Dive into the chaotic, colourful world of my sketchbook! Life drawing experiments, printing experiments, struggles, triumphs, and the inevitable cats, cat, cats.

Whatever I create in my final work, the seeds of it germinate between the pages of my sketchbooks. My name is Eli Trier, and I am a professional artist living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark. On this channel, I take you into the studio with me, so you can sit with me and be a part of how I create my work.
Today, we're going through another sketchbook. These books are the backbone of my creative practice. They are my place to experiment, make a mess, push paint around, and try new things and work out ideas. If I have a flash of inspiration, my sketchbook is the first place I go to capture that idea. Sometimes those ideas get developed and turn into final pieces later on, and oftentimes they just stay in my sketchbook, a beautiful record of what's been catching my eye and my creative process through the years.
The sketchbook I'm sharing today is another Royal Talens Art Creation sketchbook. These are one of my favorite sketchbooks to use. They're very cheap, have lovely smooth paper, and take most media. They can take a bit of a battering, which is great as I like to use a lot of wet media. I'm a painter first and foremost, and they seem to hold up to paint relatively well.
We're going from February to November. I always start my sketchbooks with a quote that guides the sketchbook or sums up the work inside. This one is from Lee Krasner, a fantastic abstract expressionist artist: "I need to be alone for certain periods of time or I violate my own rhythm." This really spoke to me. If you've been around this channel for a while, you'll know I'm a bit of a hermit and like to be by myself, so hearing that from other artists always brings me huge amounts of joy.
We start with a continuation of my 100 life drawing poses project. I really wanted to improve my life drawing and observation skills, so I did 100 two-minute life drawing poses in all kinds of media across multiple sketchbooks. The improvement in my life drawing from the beginning to the end was amazing. If you ever want to really improve at doing something, try drawing lots of them for a very short amount of time. It really gets you looking and observing.
These drawings were done with Ecoline liquid watercolor. I love to draw with the pipette - it's a lovely way of getting loose, gestural lines, and I love the way it bleeds and feathers. Not great for the paper, but I like the effect. I also used a Molotow acrylic marker with a chunky nib, going for a gestural quality rather than accuracy of line. I want to capture the essence of what's in front of me, rather than worrying about the details.
I also use Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens, which are fabulous for gestural drawings. It's incredible how much information you can get down in just two minutes. This is about learning the gestures, shapes, and translating hand to eye without overthinking. A lot of problems with artwork come from overthinking and overworking things.
Sometimes I switch to my non-dominant hand if I feel like I'm getting too tight or trying to capture too many details. This helps loosen things up and stop the desire for accuracy. It's part of my experience of autism that I still have trouble telling my left from my right, even at 40-something years old.
One technique I love is drawing with the pipette and then smudging the outline. You end up with these lovely effects, almost like drawing the negative space. I love the color combinations and the juxtaposition of hard and soft edges.
I also experimented with charcoal and pastel pencils, which are classics in life drawing for a reason. Being able to smudge and suggest shadows and dimension to the body is really helpful, especially when you only have two minutes to get information down.
My goal with these quick poses was to simplify what I was seeing. With two minutes, you don't have time to worry about every detail. It's about translating a simplified version onto the page. I love the energy these gestural drawings have - they feel like they're moving.
I also did some potato printing, inspired by Mark Hearld's wonderful book. As soon as I started reading about him, I immediately went to the kitchen, grabbed some potatoes, chopped them up, and started printing. I couldn't get to the kitchen fast enough!
I'm obsessed with Neocolor crayons - they're like crayons for grown-ups and such a pleasure to use. I also did some life drawing sessions from Emma Carlisle's Patreon, featuring a model called Trixie who you'll see a lot in my sketchbooks.
One of my favorite drawings in this book is of sunflowers I bought after a day at the beach. I was watching telly and couldn't not draw them. I can feel the magic coming off this page when I look at it - it captures a lovely, quiet summer evening perfectly.
I also experimented with bamboo pens and Ecoline liquid watercolor. These bamboo pens are super cheap and one of my favorite tools. I love the scratchy line they produce. The Ecoline isn't lightfast, but it's fine for sketchbooks and great for messing around.
Last year, I was really trying to nail mixed media. I bought a pile of stuff and was randomly trying it all at once. Some of it I really like, some not so much, but I learned so much. Since then, I've reduced my palette, so my color story is much more consistent now.
I skip pages occasionally because stuff bleeds through sometimes, or I feel like the pages need a rest. The paper holds up quite well with acrylic and gouache, but if you're using a lot of watery media, it can bleed through.
One thing I've been experimenting with is texture. I'm hugely inspired by illustrator Victoria Semykina, who creates incredible textures in her work. I've been layering different materials on top of each other to see what happens - wet gouache on oil pastel, gouache smudged with paper towel, Ecoline inks over oil pastel, and so on. These techniques can be really useful for creating interesting backgrounds or adding depth to large areas.
I've also been playing around with lettering for a friend's podcast art, and doing some still life work. As I experiment, I can see my style developing and my understanding of materials growing.
That's about halfway through this sketchbook, and I think I'll leave it there for now. I'll do a part two of this particular sketchbook in an upcoming video. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next week!

Shop Prints From My Sketchbook

Fallen in love with any of the sketchbook pages you've seen? Good news! I regularly offer my favourite sketchbook pages for sale as zines, and gorgeous, high-quality prints. Pop over to The Gallery to get on the list for the next shop update.

Remember: surrounding yourself with art that makes you happy is an act of self-love. Go on, you deserve it!

Go on, treat yourself!