I'm part of an international sketchbook exchange that has been going on since April of 2011. The exchange involves 4 artists, including myself. Three are from around the United States and one artist is from Germany. We each use a Japanese-fold style Moleskine sketchbook, which is basically one long piece of paper, between a hard cover. We start off by adding a sketch to our book and then mailing the book to the next artist in the exchange. Then they add to the sketch and send it on to the next person. Our group features four very differnt drawing styles, so it's alway's interesting to see what the next person will add and how one drawing style blends in with another. At the end, I'll get my original book back, with a number of illustrations from different artists.

It's an interesting challenge for me as I sometimes get mental blocks when it comes time to designing or illustrating something. This exchange forces me to come up with ideas to illustrate, that I wouldn't normally think of. I'll post my sketches as I finish them.

This is my most recent entry into the exchange. I chose to draw a beaver, ralaxing at his home, following Diana's fabulous illustration of a group of scouts. Obviously I was inspired by the beaver-theme in their uniforms and flags. I was starting to question my decision of drawing a beaver dam, when my arm started going numb from drawing all those little sticks. But it paid off in the end.

Below is my sketch, along with the entry from the previous artist:

Sketchbook Exchange