Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal

I've been following Samantha Dion Baker's work on Instagram for years now and pre-ordered this book as soon as she let us know it was out. I read the entire book the first weekend I received it and was so touched by the thoughtfulness, encouragement and helpful tips put into this book. It was a great blend of Samantha's personal journey, why the daily drawing has impacted her life, what it means to her family, and how she can sometimes secretly capture memories and remember them years later for her and her children to remember some day. This book was especially wonderful because she focused on how anyone could benefit. You don't have to be an experienced artist, writer or journalist. It doesn't have to be beautiful or shared with the world. The point is that everyone's daily life - no matter how routine, mundane or seemingly boring can reveal moments of wonder, joy, small pleasures through a PRACTICE of looking each day. It reminded me that life is happening now, and the small moments add up (like compound interest) to create our own personal journey. Such a simple and lovely book, but the meaning behind it is POWERFUL and fantastic. Thank you Sam for sharing your heart and your pages with all of us.

Well-written and easy to read. I started and finished the book in one reading session. Loved the illustrations throughout the book. This is not a tutorial kinda book, it is an inspirational and how-to guide on sketch journals. I already have her next book "draw your world" in my hands and ready to read, and I have her next book on pre-order. Excited to see what knowledge she shares next.

This book is definitely good for beginners in a sense that she gives you ideas of what to draw. However It is not a “how to draw” book, but more so encouragement book to start drawing or get back into it. I am not a beginner to drawing and art tools but I did find some of the recommendations useful. It is good to get out of your comfort zone when drawing. Since I have been out of practice for a couple of years I found this book to be inspiring and easy to incorporate some of the ideas in my daily routine. Normally I draw portraits and rarely draw from still life/scenery. This book definitely is helping me break through those barriers.

I purchased this book after learning the basics of watercolor painting. After reading through the entire book I started making my first sketch journal. I returned from vacation with several fun photos and memories to refer to. I'm new to sketching, so this part was harder for me. But I took it slowly, adding pencil sketches, then ink using Micron pens. Next, I added some journaling about my vacation and finished using watercolor and Tombo water-soluble markers for shading. It was a blast! I added a few more pages about my vacation and am currently working on pages about my spring garden. This is addictive! Samantha's book is inspirational and contains a ton of examples and advice. I loved this book so much that I recently purchased her book, Draw Your World. I likely won't be sketch journaling like a daily diary, but more to record snippets of my experiences and use photos I've taken as references to compose them into pages. I'm fairly slow at this point so trying to keep up with a daily complete page would turn it into work for me and I want to keep it light and fun. Samantha, your books are wonderful! I can tell this is a new hobby for me that won't fade over time.

The book is good with lots of examples for inspiration so exactly what I was looking for. Note, this was a used book. It was in great condition but the previous owner wrote a lot of notes and underlined a lot. With pencil so I could erase it but that was not ideal

I love this book! I've been wanting to establish a daily sketching/drawing habit, and was looking for something that would motivate me to do so. This book has beautifully drawn and painted illustrations and sketches, text with lots of ideas to keep you in the daily sketchbook habit, and is written in an encouraging voice. It doesn't matter whether you are just beginning to sketch or have done it for years. Anyone can get started. Her sketches are pen/ink and watercolor, but she says you can use just about any art medium you like. I have started a daily sketching/drawing sketchbook habit using pencil, pen, and colored pencils, just to get started. I may switch to watercolor later. Great book! I keep reading it and looking at it, because I love to look at it. I read the text in one day, but it's the illustrations, sketches, and. ideas that keep me coming back to it.

Recently I came across the work of Samantha Dion Baker on Instagram and I was instantly transfixed by the images of her work that she was posting. Drawings of the everyday ordinary things she comes across throughout her day done in her sketchbook done in such a way that you can’t help be charmed and intrigued by them . I have been missing the days of the sketchbook challenge that a group of us did years ago and have been thinking about making 2019 the year I get back into a regular sketching habit. So I picked up Samantha’s new book “Draw your Day” and I find myself definitely inspired by what’s in it’s pages. You won’t find step by step directions on how to draw in this gem of a book but what you will find is plenty of inspiration along with some great information about tools and materials to get you started on developing your own sketching practice. She has a very approachable writing style and you feel as if you are sitting across from the author sharing a cup of coffee flipping through her sketchbooks. You won’t find any photographs in this book – it’s entirely illustrated with the authors drawings taken from her own sketchbooks. It’s a beautifully done book and I highly recommend it!

Je conseille ce livre à toutes les personnes qui veulent coucher sur le papier leurs souvenirs sous forme de textes mélangés à des dessins. Ce livre est inspirant, et Samantha présente son processus créatif avec beaucoup de détails. Ce livre se lit vraiment facilement et à la fin, on en veut encore ! (ça tombe bien, Samantha a écrit un second livre, sorti il y a deux mois ;-))

Sweet book but overpriced for what you get, its smaller than expected

حلو كثير واضافه جميله لمكتبتي

I love this book. I haven't even had the chance to go all the way through it but from the moment I opened it up I knew I was going to like it. I've been really wanting to draw lately but lack inspiration for it. I wouldn't of even thought about drawing my day if this book hadn't of popped up in my Kindle feed. It's such a simple activity as well that you can do either digitally or traditionally.

I don't normally purchase books but I heard this author on a podcast and wanted to support the print world of publishing so I ordered. It's inspiring, well written, beautifully illustrated, and overall a nice and high quality book. I have already gotten inspiration from it and look forward to completing my first sketch journal.