Illustrators' Sketchbooks: Inside the Creative Processes of 60 Iconic and Emerging Artists

by Martin Salisbury

Explore the creative process with iconic and emerging illustrators through selections from their sketchbooks.

This inspiring collection is an ode to the power and possibilities of the sketchbook. It features the journal pages of sixty artists from around the world and across history, including nostalgic favorites like Jean de Brunhoff, Tove Jansson, and Beatrix Potter and contemporary icons like Beatrice Alemagna, Oliver Jeffers, and Shaun Tan.

Curator Martin Salisbury draws on decades of experience as an illustrator and educator to shed light on the lives and work of each artist. A treasury of rough sketches, note-filled margins, collaged pages, color explorations, and thumbnail drawings reveals the importance of the journal in the artmaking process. Some sketchbooks are works of art in themselves, while others showcase playful ideas and happy accidents. This beautifully designed anthology offers readers a glimpse into the raw imagination at the heart of stories and characters treasured across generations.

INTERNATIONAL ROSTER OF This collection includes the sketchbooks of a diverse range of illustrators hailing from the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, and South Korea. In addition to the engaging work of newer illustrators like Takako Aoki and Victoria Tentler-Krylov, the book features famous artists like Hergé, Edward Gorey, and Tomi Ungerer and the sketches behind their iconic characters and stories.
 
RARELY-SEEN Featuring private sketchbook pages, this book offers a fascinating look into the minds of illustrators and their boundless imaginations.
 
INSPIRING GIFT This beautiful hardcover is a perfect gift for artists, illustrators, designers, and anyone interested in creative expression. It will inspire readers to explore the techniques of world-famous artists and embrace their own brainstorming process.

Perfect

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Drawing

304 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2023

About the author

Martin studied illustration at Maidstone College of Art (now part of the University of the Creative Arts) in the 1970s. He has worked as an illustrator and painter ever since. In recent years his work has focused mainly on the area of children’s book illustration, painting for exhibition and writing on the subject of drawing and illustration.

Martin regularly contributes to Artists & Illustrators magazine, Books for Keeps and the Journal of the Association of Illustrators. Along with colleague Wendy Coates-Smith he founded the graphic arts journal, Line which has been internationally acclaimed as an important contribution to research into illustration and drawing.

In 2004, Martin wrote Illustrating Children’s Books, a major guide to the practice and theory of the art form published by A&C Black in the UK. In 2007, Martin Salisbury was a member of the judging panel for the prestigious Bologna Ragazzi Award in Italy. The following year he joined the international jury for the CJ Picture Book Awards in Seoul.

Martin currently acts as External Examiner (BA Hons Illustration) at the University of Westminster and Southampton Solent University.

Reviews

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I didn't know most of the artists in this collection, I loved getting a peek into their sketchbooks.
Wonderful inspiration for folks who keep journals/sketchbooks.

[Laurel]

I'm in love - I feel like an art voyeur with a small museum in my lap. I'm not an illustrator aficionado, but this book made me want to learn more. Being able to hear from some of the illustrators directly on how they utilize sketchbooks was fascinating as well.

We often see finished pieces hanging in museums or on the page of a book, but being able to see the process behind the final product was illuminating, I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in any type of art or illustration!

[Melgen V · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated while reading this book and seeing the sketches of these artists with different styles. It’s a beautiful read containing the artists' names, a short biography, and their illustrations which were all amazing and captivating.

[Deniz Gorencan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Salisbury’nin illüstrasyonla ilgili tüm kitaplarını okuduğum için belki de bende “vaow” etkisi uyandırmadı bu sabırsızlıkla beklediğim eser. Çünkü beklentim çok büyüktü, konu yaratıcı zihinlere sızmak olunca insan doyumsuz oluyor.
“Daha” dedim hep “daha ne var?”. Daha çeşitli sanatçı seçkisi olsaydı daha doyurucu olabilirdi mesela güncel işleriyle. Uzakdoğu’lu sanatçıların eskiz defterleri çok ilgi çekiciydi, benzer şekilde farklı coğrafyalardan sanatçıların dünyalarını görmek isterdim.

[Joni Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was mesmerized by this book. I didn’t know most of the artists but I was so amazed at all the different styles and techniques. Some were simple sketches, while others were so extraordinary. This was wonderful and I don’t have enough words to describe how much some moved me.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salisbury offers us a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the private sketchbooks of 60 illustrators. Many of the artists were familiar to me like Edward Gorey, Tove Jansson, Beatrix Potter, Ronald Searle, Brian Wildsmith, and Shaun Tan. Others were brand new, and it was a pleasure being introduced to their work. There are brief bios of all the included illustrators.

