by Martin Salisbury
304 pages, hardcover, $40
Published by Chronicle Books
chroniclebooks.com

While we often see an artist’s finished artwork, one can’t help but wonder: What really happens in the making of an image? Where do artists and illustrators get their ideas from? And more importantly, how do they translate an idea into art? In Martin Salisbury’s book Illustrator’s Sketchbook: Inside the Creative Processes of 60 Iconic and Emerging Artists, we’re offered a glimpse into the inner workings of 60 artists past and present through a journey into their sketchbooks.

The humble sketchbook is more than just bound paper. For some artists, it is a playground for experimentation, an instrument for recording and remembering. For others, it’s a safe, secret place where they work out their thoughts in private. Leafing through pages of quick lines, rough shapes and first drafts of storyboards, what stood out to me was the myriad ways in which each artist weaves meaning and experience into their work.

Many, too, have shared the importance of using their sketchbook as a creative tool, one that can trigger a cascading spark of responses to the stimulus of mark-making. From formal exercises of observational drawings as a way of training the eye, to getting back to one’s style and roots to free themselves of the limits of art direction, the book offers up ways in which sketching enriches an illustrator’s routine and illuminates how an idea is made tangible through practice. In seeing the act of making unfold, we’re exposed to new dimensions of an artist’s work, as well as a newfound appreciation for the creative process itself. —Amy Ng