Inspiration Monday: handmade book

Posted on by dannygregory

I love reading, writing, illustrating and making books. This week at Sketchbook Skool, Jill Weber* challenged us to make a book that shares something about ourselves — so I tackled the monkey.

I’m not terribly good at crafty things as I am clumsy and impatient but this was a very fun project. See the process and results in this video:

44 thoughts on “Inspiration Monday: handmade book”

  1. I absolutely love this! I can’t express how great it is to see someone do something new for the first time and totally relate the whole time. Whenever I watch “how-to” videos, the person showing me “how-to” knows it so well, that when I get stuck or feel bumbly, it makes it worse. Knowing that everyone has those “why am I messing this up and how do I fix it?” moments inspires and persuades me to keep going. You did a fabulous job! Thank you!!!

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  2. Love this Danny. It makes up for the complaints about “not enough demos with Jill.” You may have set a precedent however. Knowing you were not in your comfort zone helped us to better understand your process. Jill seemed to do it so effortlessly. We need to see the struggle. Thank you.

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  3. Thanks Danny…your little video spoke to all of us (who glue our fingers together and can’t fold a straight line and struggle to create a story from the mundane to the best…to the most terrible).
    Sometimes the ‘monkey’ threatens to stop is before we even get started because he tells us no one wants to hear/see our story and we would’t be able to draw it anyway…and if we do, it will ‘suck’ big time.
    Can’t wait for my copy of the book to assist in shutting my own monkey! In the meantime, I’ve got cotton in my ears and I’m singing ‘La la la la la…I can’t hear you!!!’

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  4. now I don’t feel so bad about wasting my first piece of paper… I ended up with long skinny pages, because step 3 of the instructions said Fold LONG sides, but it should have been Fold SHORT sides… the second time my book looked right. Alas, it is still blank, thanks for giving me an idea of how to work out how to fill the book. Great how-to video Danny.

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  5. Once again, thanks for putting your creative voice to the Monkey. Your reflections help me to listen to my own reluctance and bury my insecurities. Brief comment, but I have a book to make now.

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    1. By the way–before I go, another thanks to expanding on the lesson, which I found a little too sketchy (if you’ll forgive the expression). Now I have ALL the info on how to tackle the project!

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  6. Thanks so much, Danny. This is one of the most ‘heart helpful’ videos I’ve ever watched. And will save and watch again. And again. Both for the helpfulness of watching and hearing your process, but also hearing a monkey at work (in the background.) aha, how truly I recognize those monkey fears as my own.
    Thanks again.
    Dee

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  7. Thank you Danny for doing an sample. Now that the artist in the classes do not answer their own questions like they did in Beginnings and Seeings, it is good to watch all your examples of the class because it clears up many questions. Good Job!!!

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  8. This video is a blast. You reminded me of all the struggles I had with making things. Enjoyed watching your process immensely. I will tell you this, I found out that I had to copy the instructions exactly (Morgan made sure we received pdf files on Saturday). I copied them and followed them exactly, even though my edges were a bit off (I will always be me), voila I had several books. I think that like me, you tend to work too fast and ignore the tiny little details that wind up with us getting in trouble. I want to tell you though that I would not change anything about you, you are a delight to watch and learn from. Hilarious sometimes, I think if we remember that there will not be so much pain. Thank you very much Danny.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Fantastic Danny. Not only was this so very helpful but it was also so funny. Your willingness to share your challenges was really great. And I’ve never laughed out loud during a “how to” video before. Thanks!

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  13. You truly brightened my morning. I wish you could’ve heard me laughing out loud. So funny to see you fumbling with that paper…especially just trying to make a clean tear out of the notebook. Hilarious hearing you sigh, etc. It all made me imagine you 5 years old working with paper and scissors. I will return to this video again just because it was so entertaining. Of course, your drawing, inking and story were in Danny Gregory style which always proves to be amazing.

    P.S. Slow down when folding paper. Be Zen with the paper.
    Cheerios-Darlene

    Liked by 1 person

  14. This little video just cracked me up…from your admission of fumble fingers to using your mother’s scissors. Brought back memories for me too. Oh the horror inflicted if we used our mother’s sewing scissors to cut paper! In the end that little book you made was so poignant and profound and the message so clearly sharp. Years ago I was introduced to the Japanese aesthetic based on transience and imperfection — Wabi-sabi. I embraced this concept and find the imperfections absolutely perfect!

