5 Worst Pages In My Everyday Sketchbook

Today I’m sharing the five worst pages in my first everyday sketchbook, as a way to encourage beginners who want to get into art but are afraid of messing up and ruining their sketchbook with ‘bad art’.

I’ve included some photos of the ‘worst pages’ below, but if you’d rather see the original video, I’ve added it at the bottom of this post.

For transparency, I’ll include the original dates of when these pages were completed, so you can get an idea of how long ago they were.

I should note that when I shared these over on my art YouTube channel, there was a little bit of negativity – comments to do with not slating my work as it puts other people off trying. While that is a valid point, I think it’s also important that beginners see that we can be critical of our own work, and that we don’t think everything is ‘perfect’. Striving for perfection is unrealistic, and my belief is to share the good and the not so good.

1. The ‘River’ Road

The original colors I used for this piece were:The original colors I used for this piece were:

• Hookers green
• Cobalt turquoise light
• Yellow ochre

And I loosely followed a paid tutorial by Ian Fennelly, an urban sketcher, but sadly, my interpretation of his method was not amazing.

Rather than use a sketch that he used, I based mine on a photo I found on Unsplash, which I really liked. And all was going well with this piece until I allowed the blue to take over the road.

When I showed it to people for feedback the consensus was that the road looked more like a river and ruined the piece.

The thing is, I actually liked it as it was, but influenced by criticism, I ended up painting over it with my Himi gouache set. Want to guess at how I feel about it now?

I hate it even more.

2. The ‘Egypt Pool’

My goodness. There are no words to describe the mess that this page is. Originally it was ok. I sketched the view in front of me using a standard B pencil, and was happy with what I had captured: a pool, rocks, palm trees and the river Nile in the distance.

But then I got home after our holiday and decided to ‘color it in’. Disaster. I used a selection of Tombow pens I had – no idea why I thought that would be a good idea – and I really disliked how it looked.

So then I grabbed the Himi gouache again, and went over the tombows, in an attempt to improve it, and I made it so much worse. I really wanted to rip the page out, but I have kept it in as a reminder that we all create rubbish, and we can learn as much from that as our best pieces.

3. The ‘I Shouldn’t Waste It’ Spread

It’s becoming a regular thing now, but when I have paint mixed up, I tend to want to use it on something rather than waste it. And that is what happened with this spread. I mean look at it, it is truly ghastly!

And then I tried to doodle over what I had created and made it even worse. But it’s ok, I’m taking it as another learning experience. Right?

4. The ‘Failed’ Tutorial

I have mentioned in my post covering the ways I use my everyday sketchbook that I love following tutorials. And this one was a tutorial from one of my favorite Patreon artists, Jane Beata.

Sadly, this is not my favorite tutorial. I should have known because it was floral based – it turns out that I despise painting florals – but I still gave it a go, because I figured there was something I might learn in the process. And I did… that I hate painting or drawing flowers!

5. The ‘Dodgy’ Skin Tone

The final ‘worst page’ in my everyday sketchbook is this attempt at a portrait which I painted from a photo on Unsplash. I had gained some confidence after following a couple of portrait painting tutorials from Jane Beata, and so I opted for a photo of a woman with a darker skin tone.

The moment I started mixing colors I knew I was in trouble. I should have stopped before putting paint to paper, but being the stubborn person I am, I continued onwards and created a mess on the page.

Alas, I haven’t attempted dark skin tones since, but I may brave it again in future.

I know these are not the worst pages I’ve ever created – you should see some of the art from my GCSE art class back in the early 90s! – but they are the most recent and I figure that if I share them, it will help anyone new to drawing and painting to feel more confident in taking that first step. Part of getting good at anything is making some bad stuff first, because we learn more from our failures than our successes. So take that jump, load up your paintbrush and just dive in and have fun!

If you’re new to using a sketchbook for play, then do check out my recent post on the five ways I use an every day sketchbook – I’m certain it’ll help you to loosen up and have fun too!