Illustrators sketchbooks – Rob Gill shares his processes.

My working method usually consists of buying one good sketchbook and one really cheap one, or if I can’t find a cheep one I’ll just buy a pack of printer paper or scrounge leftovers from the guillotine or the studio. I get really clingy to my good sketchbook so hardly any drawing at all goes on in there, just incase my pen slips or I do a drawing I really don’t link and it just gets messed up. Instead, I use the cheap paper for my sketches and drawings.

My good sketchbook is used as presentation sketchbook. I cut out the drawings from the rough paper and just use sellotape or masking tap to stick them in. I often use flaps to layer up my drawings. This hides the ones I feel are less successful and then my best ones are shown on top.

I rarely throw any of my drawings away as when you look back at things I find my opinion has changed.

I try not to write too much in my sketchbooks, I’m not very good with spelling or grammar so I just let the drawings tell their own story with the occasional note here and there to remind me of my first impressions.

By working like this you end up with really fat sketchbooks, overflowing with drawings and information. I like this, it feel like the sketchbook almost becomes a separate piece of work, a precious object, and because I have stuck things in everywhere each page layout is exactly how I want it and what’s more, I haven’t just thrown away my bad drawings I’ve just hidden them from sight a little.

And as if that isn’t enough one of the most rewarding things about working in this way is that I haven’t wasted my money on a sketchbook, but I have used every available space to its best effect.

See more of Robs work at his blog