My Sister's Sketchbook

Yes, that's the object I picked: my sister's sketchbook. I've never had a sketchbook important enough to have cat-fights over, but my sister does. Seriously, she barely lets me touch it. I distinctly remember going to the store and pouring over like fifty different ones so she could specifically pick out the one that she wanted. Though art is a large part of my life, music has without a doubt overshadowed art in all aspects of my life (though I do still enjoy art quite a lot), but my sister--who is not so musically inclined--focuses much more on her artistic talents.

Thus leading to her sketchbook becoming an item of high value to her. Actually, it really doesn't look very special. It has one of those rough plastic covers, the kind that you can drag your nails across and make obnoxious scratching noises because of how bumpy it is. It looks kind of like leather, but I've fairly certain that it's plastic, as it feels too hard to be leather, smells like plastic and tastes like plastic (yes, I did actually lick it, just for the sake of doing so). Really, all and all, it has no distinguishing features on the outside and, as it's black with no designs, appears rather generic.

Well, it's the inside of sketchbooks that really matter, isn't it...

I'm not sure how in-depth I'm allowed to go. My sister may not like me divulging her private artwork to my peers for the sake of writing "practice", but I'm going to do so anyway. Though it's not even halfway full (because it's fairly new; the old one is filled up--actually, the inside smells delightfully like new paper, which reminds me of brand new books right from the bookstore) but already it's riddled with her adorable chibi (1) drawings of various characters depicted in the anime Naruto. For some reason, Sasuke Uchiha is one of her favorites to draw, even though she hates him passionately. I think the big-eyed, adorable little faces she puts on her characters are just completely kawaii (2) and I can't get enough of their round faces. They have the most adorable expressions, too--chibi characters look cute when they frown, it's just a matter of fact. She also has at least a thousand drawings of the Akatsuki (3) (okay, perhaps a thousand is an exaggeration), which are without a doubt her favorite characters from Naruto. It's very hard to imagine them as being the main antagonists of the series when you look into their too-cute faces placed atop their disproportionate, cartoonish bodies with blobs for hands, wearing their cloaks which, funnily enough, are adorned with red clouds (which I have always found to be a little... not-so-intimidating).

I could rant about her chibi drawings forever (because I love them and am totally horrible at drawing them), but I shall move on. She also has a series of dragon drawings. Their lines aren't quite fluent yet--there are little jagged spots here and there, and the shading is still a bit lopsided--but I've been attempting to teach her. She's getting much better (don't tell her I said that) and I enjoy hearing her serenades about the impression which she leaves upon her fellow classmates, who all frequently stop to admire her superior work... of course, it could just be that she tells me overexaggerated stories, but I'd like to think that she's pretty awesome at art. She certainly seems to love it a lot.

I've also found that she has a passion for oil pastels rather than colored pencils. Some of the pages of her sketchbook reek of them... they don't smell bad, just sort of... waxy? I'm not sure that's the right word for their unique scent. I particularly love the way she can blend purples, reds and white together to get the most amazing borderline magenta color, which actually is more purple than pink (what is that called?). It looks amazing as a backdrop against flames, perfectly sychronized with the distorted twist of orange, yellow and deep carmen red that I just find so pleasing to the eye. Her Flareon drawing is my favorite by far.

I could probably go on for another decade about my sister's artistic attributes, but I won't draw this out too much longer. I know that art is a huge part of her personal identity, something she's recognized for at school apart from her peers in a way that I have never been. It's "her thing", not mine, which I think makes it very special to her, and by extension makes the place of keeping for her artwork also incredibly valuable personally. I also know that she enjoys artwork much more than I ever have--I don't fully understand that aspect, but I imagine it to be similar to my preoccupation with music, how it becomes my emotional release and sanctuary away from "reality", if you follow. It's a way for her to express herself and the things she loves in a way that is relaxing.

As she gets farther into middle school, I know she'll be facing a lot of stress, both from school and at home. Looking back, I don't think middle school was that bad stress-wise, but to her it probably seems like jumping into the deep end without quite being sure how to swim. Hopefully this outlet of hers will keep her from going completely crazy (like my music does for me). Obviously it's very important to her, and I really hope it stays that way. It would be a shame to lose something so important.

And so you can understand, hopefully, why her sketchbook embodies something of far greater value to her than it would to me. Actually, it reminds me a bit of how I feel about my piano, only my piano is bigger, more expensive and far too heavy to carry back and forth to school. I'm glad that she has her "special thing" though, because life really sucks without it.

Notes:

(1) chibi: Japanese word meaning "short" or "midget", but in this case it describes a certain type of cartoon-like drawing where a person is disproportionately drawn with an over-large head, too-small body and unrealistic representation of facial definition and clothing. In other words, they're really cute drawings.

(2) kawaii: Japanese word meaning "cute"
Note: I may use this word a lot, though I'll try to not use too many non-English words. They just have this different sort of connotation to me. Saying cute just isn't the same...

(3) Akatsuki: main antagonists of Naruto Shippuden. I just thought I'd be nice and let you know about this, because otherwise it can be confusing to devise the meaning of some of the things I write if you really have no idea what I'm talking about. It's also a Japanese word meaning "dawn", but in this case, I'm talking about the evil people chasing Jinchuriki all over the place in Naruto