Sketchbooks are a great place to hash out new ideas and play with new materials. They take the pressure off of you to create something amazing when you only have five minutes to play. Also, they save you from making silly mistakes on nice (read "expensive") paper.
Lately, I have been doing lots of sketches with Sharpie markers. They are great to draw with since the ink is permanent, and you can find them on sale with back-to-school specials. That being said, I was in the mood for a bit of change and decided to switch to a caligraphy pen. Deep down I knew that this ink wasn't permanent, but somehow my brain did not fully register all the implications of that fact.
Specifically, I "forgot" that if you decide to do watercolor washes over drawings made in non-permanent ink, you get a mess! The ink bleeds into the wash and creates some not so attractive colors. Ick!
On the bright side, I loved the change in line weight that the pen created so I'm thinking of doing some more work with it. I'll just make sure not to try to paint over it!