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  16. The Creative Process: bringing it home. Helpful, charming, fun! I’m not so interested in books, wasn’t going to do the homework but watching you do it was so infectious that I just came up with several ideas and am going straight away to make one. Or two….

    Thank you Danny.

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  17. Not bad for a clumsy person. Very inspiring, thank you so much for sharing your homework experience! This was fun to watch. I am going to make my own book now, and it’s going to have butterflies in it. Yay!

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  19. I loved this! It made me laugh out loud. When you said you were never any good at oragami…You’re so funny…all your little stories. This was mostly just very creative and funny, but also totally helpful. looking forward to writing and drawing my own story. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I love that you took time to demo the book. Still stuck on step 5 but will keep at it. The limited red added so much to your pages and I love the moral of the story, Very helpful and inspirational video.

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  22. Thank you, Danny. My reserved time for this class was interrupted by pdf download kerfuffle, ice storm, power outage, internet downage and… this is a SUPER helpful recap. Maybe I will find time between now and Thursday to do and post. I appreciate it!

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  23. Had decided to skip the klass assignment this week until your video arrived this morning. Now I understand!
    Love your version as it speaks to my own rebellious, resistant right hand and my left over left brain. Keep on simplifying Sketchbook Skool homework for those of us who are easily flummoxed by the ease and experience of the faculty. Sometimes one needs more information rather than less, especially when creativity / imagination needs further , entirely practical information.

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  25. I so loved this. I too, am someone who just wants to draw what is in front of me. Don’t make me wake my imagination, it can be dangerous!

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  28. I enjoyed this more than you could possibly know….I know exactly how you feel! We are all so full of insecurities and it was so nice to see you crush yours, if only for the moment! Thank you and blessings to you!

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  29. “Folding” is good. “Holding folding” (having money) is also good. Folding paper is possible, but not so much for me. Bristol doesn’t bend well. It cracks as shown in Danny’s video. Having made the dummy and folded a thin
    version into a tiny book, I was ready to roll with the finished version. Never did happen. So… using the pre-planned format I laid out the
    illustrations in my sketchbook. Not a bad use of inspiration, time and effort even if not what the assignment
    originally called for. Side effect: enhanced sketchbook skills.

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  31. This is great! I am still back in Storytelling. But following fb students on Expressing. I thought….what could be worse than having the sketch book founder taking a class I was taking, or will take….but there you are sharing all your struggles and flaws and shouting lots of encouragement with monkeys. I gather folks may have had a few struggles with this lesson and you have stepped in to provide help and inspiration. I really appreciate what you are doing and will continue on my snail’s pace to eventually get to this lesson. Thanks!

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  33. Oh my goodness Danny, that was the best laugh I have had in a while. You were very funny. And your booked turned out to be BLOODY BRILLIANT. Thanks for sharing your process. Take that, Monkey!

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  35. great video Danny, I loved seeing the process of how you made the book and the fact that you showed your struggles, that was encouraging. It’s a really cool book too.

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  37. This was so fabulous! I enjoyed hearing/seeing your thought process greatly! Your voice is quite soothing as well. Thank you for sharing all the foibles and tribulations of a creative mind.

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  38. Hi….loved the video….. Two technical questions; 1.) what do you use for your video camera, and how do you do the speeding up of the video… and 2.) when would you use a dip pen instead of a Lamy?

    I really appreciated the memory of building model cars with the plastic cement. I think I can still smell that stuff 50 years on!

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  39. I love this Danny, and I like how you really let your monkey rage at the beginning of the video, letting your monkey really tell you (and you in-turn telling us) how crap you are at making books, and then….you really show him, damn monkey—You made a seriously rad Manga-Esque karate-style book showing the monkey whose in charge. LOVE the asian color scheme. Just top notch. Screw your monkey, and mine too! Fondly, Jo…….dedicated SBS-er but sadly, with a rather large monkey issue of my own.

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  40. Whatcha Mean, What’s a Zine? by Mark Todd and Elizabeth ? would be a good book to delve into further about this kind of bookmaking. Nice tutorial!

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