Finding Your Voice...In a Sketchbook

I can’t remember a time when drawing wasn’t a part of my life. I have a box of sketchbooks going all the way back to grade school, and I still carry one everywhere I go. I can credit most of what I value in my work to the habit of drawing in a sketchbook.

A good sketchbook doesn’t just involve rendering objects in your sightlines, but translating ideas into visual concepts. The best sketchbooks are portable vessels of visual improvisation—a responsive compass for raw and risky ideas.

My favorite time to draw in my sketchbook is on Sunday morning at church. While sitting in a creaky wooden pew, I listen and create. Of course, you can draw anywhere—at the airport, in a meeting, on a train, at the dentist’s office.

Many days I don’t find much in my sketchbook excavation. But there are moments when something magic happens. A sketchbook can unlock new ideas through a very simple notion: if you find what you love to draw, you’ll find your visual voice.

—John Hendrix