I like to draw, and when I came back to the hobby around 2008 after a five year hiatus or so, I wanted something different that I could carry around, but not be bulky. The regular sketchbooks that I would purchase from Target were little more than large, spiral notebook bound piles of almost cardstock, which had the nasty habit of not just smudging, but showing deep lines from where the previous drawing had stood. It looked awkward, and rather ugly to boot. Plus, like spiral notebooks tend to do, they would fall apart if they took too much abuse, which mine did while in a backpack.
I discovered the larger, bound sketchbooks over at Barnes and Noble not long after, and found them to be rather spiffy. They were bound, first off, and didn't have that tenancy to fall to shit after some abuse. They also had a rather nice quality paper inside, almost like Bristol, that erased well unless you were using some really dark leads. Plus, they scanned well, which is nice, and they were sturdy for the events when I was doing a life draw, and didn't have a flat surface. Only one problem: these were rather massive beasts, and were a bit too large to have around for everyday carrying purposes.
It was at Barnes and Noble, when I was debating about purchasing yet another of the latter sketchbooks when I noticed a display proudly showing off the entire selection of Moleskine journals. Whether it was due to me really being in need of a solution, or more than likely due to me not having anything else better to do then quest for sketching mediums, I headed over to check them out.
For those not in the know, this was what your basic Moleskine consists of:
It's nothing really special. It's sixty pages of thin paper, sewed at the spine between two slightly larger pieces of board, usually black, although red, navy, and tan editions also exist. They also come in different forms, like planners, small sketchbooks, and city guides. But those are unimportant to the purpose of this blog post. What I'm speaking of are the journals, which come lined, in a grid, or plain. And I was excited as all hell when I found the plain. And I never looked back, and and pleased as punch to say that I now have a stack of completed Moleskines in my studio, all filled to the brim with my mediocre art.
So what is it about these rather remarkable unremarkable sketchbooks that make me giddy? It's probably because they are just so simply and unassuming, which makes them all the more flexible for one to do what they will to make them each a unique and individual piece. Aside from the individual art inside, which is as different due to simple time and improvement, the exteriors are usually pimped out with all matter of stickers and assorted items that I encounter in my journeys. Each sketchbook is a kind of snapshot, a peek into what was in my head, and where I was at the time. And these sketchbooks are a cool medium to do that.
Granted, they do have their downsides. They aren't nearly as durable as the other big beasts from Barnes and Noble, both in terms of their build and their paper. They can't survive an overeager five year old, as I also discovered. But they are really cool journals, and are more than versatile enough to tag along with me, no matter where I go. And in the end, that's what matters.
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