Katelyn Brooke

designer, developer, collaborator

Hands

I’ve gone on many times about my sketchbook– it’s probably my go-to creative outlet.  When I sat down with it yesterday, I flipped to this page and thought about how I don’t draw very often anymore.  So I whipped out my pencils and added to it a little bit.

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One of the things that I struggle with when it comes to drawing is finding something to draw.  That’s the good thing about your hands I guess- they’re always there and ready to be challenging.  I love the process of drawing and erasing and drawing again- it wasn’t until I stepped away that I realized that these parts of hands are kind of creepy on their own.  But I kinda like them.  I also like how some of the hands (or parts of hands) are much more fully realized than say the blind contour line drawings that I did on the right side of the page.

It doesn’t really feel done, but I wanted to show you what I was working on yesterday.  When you’re layering drawings like this I think it’s hard for it to really feel “done.”

Do you like to draw?  And if you’ve been doing some creative cleansing, what have you been working on?

Creative Cleanse

I have an exciting little announcement today, and I decided to do it with a vlog!

And because no vlog is complete without commentary- I think that when I was summarizing the webinar discussion I was putting in some of the stuff from the chat box because I couldn’t find the whole part that I was talking about when I rewatched it.  Or I just made it up.  You should really just watch it because they get the point across a million times more eloquently than I do.  Hopefully I make a tiny lick of sense.  And please tolerate the fact that I seem to skip thoughts mid sentence.

Here’s the scoop in case you don’t want to watch the vlog.  On Wednesday I was really inspired by the Business with Heart webinar, and through some of the discussion I came to the realization that I need to spend some quality time focusing on my own creative endeavors without being influenced by all the stimuli that I surround myself with daily in blog world.  I’ve come to the same realization a couple of times in the last few months, but this time I really felt inspired to do something about it.

creativecleanse

Next week I am taking all of the time that I usually spend reading blogs, curating content, and finding inspiration elsewhere and instead focusing on my creative interests and finding inspiration within myself.  I’m calling this a creative cleanse.  What do I want to explore in my sketchbook?  What do I like?  What appeals to me visually?  What is my style?

I am going to post something that I create on the blog every day.  I’m going to be doing a bunch of different things between my sketchbook and designing digital things that I maybe don’t normally take the time to work on, but if you’d like to join in you can do whatever you want!  Whether it’s painting, knitting, cooking… it seriously doesn’t matter, as long as you are pursing your interests because you have a passion for them and they are part of who you are.  And don’t put a ton of pressure on yourself about the finished product- this is about the process.

I would love for you guys to participate, and you can participate as much or as little as you want.  You can blog about it, tweet it, instagram it, whatever!  At the end of the week instead of including links in the Starred this Week post, I’ll probably do some sort of round up if people participate.  So if you do participate, definitely let me know because I want to see!

While I won’t start posting until Monday, I’ll be working over the weekend and documenting my process on Instagram (and Twitter) with the hashtag #creativecleanse.

Do you have this same problem?  Join in and tell me what passions and creative interest you might pursue!

Plans and Sections

Last night I was flipping through my sketchbook, trying to pick a page to work on, and I came upon this half done page.  It was just a little collage that I’d made using an Architecture 101 assignment from when I was a TA (I kinda wish you could read it better- it’s pure craziness, but in a good way) and some images I’d cut out of some architecture magazine (both of which came from my paper stash that I talked about a few weeks ago.)  It got me thinking about my major and what I got out of it and how it helps me in my day to day life.  So I decided to keep working on it a little this morning.

A lot of times when I tell people that I majored in architecture and now am doing web design, they say something about that not being very related.  And while the product is not always related, and the connection isn’t visible to others, my major definitely shaped the way I think.

The most important thing that I learned was a process.  I can’t sum it up for you here because it took four years to sink into my brain, and I’m sure I didn’t even get the whole thing.  But there’s definitely something there.  Which is why today I had fun just drawing lines and making little spaces, and wondering whether I was drawing plans or sections.  It wasn’t about up or down or what furniture goes where, but rather the spaces my lines were making on my page.  And those little spaces in between.

What was (or is) your major in college?  Do you use it now?  I’d love to hear about it, I think it’s so interesting!

My Art Favorite Supplies

On my last sketchbook post Eliza suggested that I do a post on my favorite sketchbook supplies- so that’s what I’m doing today!  If you’re anything like me, sometimes it feels like all the stars have to be aligned in the sky to actually do something in your sketchbook.  One thing that can be immensely helpful is having all your supplies ready to go and easily accessible when inspiration strikes.  I have developed a pretty thorough collection of supplies over the years, so today I’m narrowing it down and sharing my faves.

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