I teach. I teach as an adjunct at a small art college in New Hampshire, USA. I also work with younger students - 10 - 12 year olds - at an elementary school near my home. Currently I am teaching a course in sketchbook (using one’s sketchbook to help create and develop ideas) for college students. Using a sketchbook has always been second nature to me - sitting down and start moving the pencil / pen / brush and letting your mind flow. I was always able to fill pages - not with high-quality content, but imagery, nevertheless.
I am currently struggling with getting my students to, basically, fill the pages. Either they are treating the pages too preciously or are just being lazy, but it is a struggle to get them to put more than one image on each page.
I want them to think out loud on the page, put down whatever is playing on their internal playlist. I understand the desire to be “perfect,” or at least not to have one’s sketchbook represent one’s art in a bad way. But right now that is acting as a brake, and my goal is to have them make a mess.
In the meantime, a 5th grade student I was working with recently told me she had had a “nicemare.” It made me want to draw some “nicemares,” which I’ve attached here.
A nicemare
and another…