My pink camo book is pretty much my default sketchbook when going anywhere. I have no rules for it: doodling, drawing, gluebooking, whatever. It’s all welcome here. After all, this was bought on a whim and on the cheap. The pages are smooth, not at all like sketchbook paper. Ink takes forever to dry, but it’s a decent surface for gluing.

Most recently, I dragged this old book to Anime USA in Arlington, Virginia, to give me something to do during the slow times in the artists alley. After gluing in assorted remnants from recent trips to Harpers Ferry and the African-American Civil War Memorial and Museum, I opened my convention program and started to draw a couple of the guests in pencil. Since I was doing this specifically to kill time, I felt absolutely none of my usual impulse to rush. One of them in particular came out fairly well:

Last time I went anywhere with this notebook I bemoaned my lack of coloring supplies. A few months ago I took advantage of the start-of-school sales and picked up a 24-count box of Crayola Crayons for a buck. I love coloring, and I love using as many colors as possible in a given picture. Thus, instead of using a realistic color scheme, my next drawing turned into Lady Gaga meets Jem (or, more precisely, Aja):

Then I decided to try something different, and instead restricted myself to black, white, and gray, and was impressed with the range of tones you can get with crayons:

Yes, he’s all smeary and rough, but my post-elementary-school experience with crayons is rather limited. And my patience for monochrome was short-lived:

Do you ever use basic school supplies in your art? Any favorite kiddie brands?