Mini organizer notebooks

This is an idea I experimented with a few years ago, and recently I decided to try it again. These notebooks are called mini 6 ring binders, system notebooks or organizers, or some combination of these names. These are very popular in Japan, and the paper is a standard 3 X 5 inch size.

I used cheap sketch paper which I trimmed down from one of my spiral bound pocket sketchbooks. The holes happen to fit perfectly, but for sheets of watercolor paper, I also have a 6 Hole Punch.

I can keep this notebook in my back pocket and whip it out when I see a subject. If the subject vanishes before I've made but a few squiggly lines, I can just throw away the page with no regrets and have a new page ready for my next subject.

Later I can move the finished sketches to another notebook for storage and keep a few of my very best sketches in the back of this notebook to show off to people. There are very inexpensive cardboard or plastic binders out there which are perfect for storing sketches on the book shelf.

Small 3 X 5 inch ring notebooks have been around for many years, even in America. The trick is to find one slim enough for the back pocket. The smallest rings I have found were the 8mm diameter rings on a notebook made by Ray May Fuji. It's called the DaVinci, which is very appropriate for a sketching notebook. It also has rounded corners which are easier on the back pockets.

Then I decided to "vacuum form" a custom palette with six holes to fit in the notebook, so I would be ready to paint every time I opened it.

The trickiest part was coming up with a way to protect the pages from palette, and I stumbled upon a very simple idea: A cover made out of a sheet of thin plastic folded in half. I cut the plastic out of a clear soft plastic folder.

You can't really see the cover in the photo to the right because when I'm using the palette, I close the cover back on itself, and tuck it out of the way under the palette. The surface of the cover which touches the paint still faces inward, so no paint accidentally gets transferred anywhere outside the cover.

To keep the cover in place, I punched holes along the sides so it would attach to the rings.

The holes on the bottom half (right half in the photo below) anchor the sheet to the notebook, and holes on the top half (left half in the photo below) have small slits so I can open it easily without unclasping the rings. It actually works well!

I tried to take a photo to show exactly how it fits in the notebook, but photos of clear objects are difficult, so I also provided a diagram.

Below are some sketches done on the subway with the 6-ring binder set up.

The past several pages in this section of my online sketchbook reveal a shift in my focus. I used to walk around or even go on trips looking for interesting things to sketch, but recently I have been sketching subway passengers exclusively.

That's because I'm more likely to sketch when I'm standing still with nothing else to do. For me, that means the daily train commute.

And what is there to draw on the train other than people? I have come to appreciate humans as the highest subject matter for art; God's highest creation, made in God's image.

And I do love the thrill of the "hunt," not knowing if I will be able to finish the sketch before the subject moves away or is blocked from view by someone else.

These past few years, most of my days are spent at work, but I don't mind going to work because when I don't ride the train, I don't sketch.

Now that I have my watercolors right there in the notebook, I try to color every sketch on the spot before I leave the train. But if there is not enough time, I just scribble a few notes so I can add color later, as I did in the sketch above on the right.

You can also see all my spiral bound "butterfly net" sketches on one page in one big collection.

This ring binder sketch system seems to be working out very well. I've been at it for a few months now, and have been able to make at least one new sketch practically every time I take the evening train.

Drawing crowds with a dip pen and real brush

Now I have a huge collection of people sketches in ring binders so I can add new figures to my ongoing ink project. If I have a moment to add a new figure, but don't have any new pencil sketches in my pocket sketch notebook, I'll just take one from my collection. In the new drawings below, you may recognize some poses from previous drawings.

I had tried the large Moleskine watercolor sketchbook for this project but once again settled on the smaller version because I can carry it with me everywhere.

Back when I was sketching in pen and ink on-the-spot while standing, I hated the awkward horizontal format of this watercolor Moleskine, but not that I'm using it only when I'm at a desk, I love it. It's fun to fill a horizontal space with lots of people.

I also realized that since I'm working at a desk for this phase of my art project, I don't need to use portable tools which have their own limitations. Since they carry their own ink supply, they are not as slim as they could otherwise be, and can be difficult to hold and control. And the ink which is thin for flowing through the narrow channels can feather out on some papers. I love to use a fountain pen and brush pen with Carbon ink when I'm out sketching, but when I'm sitting at a desk, a real brush or dip pen with thicker drawing ink is easier to control, and can get finer, more expressive lines.

My personal favorite brush is a handmade brush found in a small shop in Tokyo, which has no web site. I also use a Winsor & Newton number 2 Sable Brush, the preferred brush of many professional comic book inkers. My dip pen nib is a a vintage Soennecken 1355EF nib which is similar to the G pen nib commonly used by manga artists in Japan. The only reason I use the Soennecken is that I bought a few boxes of these nibs at a great price several years ago. When they run out, I'll go back to the G-pen.