An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artists, Illustrators and Designers

Many of us consider ourselves "creative people." For many of us, that creativity is expressed through drawing. In order to find the time to draw, paint, scribble, cartoon...whatever turns us on, we carry sketchbooks and hope for that moment when WE MUST DRAW; where we can sneak a few extra minutes to express a feeling or to record a visual memory. That's where AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE comes in. This is a book of sketchbooks. Looking through the book stimulates the need to draw like a lightning bolt to our hands, our brains suddenly filled with creative energy and multiple thoughts. It's an incredible collection of images, because it's also a lot of fun to look through, as you see the energy in the work of others, in what stimulates Danny and the other illustrators, and the whole thing just washes over you like a force of artistic excitement. Heck, I had that experience just looking at a few images on Danny's website. So you like to draw? You want to paint? You wish to pick up a pencil, pen, crayon, brush, stick or whatever connects you to that paper? Then start your engines folks. This is THE book for you. P.S. Please do another one soon, Danny.

This is the best book I've bought in a long time, and I buy a lot of books. Plus, I found it accidentally, while looking for another illustrator's book on Amazon. The author (Danny Gregory) appears to have collected a bunch of his friends, who happen to draw in sketchbooks. It feels like they all got together and showed their books to each other. What each artist has to say about his or her work (in their own words, first person) is as inspiring as what they have drawn. I am not a visual artist of any kind, but while reading this book on a bus in Europe, I started drawing the people around me. They were amateurish sketches, but people would lean in and say, "Wow, did you draw that?" That was in March, and I have been drawing in my dream book and on sheets of paper since then. I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before I buy a Moleskin of my own and a nice Rapidiograph pen and some watercolors, or maybe some watercolor pencils. Speaking of which, each of the artists talk about their media. I love reading about what materials they like to use; everyone works so differently (although Moleskins do seem to be the predominant book of choice). I've already bought "An Illustrated Life" as a gift, too, for my son, who stopped drawing a few years ago but who has so much talent I wanted to inspire him to start again. Also, I keep marveling at the price. So much color, great design and layout, and tons of scans must have gone into the making of this book, not to mention all writing in such different voices. It's even edited well, and that's a little bit surprising, considering I always find tons of errors in everything I read! I want the price to stay the same so I can keep buying it as a gift for others, but I also think it's worth twice as much.

I think this book has a nice collection of quite a few artists I am familiar with and a few I'm not. Sketchbooks shows the creative process of artists and it's inspirational to see how others think and what they draw. The only thing I didn't care for was the cover design of this book I am reviewing. I almost didn't buy this book because of the cover design (did not care for the handed lettering of the title), it looks like a how-to-do drawing book, not a collection of other artist's sketchbooks. I would have love to see more pages on Everett Peck, Mark Fisher, and James Jean. Other than that, I enjoyed the content and find this book to be inspirational. There are a couple of other books similar to this that I like to recommend, "Drawing From Life; The Journal as Art", by Jennifer New and "Drawing is Thinking", by Milton Glaser. The latter is a wonderful collection of just one artist's works.

I have read this book from cover to cover and enjoyed every minute, a lot. This is a treasure. Ever wonder how artists work in their sketchbooks and how sketch books contribute to their lives and art? Here, then, if your book. I have long been an advocate for sketchbooking. Anyone involved in making art, pretty-much art of any kind, should keep one and work in it frequently, if not daily. And this is certainly true of people who draw and sketch and paint. To me, no better way to get better! But back to this book: Fascinating. You know what I found interesting? Not so much how these creative folks did things differently but instead how often they do things the same. Many like bound sketchbooks because they are unavoidably sequential, chronological, one page relating if you want to the next one. It's also hard to lose a drawing out of a bound book, as can so easily happen if the drawing is on a loose sheet of paper. A whole bunch refuse to tear out of their bound books a drawing or sketch that turns out sour--bad drawings are part of the story and good to learn from. Almost all of them pointed out how sketching a scene was superior to just photographing it because sketching involves them in the scene so much more deeply, because they remember so much more of it that way. And, so much more. Well, I took notes. So many good ideas I want to incorporate in my own sketching. By the way, a lot of eye-candy too! Highly recommended to everyone interested in art.

Every now and then you find just the right book you need to fill a hole in your life. In many ways, An Illustrated Life filled that bill for me. I'm a writer and editor (my latest book, The New Horror Handbook, came out a few months ago), and spend most of my time editing other people's work, with little time left to actually enjoy the process of creation myself. When I stumbled upon this book, I had something of an epiphany. Here were people every bit as busy as the rest of us, yet they had found another way of saving their thoughts and documenting the world around them. So many different styles are represented in this book, from astonishing water colors to simple cartoons to the strange illustrations of Robert Crumb. But these full color illustrations are only half the story. The accompanying essays by the sketchbook artists themselves really spoke to me. I found it extremely inspiring to read about how these talented artists work, how they manage to snatch the time to sketch their thoughts, and perhaps most importantly, how making a sketch or watercolor of a scene in front of them actually allows them to better remember what they saw than simply taking a photo. If you've taken hundreds of digital photos of places you wanted to remember, only to barely remember them at all, you can see what a revelation this can be. Enough of my blatherings. This book is best summed up this way: A fascinating look into the creative process, and a good way to jump-start your own.

I recently brought this book as i thought it would be interesting to see what other artists and illustrators did with their graphic journals. I got that and a whole heap more, the book was inspiring as well as informative and showcased a wide gammet of styles and artists. I am exceptionally glad to have purchased this wonderful book. I thoroughly recommend it for anyone interested in being an illustrator or artist, those merely wanting some ideas on how to layout, what to draw and themes for their own graphic journals and those interested artists in the genre. Fantastic book, would recommend to anyone :D

I love the concept of this book. It's truly an inspiration for anybody who is into sketchbook journals. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the segment written by each artist about their process, techniques, materials, and what they find valuable in sketching and journaling. So, you can imagine how disappointed I was to find that the type size for these articles is so small that it's a struggle to read them. Instead of sitting down with the book for an hour or so at the end of a long day, I crawl my way through it one segment at a time, straining with the tiny font size and tiring quickly. I understand that it would have taken many more pages to have expanded the size, but I'd rather pay more for a larger book and be able to read it. I hope that if this print run sells out, it will be reprinted with a larger font size.

I had two of Dan's books and lost them a few years back. They were great but I was a realistic artist who worked in Graphite Pencil and occasionally in Pen and Ink. Even my sketches were realistic. But, also,a few years back, I lost my ability to draw and was devistated. Then I found Danny's books and they were so uplifting that I thought I could start again, and I did. But my drawings lacked the spontaneity and life they used to have. I've worked at it for years. And I mean worked. Not a good way to draw, consumed with the idea that I once again had to draw realisticlly to be any good. Recently, someone told me about Zentangles, they're fun and easy on the mind, no worries about perfection, tranquil. And then I remembered Danny's books and looked for them. This book arrived today and it is even more fun for someone who wants to draw from life... So, I say go for it. It's refreshing, fun, and gave a jump start to pure drawing without the worries of getting things "right." After all, "right" is in the eyes of the beholder and this is right for me.