I’ve been looking at others’ sketchbooks lately more than working on my own. I think why I am continually drawn (yes! pun intended!) to pouring over the sketchbooks and artist journals of others is that they are all so unique, and so authentic, since created for themselves and not for the public.

The vast variety of these pages read to me as a huge permission slip to have mine be whatever they gosh darn feel like being. And I love that.

Recently I’ve been enjoying the two books shown in this post that I bought second hand. First above and then continuing below with some peeks inside is Extraordinary Sketchbooks.  And then below that you’ll find pages from Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators, and Creatives.

A lot of these kinds of book exist, and now I have quite a collection of them. Looking back on the blog, there are some that I’ve reviewed in the past. Here they are with links to both the review and where to buy it:

Sketchbook Confidential  (buy it here)

An Illustrated Journey  (buy it here)

The Art of Urban Sketching  (buy it here)

1000 Artist Journal Pages   (buy it here)

And here are a few that I also own and have enjoyed, although they never make it onto the blog:

An Illustrated Life (buy it here)

1000 Journals Project (buy it here)

Sketchbook Confidential 2  (buy it here)

These are not how-to books, but rather inside cameos of what other artists have done in their sketchbooks and artist journals. They can inspire your own practice of laying down line and color in pages in a book, to watch your perceptions, experiments, experience and taste develop. They become such a treasure, and a great way to slow down, and meditate– away from screens– for a while.

Even though some of these are not recent books, they are still readily available and might make a great gift either for yourself or someone you love.