling my creativity rather than helping it. 

 You only learn by doing though, so while I did end up finishing it, it was not fully filled nor completed in the way I wanted.  I still love how it turned out overall, since it served as a sort of record keeping book more than a doodle book, it simply did not inspire me the way I had hoped.  Which is not to say that this book will not inspire you if you wish to try it yourself!  I just realized that it didn't work for me in the way I wanted.  I debated even starting another yearly project, since I never handle them verywell.  For whatever reason that process just doesn't seem to work for me.  It took me trying it repeatedly for years to finally admit that while I love the idea and wish I could do it myself, it's just not going to happen, or I didn't think so anyway.

Surprisingly this has been one type that seems to be working.  I've only been keeping this book for a month and a half and I do have to say, I've already learned a lot about myself.  I feel like this has been helping me to create and figure out the type of style I really like and could call my own.  Or at least find my way to it.  

Keeping this style of planner as a daily doodle sketchbook also keeps me from jumping ahead or falling behind because I do carry it with me as much as possible and it's already dated so I don't have to try to figure out what day or month I'm on.  I will say I do wish I had gotten a Happy Planner instead as I believe that style of planner would have suited me better.  If I do this again in 2018, I will definitely go that route!

Overall it's been a decent doodle planner and I do enjoy using it.  The colors are soft and not overwhelming, so far at least, that I feel too distracted when drawing.  I do find the bottom of the page is a bit wasted on me, but for planning it would probably come in quite useful for notes or lists.  The pages are fairly thick and good quality and I haven't had any bleed through on the few markers, inks pads, and pens I have used in it.

 I can't wait to see the finished book at the end of the year. I posted a couple of quick videos of the flip through on Instagram and it really makes me happy to see all the pages full of doodles.  The colorful washi at the bottom even makes the pages look more fun and bright once everything is completed.

 I did originally put in the dates for some birthdays in the month of January,  which I've decided against doing in any future months.  I do like the way the pages look with that little bit of color.  The last few weeks I've gotten away from really using much color but that's something I would really like to incorporate somehow into this book.  Not overwhelmingly, just a little bit though.  

 I hope you enjoyed seeing and hearing about my doodle planner so far!

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A couple of pages from one of my brown paged sketchbooks.  Drawn with generic/mixed black ink pens and markers. 

Sketchbook sneak peek.

A peek in my sketchbook

Just some pics from my sketchbook.

Homemade sketchbook...attempt number two...

After I had so much fun creating my first homemade sketchbook, I thought it might be fun to do another one (that and the fact that I lost the first one. :P ) So, this time I decided to show more of the steps I used in creating this one. Mind you, this one is more of a travel sketchbook or a journal just to take some quick notes in. However, it is very easy to make and requires mostly some simple materials you probably already have lying around, which, to me, is the best kind of scrapbook to make. :)

First, take those basic materials, which for me, were: a brown paper bag (this was my cover. I used the kind like you used to pack your lunch to school in, which you can buy in large quanities from your local grocery store or possible craft store), some sort of binding material (I used yarn, but you can use a needle and thread, a sewing machine, or whatever you prefer), some eyelets and an eyelet tool (I'm blanking on what the name of this thing is. See the picture below for references.), and whatever paper you intend to use in your scrapbook.



Second, Cut your paper to the desired size. I simply folded my paper baggie in half and measured based on the size I wanted from there. Although if you prefer to be more scientific, feel free to pull our your ruler and measure everything to ensure a better fit. That's the great thing about these homemade sketchbooks. They're made to fit into your needs! Once you have measured and cut your paper (I used a paper trimmer, but scissors will work as well), then proceed to step three.



Third, use your eyelets or other binding material, and bind your papers and covers together. If you wish to decorate your cover first, feel free to do so. Just be sure that whatever you decorate with will not be in the way of where you intent to place your binding. For my sketchbook, I placed the eyelets first and then threaded my yarn through them and tied each into a sort of braid.







And here is what my finished product came out to look like. It's not beautiful by any means, but it serves as a simple sketchbook or notebook that I can take with my just about anywhere and use with just about any basic medium.



Additionally, I tried several other types of covers and papers and come up with some other types of sketchbooks, which you can see below.






UPDATE: You can view my other sketchbook attempts here and here.

Some new work

Here's some things out of my sketchbook. Enjoy!

Random sketches

Here's a page out of my sketchbook. A few fruits and veggies that seem to have come to life, and some animals who look very confused and just plain out of place. At first I wasn't too fond of the brown pages, but they seem to be growing on me. :) Plus it's a small book so that I can pack it anywhere without it being to cumbersome. I need to just take the time to draw in it more often. :)

Some Groovy Chic!

