Journaling & Animal Alphabets

I have been continuing to journal, using the dates and events of my life as a guide to what to draw.  I am still feeling that it's slightly a burden, enjoyable while I do it but does not have that 'spark' to want to work on something or really look forward to it. 

For something slightly different I decided to do "representations" rather than detailed journals of what I am doing.  We have been watching "Ripper Street" so instead of drawing about it as usual, I decided to find a picture of Jack the Ripper and draw that instead for the whole page to represent the entire thing, in a more abstract way.  I was pleased with the result:

Next, I worked for a week to finish my music album "Spirit of Solitude".  I felt I had neglected drawing again, I did not feel inclined to fill up the journal with annoying bits and pieces I had collected and I did not want to draw my music notes, album or music station. 

This is my finished Solitude CD album and I wanted to represent my work on this music as a journal entry that was interesting.

Spirit of Solitude CD

Keeping with the abstract representation theme again I decided to draw a "Lonely Tree" for the journal page to say about writing the music for Spirit of Solitude.  I was pleased with the result because I used soluble pastels and shiny watercolour paint.  I was able to use the page beside to say that I had been writing the music and thought about lonely trees, deserts and solitude to write the music.  It was a much more interesting journal entry.

The Lonely Tree

I am finding journaling interesting but again I do think the main problem that I have could be the Roald Dahl notebooks I am using, the paper is grid lined and I like to draw on thick drawing paper, I find that more inspiring.

ANIMAL ALPHABETS

On Twitter I have seen mentioned "Animal Alphabets", I noticed a lot of people drawing different birds but I was not sure how the whole thing worked.  On a whim I bought myself a very cheap sketchbook and used the letters of the alphabet as a starting point for drawing animals and birds.  It was much more enjoyable and inspiring.  The paper is lovely and thick and I am inspired right away by the texture to draw on.

I used my stencils for a simple cover and I started with "Aardvark".  My favourite thing is pencil sketching, working on the shading which I love and this is so much better with proper drawing paper.  I found an Aardvark on Google Images and drew him in pencil, then I found the kind of background he would live in and drew this too.  

I also used the "Drawing Cartoons Letter by Letter" as an opportunity to put those on each page too.

This beaver is mostly a copy but it was good practice because I was able to do the hair/fur effect and he actually turned out looking like a beaver.

After this I found a Cuckoo photograph online and sketched from this, I enjoyed mostly the detail and learning exactly what a cuckoo looked like as I drew too.  

I am still journaling but I am not doing it daily.  I seem to be drawing now in sketchbooks and using the journal as representations and for sticking things like postcards that I have collected inside.  I am coming to the conclusion that I need guidance for drawing and the daily guidance of a journal is great but it centres a lot around either work or TV programmes.  With a sketchbook that has a theme it points me in a direction that is more focused and this is helping.