Drawn In: A Peek into the Inspiring Sketchbooks of 44 Fine Artists, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, and Cartoonists [Paperback]

Julia Rothman (Author), Vanessa Davis (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2011

This book shares large full-color images and profiles each of the amazingly talented artists that discuss their sketchbooks and how they use them.
 
People are fascinated by artist's sketchbooks. They offer a glimpse into private pages where artists brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, and keep track of their musings. Artists use these journals to document their daily lives, produce their initial ideas for bigger projects, and practice their skills. Using a variety of media from paint to pencil to collage, these pages can become works of art themselves. They often feel fresh and alive because they are first thoughts and often not reworked. These pages capture the artist's personalities along with glimpses of their process of working and inspirations.
 
See inside the sketchbooks of artists Jessica Hische, Mike Perry, Jen Corace, Matt Leines, Jill Bliss, Camilla Engman, Anders Nilsen and many more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julia Rothman has illustrated books, bed linens, wallpaper, fabric, ceramics, subway advertisements and much more. She is part of the award winning design company ALSO and has a popular blog about beautiful art books called Book By Its Cover. She also co-authored The Exquisite Book which NPR called "fantastically quirky". Julia lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Quarry Books (June 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592536948
• ISBN-13: 978-1592536948
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful July 20, 2011

By Parka TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Length: 1:06 Mins

I got to know of this book from Book By Its Cover, which is the blog of the author Julia Rothman. I visit her blog regularly to check out lesser known art books. She does a great job featuring artists and their books.

Drawn In seems like an extension of the blog in a book format.

There are 44 artists featured in this book. Each comes with a profile, an interview and pages from their sketchbooks. There's a nice variety of wildly differing styles, all very unique and raw.

Most are doodles of imagination, some simple, some intricate, there are pages drawn with pencils and others created from mixed media.

It's interesting to see what these artists fill in their sketchbooks because you can never guess what's inside. Katy Horan draws dark spooky women, Rob Dunlavey seems to like to draw castles, Chad Kouri creates lettering, Ted McGrath's book is well worn with the many things pasted onto the pages.

I like the interviews that talk about how they use their sketchbooks, their various inspiration, and you can learn more about their personalities. With the exception of the author, the rest of the artists are all new to me.

Delightful book. More for those who like doodle-like imaginative drawings.

(There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Immediate honesty in unworked sketchbooks of published artists July 2, 2011

By Sakuteiki

Format:Paperback

Interest in Julia Rothman's blog of artist sketchbooks evolved into a visual anthology of artists' sketchbook excerpts and descriptions of their personal creative process. The unvarnished immediacy of line on page inspires encourages entrances with the unique potential inherent in every human being.

The usual domain of unspoken self-reflection is generously shared in response to questions about courage, beginning work, showing, selling, personal reverie.

Multiple two-page spreads for each of the 44 artist's work are depicted with answers to: what childhood influence most impacts your artistic life now? what do you use your sketchbook for (casual sketch, finished work before presentation, working out composition and color palette, brain hard drive to remember new ideas, experimenting, etc)? how many sketchbooks do you have? why that size of book? what media do you use in sketchbooks? when and where do you sketch? what is your work process? is your completed work similar or different than your sketchbooks?

Also view DVD 1000 Journals, read Fearless Creating: A Step-by-Step Guide To Starting and Completing Your Work of Art, Inner Journeying Through Art-journaling: Learning to See And Record Your Life As a Work of Art and Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being.

Informative insight into the diversity of artists' work process, reaffirming we are all different and distinct in what we create, where, when and how it is produced, our preferences prejudices and personality are worthy of sharing.

Each artist's uniqueness informs their expression in the world, whether visual A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance, gustatory (Julie & Julia), auditory (ocean surf, waterfalls, music) Zen Garden, tactile Faith and Transformation: Votive Offerings and Amulets from the Alexander Girard Collection, inventive Gainsbourg or aromatic and represents a needed contribution to the 7 billion piece puzzle of humankind.

Drawn In offers sketchbook glimpses of creativity at work. An afternoon at the home of artist (painted glass, wood carving, acrylic painting) Aida Perez in Ecuador gifted me with immersion in the aesthetic environment formed by an artist for her own inspiration. Despite the recent death of husband Alberto she continues her tradition of gustatory hospitality (frozen meringue covered with hot blackberry sauce she calls My Grandmother). Freely roaming her home is invited, and surprises constantly amaze, ferns draping a footed tub, shaped stones, carved wood, the visual pleasure of an artist's abode. Drawn in offers a tantalizing peek into the possibilities of an aesthetic life.

Five stars.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Drawn In September 5, 2011

By Carmen

Format:Paperback

This book is literally pages and pages of sketchbook glimpses. The book appears to be a spin-off of the authors blog Book By It's Cover, a place where she shares her love of art books and started a little feature showcasing the inside of artists sketchbooks... I will put my hands up to now and admit I had never heard of Book By It's Cover... but then I have never heard of a lot of the people that write craft and art books. I know what I like just not usually who made/painted it.

This book is quite simply gorgeous. A real feast for the eyes. I am a real people watcher, I love to sit on benches in shopping centres and watch, making up stories about the passers by. I love to read blog posts sneaky peeking inside people's studios. My guilty afternoon pleasure used to be Through The Keyhole before they started staging it a bit to much. So to be able to see inside so many sketchbooks at one time is just, well, like handing over the key to the secret chocolate stash. It's such an intimate thing for the people involved to show, accompanied with short interview questions, it gives a real insight into each particular persons thought process.

What I particularly like is that it's not just one type of creative person showing their books. There are artists, cartoonists, typographers (is that the right word?) so much diversity. I also liked the inclusion of people across the globe - usually I've found craft books are mainly people from the USA which, granted, this book did still have a lot of but I was pleasantly surprised to see people from England, Scotland, Singapore etc. represented.

I took this book away with me on holiday and read it from cover to cover in the evenings while we were away. Since we've been back I've read it again. It's sparked something, I'm trying now to work in a sketchbook every day - whether it be just sticking something in that's inspired or actually drawing.

The only downside to Drawn In was that it left me wanting more - you can see images showing through the sketchbook pages and it's so tantalisingly out of reach. I envy Julia Rothman getting her mitts on all those books and seeing them in ALL their glory.

This is not a "how-to" book, it's a snoop-fest. And I loved it!

(Adapted from a review posted to my blog.)