This notebook story brought tears to my eyes: On his 54th birthday, TV animation director Gary Andrews started a Doodle Diary. This still-ongoing project is simple, but it has proved powerful over the past year;Â he chronicles his day in a sketch. When he first began the endeavor, Andrews often depicted his life as a happily … Continue reading Doodling Through Grief
Thanks to a tip from reader Raymond, here’s another World War I diary story. What a treasure for a family to have. “The old cloth-covered book hardly shows its age — at 100, it betrays only the most modest of frayed edges. But to the family of the 24-year-old soldier who recorded history with a … Continue reading Joe Rodier’s World War I Diary
Japanese manga artist Haruka Komowata discovered that her mother was also a talented illustrator when these 50 year old sketchbooks turned up! Professional manga artist learns that talent runs in the family. Read more: Japanese mom’s sketchbook of amazing anime character designs from 50 years ago amazes daughter | SoraNews24
I first saw images of Jean Fick’s notebook on Pinterest and was fascinated. Such beautiful colors and patterns, accompanied by rather odd writings, densely filling a tiny notebook. It is mysterious in many ways– all I’ve been able to find out is that the notebook was part of an exhibition at the American Folk Art … Continue reading Jean Fick’s Notebook
A fitting way to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I: an English soldier’s diary of his time as a prisoner of war in 1918. One of the photos below shows that the diary was re-written in 1920. I wonder if the original writings were in a diary similar to this … Continue reading Henry Wilkinson’s World War I Diary and Sketchbook
I keep reading about the Rocketbook Everlast, including in this recent review: “But what if you could combine the best of old-school notebooks with modern tech? That’s the ambition behind Rocketbook’s new Everlast notebook. You use it in the normal offline way, but when you scan the pages with your phone it shoots everything automatically … Continue reading Are “Smart Notebooks” Smart Enough?
I see so many interesting notebook stories on other blogs and yet I never get around to doing a link round-up on this site! Trying to get better about that… so here are a few things that caught my eye recently: The Gentleman Stationer reviews a new brand of notebooks called Kunisawa: “…a new venture … Continue reading Other People’s Pages: Notebook Links
Nice to see an urban sketcher documenting life at the University of Washington. Eli Pasco has a regular feature on the campus newspaper’s website: I have been urban sketching for almost two years now, and have grown both as a person and an artist. I have developed my style, perfected my technique, and exposed myself … Continue reading The Campus Sketcher
Hilroy is a well-known notebook brand in Canada. (I’ve never tried one, but some of our notebook addicts have!) Click through to an article with some cool video from the factory where their products are made! I’d love to visit a notebook factory someday… Hilroy’s notebooks have been a mainstay of Canadian schoolchildren for years, … Continue reading Behind the Scenes at the Hilroy Notebook Factory
I didn’t realize this Moleskine Project exhibition was an annual event in NYC. This year’s exhibition is already over, but it’s always nice to see some beautiful art on notebook pages! This one is by Vanessa Foley: And this one is by Greg Gandy: See lots more at: Annual Moleskine Project Exhibition Move to … Continue reading Moleskine Project Exhibition