I created this picture awhile back in my sketch book and am just now getting around to sharing it. I thought it was cute and I liked how the bright colors made her seem to jump from the page, especially when I used just some cheap old colored pencils to color her. :)

My own Homemade Sketchbook

Okay, my other sketchbook that I had gotten from Barnes & Noble, I believe, has run out. So, while surfing the web this weekend, I came across a fairly easy set of instructions to make one of my own from my own paper and things. You can see the instructions I used here. This was a fun project to make, especially if you need quick and thoughtful ideas for Christmas presents, or if youjust need something for the kids to do while you're working. Anyway, here's what my second book came out as. (The first one was...well, just horrible.) Once you get the hang of it, it's really not so bad. :)

Update: You can view my other sketchbook attempts here:
Attempt #2
Books, Books, Endlessly Books

It's a snowball fight!

This is the last sketch in my favorite sketch book, and it's one I really love. It's a snowball fight! :) It hasn't snowed yet (at least not enough to stick to the ground) but wherever these girls are, it seems to have snowed enough to make a fortress of snowballs! :D Hopefully we won't have quite that much snow, as it would be difficult and dangerous to drive to work in, but maybe we'll have a little bit of snow soon. :)

How do I see my self....

I don't know why, but I've been doing bunches and bunches of self portraits lately. I guess I'm just trying to figure out which one best describes me. Here's another one I did last night that I really liked. I thought it turned out really well. I wasn't looking to make another self portrait, but it sort of turned out that way. :) This is how I imagine my chic self, I suppose. Very calm and collected and somewhat sarcastic. :)

Some late night sketches

Here are some late night sketches I've done over the past few weeks and months. And yes, I'm fully aware that there are only two little pigs, and not three as there should be. I guess that just means I'll have to draw another little piggy! :D

I think this pic is supposed to be me when I'm daydreaming. :)

And here is a group of Robots I drew, just for fun. :) I seem to love robots, but Idon't know why. I just like drawing them I guess.

Another self portrait

Here's a sketch of a self portrait I did of myself. Or how I imagine myself as a cartoon, like I said before. :) I did this with colored pencils. I spelled out my name with my set of rubber stamps.

Sketch update

If you've been following along with my blog, you'll see that this is a colorful sketch I did of the post it one I did a few weeks ago. I haven't done a larger picture of it yet, but I think it's working it's way there. This turned out much better than I expected, although I think it may need some more details or something. I'll be sure to post any final pics I do on this.

My Sketch book

I love looking at other peoples' sketch books because they always look as if the ideas just flow from their heads onto the paper. Mine hardly ever looks that good when I do sketches. Normally the rough draft I do becomes the final piece and there really isn't much sketching done in between. However, I got a new sketch book the other day and have been fiddling around on the first page for the past couple of nights, so I thought I would share my own page. I wrote several words on it as I tried out different styles of my handwriting, so don't pay any attention to some of the words. Some are labels and others are just doodles of the words of the songs I was listening to at the time. I really like my pictures on here though. Especially the elf and the crocodile hunter. :) The witch is an early idea for a poem I'm working on. This sketch actually gave me a new idea for the poem, so maybe sketching is more helpful to me than I think it is. :)

What I do

I was just thinking, I haven't explained much about my work. If you look at my cabin picture, you might notice it's a little bit of a 3-d like picture. Well, what I do is what I prefer to call "Scrapbooking". I cut out a picture (such as the trees and cabin and snowbanks) from fairly thick paper (so it doesn't curl too much) and paint it to look like whatever I want. I hardly ever make pieces from my sketches, which I think both helps and hinders me. It helps me stay creative, but it hurts me when I'm not in a particularly creative mood, yet I still want to create something. Plus, I hardly ever can create the picture I want from my sketches. They never seem to come out anything alike.
I also will paint the background, since paint creates a nice, clean background picture (unlike my former medium of markers and colored pencils). Then, once everything is dry, I use just regular school glue (usually Elmers) and glue down everything where I think it looks best. Usually by now I have a picture in my head of what I plan to create.
Once I have everything glued down, I usually sign the picture and that's about it, unless I feel that I can do more with it later, at which point I will save it and finish it at another time. However, I've come to find that the paper still curls once the paint is dry, so I will usually press my work between some thick books, or find a way to make the picture stay flat again. So far, this hasn't been too much of a problem. I hope it never will be.
The reason I refer to this as my "Scrapbooking" technique, is because it reminds me of how people create scrapbook pages. (That and the fact that I also used scrapbook sheets as some of the backgrounds for my work.) There are raised pictures on quite a few of my new works and they have things glued to them, rather than painted or drawn directly on them. Plus, I have found that I like the mixed media look and have put other things on my work as well, such as buttons and string. It's all quite exciting finding out that there is more than one world of art out there. Now I know that I can create so many more things and actually achieve the look and style that I crave. The winter cabin picture below is a great example of that. I love that picture because it is 3-d ish and looks exactly how I would imagine my art to look like. It has that 'cartoonish' feel to it. I just love that! :)
If you have any questions or suggestions about what I do, feel free to leave me a comment. I enjoy the feedback and help! :) And if you haven't tried any new art techniques, I definately think it's something you should do. Even if you're not good at another medium, it helps you learn some techniques you can use in the one you like and you'd be surprised at some of the things you can create. On top of all that, it's just plain fun! :D