Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way: Sketch, Paint, and Doodle Through One Creative Year

by Jennifer Orkin Lewis

Conceived by Instagram’s daily sketch sensation @augustwren, this guided journal encourages carving out a moment of self-expression every day.
 
To conquer the intimidating prospect of filling 365 blank pages, Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way is divided into monthly themes, with undated daily prompts that suggest what to draw each day. You can work through the journal from front to back, or jump around and draw whatever appeals to you at the time. Monthly themes include:

A month of nature
A month of your favorite things
A month of characters
A month of print and patterns
Jennifer Orkin Lewis (aka @augustwren) encourages experimentation with a one-page tutorial at the beginning of each month that outlines accessible ways to draw with different materials, such as ballpoint pens, colored pencils, paint, and collage. Coupled with sections of varying paper types, there is an unlimited canvas available to flourish artistically; brown craft paper pairs well with black ink and white pencil, black paper is great for white and metallic gel pens, and heavy white paper is included for painting.
 
The journal is not only useful as a stress-reliever and as a mode of personal exploration, but also as a way of changing visual thinking. And when completed, it will serve as a reflection of its owner.
 
With prompts, tutorials, and unique packaging, Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way is a must-have for those looking to sketch and doodle their way out of an inspirational rut.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts

240 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2016

About the author

Jennifer Orkin Lewis is a freelance illustrator and textile designer who paints for 30 minutes every day in her sketchbook and posts the results on Instagram (@augustwren). Her clients include Kate Spade, Anthropologie, Flow Magazine, and teNeues. She lives in Irvington, New York.

Reviews

[Heatherista]

It took me eight months (rather than the suggested year...I tended to work in spurts) but I finally colored/painted/doodled on every gosh darn page! Such a fun, amazing book. It really expanded my creativity and Lewis is an inspiring and talented artist.

[Tiffany Spencer]

Draw Every Day, Draw Every Way:
This is a sketch book that I saw on Amazon that I was curious about and had on my wish list. Then I found it online. It’s divided into sections. These are the sections (a month of Nature, Food, Your Favorite Things, Around The Town, Look Up And See The World, Around The House, World Travel, Characters, Find The Beauty In Everything, Clothes, Prints and Patterns, Animals, Sea Life, and Your Choice). Each section has a blank space and something that goes with the sections category. After each section it asks what you most enjoyed in the section and what did you find challenging. It also gives you certain supplies to try on each section so you have a little variety.

I liked that this sketchbook started off with some very helpful advice. It says “Doing something every day for a year right Seem daunting, but | had a breakthrough when | decided to focus on drawing food for one month. |t felt manageable.” It also says set a Time Limit “I set a timer for thirty. minutes —some times less. When the time is up. | put down my pen or brush and I'm done, Simple as that.”

What I would have liked to see in this sketchbook is some of the author’s sketches. But other than that I thought the categories were good, and the objects, clothes, animals, and other things (sub categories) had some interesting material to work with. I could actually visualize what I would draw if I were drawing in this in my head as I flipped through each section.