I didn’t expect much when I turned on the Disney show “Sketchbook” but then I got completly hooked. Each episode follows a Disney artist who talks about their own story while showing how they draw a famous character. From Simba and Olaf to Mirabel from Encanto. But the best part isn’t really the drawing itself. It’s everything that happens in between the work. The stories, the emotions, the reflections on art, creativity and life of the artists.
What “Sketchbook” Is Really About
The Show isn’t like a “how to learn drawing” show or anything, its about the stories behind the drawings. You can watch how a few simple lines slowly turn into a living figure, and it becomes clear that every drawing carries a piece of the artist’s personal story.
For example, Gabrielle Salonga explains how she drew Mirabel and what it means to her to represent her Latina background at Disney. Eric Goldberg, the animator behind Genie from Aladdin, talks about how he brings humor to life through movement. It’s amazing to see how much personality and emotion are hidden in these drawings.
What Inspired Me the Most
What really touched me was how openly the artists talked about their insecurities. These are people who’ve worked on legendary films (which the most artsit can just dream of) and yet, they still admit to doubting themselves sometimes.
That hit home for me, because it reminded me on myself and the reason why I draw. Not to be perfect, but to express something real and a part of myself. To make visible what can’t be said in words or whats in my imagination. In a world of pressure and selfimprovment, you always have to remind yourself that you don’t have to be perfect. Art is not about being perfect but about the stories and personalities behind it. Most people quit because they think that they are not good enough, seeing millions and millions of perfectly beatiful drawings and artworks everyday. Especially pintrest or instagram hit me hard everytime I open the app, actually searching for inspiration but ending up in selfdoubt and an artistic crisis. In this digital and over-sharing world its hard to go back to old ways for just sit down and draw what you see or feel.
The Moment I Started Thinking About AI and Art
While watching “Sketchbook,” I suddenly became so aware of how deeply human art really is. Every line, every stroke carries emotion, intention, and soul. And to be honest, I got really sad about it. In a time where AI-generated art is everywhere – flawless, polished and absolutly perfect – this series reminded me of what AI can’t do: feel.
An algorithm can analyze, imitate and combine styles. Draw flawless, polished and absolutly perfect pictures about everything you can imagine. Of course at this point it is still making mistakes, but it will be improving in the next years and there wont be such mistakes anywhere anymore.
But this drawings can’t pour childhood memories into a line. It doesn’t know what it’s like to feel nervous before starting a new piece, or the rush of joy when a character or a imaginary place suddenly “comes to life.”
That’s what I find so sad, that with too much automation, art risks losing its emotions, its imperfections, its soul. Even when we use AI and its making a mistake, why we call it a mistake? How we can define mistake in art? Real artworks are living from this kind of mistakes. And with AI, art isn’t just losing there soul – it’s losing there imperfection. Thats what it makes them to artworks.
“Sketchbook” reminded me how much life can exist in a single pencil stroke – something no machine will ever truly replicate. And from this thought I am so inspired, that I am thinking about to use it for my masterthesis. Because the real question is: why you should draw a damn complex picture of a dragon or something else, when you just can create it within a minute and one click on the keyboard.
A New Approach Idea
I am really struggeling to find a proper Masterthesis Idea, because everything I want to do, is really hard in the implementation and in most cases don’t have a really new approach, espescially when it comes to the research. But thinking and writing about this AI topic makes me really emotinally and it’s easy to write about it. So perhaps I could use this as a new approach for my thesis. Usually I avoid every topic with AI most of all when it’s about creating illustrations with it. It makes me feel really sad and anxious. I am scared that we can’t get jobs or that art won’t be appriciated that much anymore. But (as with every problem in life) avoiding it won’t make it disappear. Maybe we as artist are in charge to find ways to live with it, perhaps even to work with it. I think I am not the only Illustrator who feels that way. And maybe right in these toughts are beginnings for new methods. How we can see AI not as threat but as allie, to make concepts more easy or use it as inspiration, basis or part of an artwork. I will think about this idea and how it maybe could be combined with my original topic.
Final Thoughts
However, back to where these thoughts are started – “Sketchbook” isn’t just a typical documentary and I can recommend it to everyone who is intresented in animation films, illustrating or the art business in general. It feels like a honest conversation between artists, full of inspiration, vulnerability and emotions.
My takeaway in one sentence:
“Sketchbook” reminded me that art is most beautiful when it has a soul and no algorithm will ever replace that.
