The Start of the Book Obsession

My current sketchbooks that I desperately want to finish but only about half way completed.

I figure some of you would like an introduction to why I started this blog. If not, feel free to skip it. XD With graduation behind me I began to wonder what I should do with my life. Since I love the manga story-telling style, I decided to try to work on my own webcomic which is why I established this blog. It was mainly to help me track my progress as slow as it might be to help motivate me and for the public to watch me grow.

As I learned more about the development of webcomics I learned the key component is to have a notebook/sketchbook wherever you go to help you brainstorm or remember ideas and jot them down before you forget. This was the start of my book paraphernalia obsession. I started to research the different types of sketchbooks/notebooks and just took off from there. I became entranced with the many possibilities you could fill a book with and fell in love with the diverse amount of designs covers and the textures of the paper.



I started collecting late this Spring(when I graduated) to early or mid Summer when I started looking at the different types of books I could collect. Now my books shelves are starting to fill up and now I try to be more selective of the types of books I get. Still, I love the feeling of the vast amount of possibilities I could fill them with such as doodles, ideas, and daily musings. I'm also recognizing the types of books I prefer which is helpful in identifying the type of books I'll use for writing or sketching.

The unfortunate thing is that I'm slowly filling up my books and am stretching myself across several books. I'm still using the sketchbooks from my high school days because I treasured the books and used loose sheets of printer paper. Realizing that was harder to keep together I decided I need to fill up the book and worry less about tracking the pages. As a result, those sketchbooks show the most growth for me as a writer and artist.

I've always have been fairly frugal so I like to fill up every little space of my sketchbooks/notebooks. You'll see more as I post up newer art. I didn't use to be so frugal with the space in my older sketches but now I find it a fun challenge to see what I could fit in that tiny space. In the end, it's just the fact that the blank pages can be filled with anything is exciting to me.

So some things I learned about my favorite type of sketchbook/notebook:

• Prefer Hardback or at least water-resistant covers
• Eco-friendly/recycled materials/paper
• Largest size: 9x12(large experimentation and fits 8x11 sheets of paper in nicely), 5x8(best for travel size), and smallest 3x5(for jotting stuff down and light-weight)
• Prefer durable white paper but am tolerant of ivory or off-white
• Don't mind spirals too much but do like the aesthetic of sewn-books
• I like bookmarks and pockets and use them if I have them
• Notebook: Prefer plain, dotted, or light lined/grid with 6mm spacing

How about you guys? What made you fall in love with notebooks/sketchbooks? Or do you have a different obsession? What is it and how did you get started?

(Note: I've always loved reading books so that may contribute to the fact that I want to fill my books with my own stuff. lol)