Sketchpad, Notepad, Scratchpad | Tools
The pad is a device that all of us have to learn to exploit with frequency and forethought. If you've let yourself waste away for years by ignoring your artistic impulses then this may be your only chance at recovery.
Pads allow you to store and manipulate information. They have been carefully designed to work without electricity and readily accept information from manual input via liquid and solid materials. Many people since leaving school have abandoned the pad altogether in favor of not so much the computer but instead old envelopes, napkins, palms of the hands and newspaper circulars. We use pads in schools not just for practicality but to spark creative thinking. That's why we are here.
For the notepad, think notes, articles, stories, and the like. Anything where the majority of information is best represented in text. You can use blank pages, lined pages (in varying widths) and pages with different colors. Write the way you like but in the notepad. Make this a habit. Use it to transfer and store your ideas as quickly as they come into your mind. Later you can take what you wrote and use it for your distinct purposes. Some of you creative-types may even prefer to use graph paper pads since they facilitate both text and images in a template that can accommodate freeform and precision.
Use the sketchpad when your idea is better seen than spoken. 1×picture = 1000×words, right? Many of us, lazy, tired, uninspired crafters feel we’ve lost our way in a world set up to serve the man. A sketch pad is a good way for us to begin to find our way back. Sometimes the most powerful imagery comes from the untrained or rusty hand. The sketchpad can be used to practice drawing but for you —use it to illustrate those ideas that you’ve been thinking about (For days, months and years). Force yourself to actualize some of your ideas in your own rendered images. You can make notes in a sketch pad but they should only serve the images around them. You can use sketch pads for practicing drawing but that is a different article.
The scratchpad in many cases is the most valuable of these three tools. The scratch pad is all about portability and immediacy. Your best ideas come at the worst times so having a small palm-sized scratchpad around will allow you to make small text and images —enough to form a viable seed of an idea. As scratch would imply there is no need for grammar. Just transfer as much information as possible while the idea is floating up out of the ether.
The hardest part of using pads is using them consistently. If you can become habitual with your use, your art hand will become stronger and your muse will thank you for it. Your timely struggle to take what's in your mind and bring it to reality is the real masterpiece. Jot, sketch, and scrawl away.
Practicals:
Scheme 1: [For people who slave in an office or behind a desk.] You’ll need six:
- Notepad, Sketchpad
- Notepad, Sketchpad
- Scratch Pad
- Scratch Pad
(A) stays at home. Keep (B) at your job, (C) goes in your vehicle and (D) stays in your bag/on your person.
Scheme 2: [For people who slave without a desk or storage space] You’ll need four:
- Notepad, Sketchpad
- Scratch Pad
- Scratch Pad
(A) stays at home. (B) goes in your vehicle and (C) stays in your bag/on your person.
- Draw/write with something you like using; avoid pens/pencils that you don’t like.
- Force yourself to use your pads. Your ideas will be richer and your mind will also be clearer.
- Jot, sketch and scrawl away
Specifications:
| plain |  |
ornate |
Find pads with the plainest covers available. Neutral colors like black or gray are good. You can also get away with composition books and manila colored notebooks since for most of us these types of pads are so common that they won't bias your ideas or work. Your writing pads can be lined or not; whatever you prefer, but no other visual cues or adornments.| amateur | |
professional |
| flimsy | |
well-made |
Tools | Feed Back! | Permalink |
