annie hamilton
For as long as I can remember, I’ve filled empty pages with drawings, notes, concert tickets, photos and other bits and
pieces. When I was about five, I got a beautiful fabric-bound sketchbook for Christmas, and was so enthralled – this was like
a REAL- LIFE book, but it was EMPTY, and I could FILL IT with anything I wanted. These days, as well as being a musician,
I run my own clothing label, which features silk and linen clothing printed with my illustrations. I find it impossible to sit down
with a clean, white piece of paper and just start working – it always begins with pages and pages of experiments. I can smash
through 20 ideas and see if any of them are worth pursuing. I have a few different books for different things I’m working on:
one for everyday scribbles and thoughts; one for music, where I write down guitar chords and lyrics; and one for my label,
where I collect swatches of fabric; soil rubbings; and sketch out designs (that’s the one pictured here). They have to be plain
Moleskine journals – no lines; no grids; no dots; thin paper; black cover. That’s all I’ve used for the past few years, and it feels
weird to use anything else. I never leave the house without one. They’re in my handbag for when I have a spare 10 minutes to
sketch, or find the perfect leaf or feather or postcard. It’s important to me to record as much as possible, because there are so
many random thoughts going through my head at any point in time that will just float away. It’s also practical – I’m not a very
neat or organised person, but if I’m discussing a new clothing design with my maker, it’s important to have all the sketches
and fabric swatches and reference pictures in one place. My sketchbooks are messy and chaotic and a bit all-over-the-shop,
with ripped-out pages and coffee stains and scribbles. But as soon as you get caught up trying to make your sketchbook look
‘good’, you lose the freedom to experiment without hesitation.
annie hamiltonannie hami
creative folk