This is a lovely book that begs for repeated viewings.

Many thanks to Chronicle Books and NetGalley for sharing this one.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book to read. I enjoyed the sketches and illustrations and the various styles of art. It was also interesting to learn a little bit about each artist.

*Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.*

[Bibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting book! I loved reading a bit about each illustrator and getting glimpses into their sketchbooks and seeing different artistic styles. It was quite remarkable.

[Sam Archambault · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS. WILL BE GOING BACK TO THIS TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

[Sandra Buerger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! All the different styles were both fascinating and inspiring.

[Robin Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

30-31, 49, 51, 53, 71, 79, 88-89, 106-107, 118-119, 135, 139, 143, 144, 147, 149, 187, 191, 192 194, 199, 203, 209, 241, 247, 272

[Lighthouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is really endearing to see different artist's sketchbook (spanning from decades even centuries before...)

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a how-to, but, as the sub-title states, a look into the creative process of a variety of artists and their styles. It’s a really useful book for artists looking to develop their own style.

[Susan Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Great variety of artists and styles, appealing layout.

[Amy in the Desert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, fantastic, wonderful! Lots of different types of artist's sketchbooks to admire!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend who got into drawing fairly recently showed me one of the many sketchbooks they filled in the same time it took me to finish perhaps 8-10 fully rendered, but ultimately pretty simple illustrations - so, approximately two years. That sheer amount of beautiful, imperfect experimentation with material, media and colours, untainted by the pressure of sharing content online, haunts me to this day.

I haven't consistently drawn on paper since high school, resorting to the security of reversible and adjustable, time-saving digital art, and quickly dropped any pencil sketching practice I might have picked up since. I have never in my life finished a sketchbook, because I am an anxious perfectionist and full-time employee, who would rather spend time churning out more likes and reblogs = serotonin than privately practicing art for myself.

But said friend also took me to a life drawing session, which frankly made me feel like an actual artist for the first time in years. Maybe it was the many other creatives quietly concentrating on the same subject in a cozy atmosphere, maybe it was the cocktails? But I want to do it again. And as motivation, I won an even bigger sketchbook during that event, which is is sitting on my desk now, silently judging me for not using it.

But I will!!! And now that I saw at this inspiring insight into more or less famous artists' sketchbooks, I want to more than ever. Their versatility is fascinating - some use them as scrap books, some as diaries, some lay out panels, some produce basically finished and fully coloured pieces directly on the page. You can tell from most interviews that no artist utilizes their sketchbook practice the same - just as every artist's work is unique.

I was blown away by the examples of scenes documented by the chosen illustrators of the world wars, of course (I do so love the golden era of illustration). That those practice pieces still exist, and that we are still able to look at the process and thoughts behind a painter's opus years if not centuries after their death, is a blessing. It makes me hope that future artists might one day look at my own silly doodles and find love and inspiration in them. So maybe I should fill that sketchbook.

***I received a digital copy from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.***

[Elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting to see inside various illustrators sketchbooks yet many of the artists’ names were not recognizable to me.

[Sungyena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great survey book that has images of sketchbooks from artists both contemporary and historic - behind the scenes magic! Love seeing process!

Beatrice Alemagna: “Sketching is to watch thoughts coming out of a pencil, to make anything i want, to rediscover some childhood feelings, to create strange shapes and to lose myself in a forest of unknown lines.”

Cai Gao: “Life becomes warm and loving bc of handwork.”

Katrin Stnagl: “My sketchbooks are a place for treasure and trash. Looking through them, it is a little journey to the zoo, the museum, past projects, pictures i collected, ideas i already forgot and notes i don’t understand anymore.”

Leah Yang: “I draw in my sketchbook rather like a cat under the chassis of a car, w/o worrying about who might see me. It is a safe and secluded place where I belong and I can do whatever I want.”

Salisbury’s quote of john minton: “It’s something to do with having a real love for the subject, having a real anxiety that it will escape: not just tolerating it as a possible subject, but loving it.”

[Kristen Lango · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything that Professor Salisbury has written but this new book has something special. It inspired me to continue to work in my sketchbooks and to look at them in a new way. A lot of the interviews rang true to my own experiences while also offering new insights.
If you're an artist or illustrator who loves to draw and has ever had a sketchbook I think you'll find this book thought provoking and inspiring.