Wandering Moleskine Sketchtoon

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About a month ago, I was notified by Armand Frasco at Moleskinerie that he was kicking off something called the Wandering Moleskine Project. I was intrigued by the idea, so I immediately signed up to participate.

The idea behind this project is simple: send several large Moleskine sketchbooks around the world to participating Moleskinerie fans, allowing each to create something on a single page of the book. Upon completion, the work is scanned and submitted to the Moleskinerie staff, then the Moleskine is packed up and shipped to the next person.

A week and a half ago, I received Wandering Moleskine sketchbook number 3. The pages were completely unmarked and ready for my inaugural entry. Well, as it happens, my son Nathan managed to acquire the Moleskine and scribble on the title page! After my initial shock, I was actually pleased to see Nathan leaving his mark on the book for posterity sake. This morning I signed his work "Nathan Rohde, Age 2yrs" so it wouldn't go unnoticed. :-)

Since Nathan's entry, I struggled over what to do with my own entry. I briefly considered sketching a Milwaukee landmark, but due to limited time, this seemed impractical. So, the book remained un-marked until this morning.

While at the cafe this morning, I finally settled on an approach for my piece. Several friends have commented on the WorkPod Modular Computing Concept sketch I'd done this past January. It's somewhere between a concept sketch, a cartoon and a drawing, with notes integrated into the drawing itself. I love these types of sketches, and apparently others enjoy them as well. Maybe "sketchtoon" is an appropriate name?

So, I had the direction down, but wasn't sure what the subject ought to be. I realized a sketch of my surroundings at the cafe this morning might be fun to include, along with some little comments in the margins of the sketch.

Away I sketched — what a blast! I truly enjoyed feeling loose and relaxed as I scribbled and noted comments about each object and my surroundings. I think I need to do more environmental "sketchtoons" like this. :-)

Now it's time to submit my sketch to Moleskinerie and send away the WMP book 3 to the next person in line. I can't wait to see what others do as the project progresses across the globe!

Many thanks to Armand Frasco, Joy Rothke and all those involved with the Wandering Moleskine Project. Special thanks to Veerle Pieters, who's music selection of Zero 7 - Ben Watt Remix helped power my sketchtoon session this morning.

Comments

[Lo Szabo]

Hi Mike,

great idea & drawing! I'm already using it as background art on my computer...

I noticed that you would be a perfect cartoonist! Style and humour are already perfect already.



Very nice greetings,

- Lo

[Patrick Ng]

Hi Mike, wondering what type of the heavy metal pen is it. Roller ball, water based, fibre head.... etc? I'm interested to know what kind of pen people use on Moleskine. Do visit my site if you have time :)

[kristin p.]

Great work, Mike!It's quite amusing to read and know that at times, I'm the person sitting in the chair playing with my gadgets and sipping my coffee.Of course, around here in College Park it's a Starbucks, but that's a minor detail.I too am interested in what type of pen you were using. I seem to collect bags and pens, and absolutely love having nice pens for writing in my journal or doing homework.

Love that drawing!

[BobR]

I'm a fan of your site also, but didn't realize the extent of your artistic sketching talents. Please share more with us over time!BobRwww.MobileRead.com