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Rounding Up 2024 with a Drawing Journal

Writer's picture: Molly NewportMolly Newport

Updated: Jan 31

For me, 2024 was full of some beautiful and precious moments. I watched friends get married, welcomed new additions into the world, explored the Peak District in all weathers whilst making new friends and very proudly claimed the title of 'Aunty Moll' as my little nephew arrived.


In 2022 when I was reflecting on the previous 12 months, I decided that I wanted more drawing in my life and less scrolling on social media. That's the moment I started a drawing journal and I've kept it up since. I wanted to capture the mundane or massive parts of my day and develop my drawing skills as I went along.


Open sketchbook with crochet and spool drawings on a cutting mat. Pens and pencils are scattered around.

It's not a Pinterest perfect journal by any means, I've missed days, I've done a half-arsed effort of some pages and used the complete wrong materials for the paper weight. It's all part of a learning experience with nice memories tied up in it.


Looking back over the 5 sketchbooks I've now filled, it's easy to see little bits of growth that I might not have noticed so much day to day. Each drawing of myself, my hair gets a little bit longer, every drawing of my close friend, she recovers a bit more from a serious illness and my little nephew grows a little big bigger (and cuter).


I've chosen 12 pages to share with you from 2024, big and small moments.


Four sketches depict: a person with a drawing journal labeled "HOME", two people hugging with "See you soon Chloe", flowers in a vase, and three people at a table.

Four sketches depict: people with coffee on May 11, hands holding ice lollies on June 25, a dog with a toy on July 8, and a person by stacked stones in Liverpool on July 21.


Four black-and-white illustrations depict various scenes: a couple sitting; a sleeping baby; two people shoe shopping; and friends under a night sky.

Putting this post together to share with you, I've realised that there is more cohesion to the drawings than I originally thought. I could go back into any of them and add a bit more, edit some bits, add colour etc but I quite like how they are just all starting points with the potential to be developed. I'll leave them alone for now.


It could've been easy to just dump the photo versions of these moments onto Instagram and that would've created a very different looking year. I've put a bit more effort into this diary for myself and it's far more precious to me to enjoy an hour or so looking back at the drawings and enjoying this whole body of work instead.


Did you find a way to capture your year in a creative way? Are you planing on capturing your 2025 in a new light? Photography? Videography? Drawing? Audio?


I've written a post here about starting your own Drawing Journal, my biggest tip about persevering with it is to try and identify what might not be working for you and how to change that so that it works better for you.


Drop me a note in the comments if you decide to take on the challenge! I'd love to hear about what you're making

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