This video exhibits the sketches, doodles and caricatures drawn by artist Mark Mcdonnell over a period of time. Just from visually studying his drawings within his sketchbook and listening to his voice talk over the top you can soon realise how fun it can be and how it is important to have variation within your sketches alongside using careful placement to best fill your sketchpad.

The idea of a sketchbook is to get your thoughts and practices down on paper in your own time without anyone else seeing or critiquing them. McDonnell prefers to use an off white hue paper with a medium texture as it makes for a smoother drawing experience as well as allowing him to use white pencil to highlight his various sketches and really set out the dark tones.

Just because it is a sketchbook doesn’t mean it is solely has to be sketches, you can use washes, inks, crayons or whatever you lay your hands on to gather inspiration at that particular moment in time. McDonnell has a variety of subject matter contained within his sketch pad and states that he just enjoys capturing life in its rawest form, particularly drawing baby monkeys or other wildlife at the zoo in all their various playful poses.

The sketchbook in this demonstration contains a whole wealth of drawing styles; black and white, semi-finished renderings, pen, pencil, crayon, paint, caricature, experimental shapes, silhouettes, linear drawings and inks amongst others. Take the time to see how he focuses on his compositions and placement of drawing to best fill his pages as this is useful for utilising the space on the page as well as maximising its effect as an overall composition.