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A sift through the paper-drift on my worktable brings to light scraps and fragments of the past months’ projects. There are cover and page-decoration sketches for Thaliad and The Foliate Head, likenesses of Isaac for the Greening of Gawain, and a tiny moleskin sketchbook full of research on puppets.
All my thumbnail scribbles get swept into box-files where they sleep undisturbed until I’m next on the hunt for some scrawled scrap I need but can’t recall the location of. At which point hundreds of drawings get upended onto the floor for me to riffle through. Of course I never find what I’m looking for, but there’s usually something to kick-start a painting, collage, drawing or illustration. Much of what I’ve brought to light this morning is thematic to my current obsession with ‘greening’, and so leaves and vegetation proliferate. Not much here by way of exciting drawing, these being just ‘process’ works. Ideas that will be discarded or developed, early stages on the way to somewhere else. Nevertheless I offer them as tiny windows into the way my mind is working right now, and as pointers toward what I’ll be up to next.
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Top of page and below: sketches for Thalia
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Below: sketches for The Greening of Gawain
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Below: sketches from a puppet notebook
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Below: sketches for The Foliate Head
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Clive Hicks-Jenkins' Artlog: 
It’s really interesting to see your ideas sketches, and what a good idea storing them in box files, I often end up with lots of little scraps, scribbles and sketches and store them in a ring binder but they inevitably fall out and get lost, I may have to invest in a file!
Stumbled on your page while scrolling through Freshly Pressed drawing blog links, I like your work. It makes me think of the artist, William Kentridge. Who draws and creates stages, and films and more, link for you, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/william-kentridge/
i love your puppet sketches! especially the cat 😉
i am so excited to hear you have puppet projects in the works? more on that…?
very happy you’re feeling better!!!
Clive, I have a question.
When you work in collage, and you’ve made a finished piece, do you photo it for final or scan it? Surely the original collage doesn’t get sent to the printer?
Thanks!
It depends on the size. If the work will fit onto my scanner, then that’s undoubtedly the best way to produce an image for sending. However the larger works have to be photographed, which is more complicated because it involves a camera and lighting set-up.
Scanned or photographed images for illustration projects are then colour adjusted and ‘cleaned up’ on Photoshop before being posted electronically.
The days of sending original works to a publisher/printer are, thank goodness, behind us. I’ve done two books for the poet Marly Youmans this year, both of which had their cover art produced as collages, and the page decorations produced as brush drawings and collages. Before the book-printing was even underway, the original artworks were at my framer’s workshop being readied for exhibition.
Do you have a particular show in mind already? Or are just collecting them for a future time?
Some will get an outing in Jersey next month, but the main plan is to do a ‘graphic’ show with Martin Tinney next year, in which all the illustrative work of the past twelvemonth will be brought together. That’s the theory anyway.
Seems like a good one. It will make a handsome show, unified and yet varied.
I like your drawings and colour notes in your puppet sketchbook, some notes written in german etc, was it in a puppet museum? I hope you are feeling better now. Do you know where to get blank books in accordion/chinese folding book style? I have tried searching but have not found anything.
Hello Janet. How are you? No word from you since the online exhibition. Have you made any more maquettes since then?
The sketches were made from photographs in an old puppetry book belonging to a friend. I was staying at her flat, and spent most of the night propped up in bed with the book on my lap while making dozens of drawings. They’re just for reference. I have a few puppet-based projects on right now.
OK, here’s a link for a folding sketchbooks.
I’ve checked the ‘Japanese Album’ made by Moleskine (recommended in these comments by Merannicuill) and from what I can see in the photograph on the website, the covers are of the regular type, joined by the spine, which means that the book can only be displayed as a loop. The sketchbook I’ve linked to above is of the type I used for my own project, where the covers are not joined, and the sketchbook can be displayed as a panorama. Infinitely preferable.
I got mine from Moleskine.com. They had a “buy 5, get one more free” sale at the time. Even with shipping (though I’m in the US) , they were cheaper than individually in an art store.
There are several models of these sketchbooks; make sure you want the style you think you’re getting. I’ve used mine for trading out with other artists on collaborative works. (I find they take markers and ink best; watercolor didn’t stick as well. Depends a lot on the paper!)
The Sketchbook Project uses these little books as well! (google it 😉 )
Clive, I liked your sketchbook very much! Paper looks of excellent quality. Is there a US source?
The above sketchbook is a Moleskine. I love these and purchase them in bulk over here. I see that there are numerous US sources on Amazon.com, and so you will have no trouble acquiring some.
Hi merannicuill,
I have been enjoying looking at the Sketchbook Project online, thank you for letting me know about it and I am going to spend some more time reading it. The japanese accordion style moleskins seem really nice to work with as well.
Hi Clive, thanks for the link to the folding sketchbooks, it is a lovely site and that is just the kind of sketchbook I have been looking for, which as you noted has a panoramic display. The moleskin japanese album kindly recommended by Merannicuill would also be a good one to work in. I haven’t done any more maquettes or anything else since the online exhibition as I was recovering from a small op. I am a bit laid up with tendonitus and a big boot and crutches as of this afternoon, ho hum … I’ve also been doing a bit of sorting and putting some order in all the bits of assorted imagery and drawings I keep hoarding. I thought maybe sticking into scrapbooks, but box files could be a good idea as it keeps things loose and accessible for cutting and sticking.