NOTES FROM THE OUTSIDE

Sketchbooks, Drawing and the Art of Paying Attention

A bilingual (English / German) illustrated book

Project description

Notes from the Outside is a richly illustrated, bilingual art book exploring the relationship between drawing, observation and the experience of being in the world. Based on a selection of more than 100 drawings from over 20 sketchbooks accumulated over approximately ten years, the publication brings together a largely unseen body of personal work made in different countries and circumstances.

The book approaches sketching not as a technical exercise or a systematic method of drawing, but as an intimate and continuous practice of observation. It explores the sketchbook as a space for visual thinking, experimentation, storytelling and personal expression: a place where the artist can follow curiosity without the constraints of a commission, a brief or the expectations of a finished image.

My sketchbooks are a playground. I use a variety of drawing materials and techniques, freely combining images with handwritten notes, thoughts, plans and fragments of ongoing projects. They accompany me through everyday life, travels, encounters and moments of inactivity. They are not conceived as finished artist's books, nor simply as preparatory material for my professional work. They are an extension of my thinking, a space for experimentation and a record of how I experience the world.

The drawings gathered in this publication reveal a different, more personal dimension of my artistic practice. Often spontaneous, humorous, curious or contemplative, they capture fleeting situations, peculiar characters, unexpected details and ordinary scenes that might otherwise go unnoticed. Each drawing holds a story, sometimes in the circumstances of its creation, sometimes in the image itself, and often in the associations it invites. Most of this material has never been presented to the public.

Looking from the outside

In 2007, I left my hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, with a scholarship to study Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts in London. I was eager to discover the world, although I could hardly have imagined how much of it I would eventually experience with a sketchbook in my bag.

After eleven years in London and seven in Berlin, drawing has become an integral part of the way I navigate different places and cultures. The selected works originate from Germany, Italy, Brazil, Mexico and Japan, among other locations. They are not simply travel records, but observations accumulated through the experience of living elsewhere, adapting to unfamiliar environments and learning to recognise the particularities of everyday life.

Living between countries has shaped the way I look at the world. There is a particular sensitivity that comes with being both an insider and an outsider: even in familiar surroundings, I often find myself looking with the curiosity of a newcomer. I have also come to recognise that this way of looking is not restricted to foreign places. Having developed a certain distance from my own cultural background, I can sometimes observe my hometown with the same attentiveness I bring to an unfamiliar city.

The title Notes from the Outside refers to this position, but also to the role of the artist as an observer. Drawing offers a way of being present while maintaining a certain distance, of participating in the world while simultaneously looking at it. It is a practice that transforms attention into images and everyday experiences into lasting personal records.

A sketchbook drawing can preserve a moment in a way that a photograph rarely does. It carries the physical trace of the time spent observing, the decisions made by the hand, and the subjective interpretation of the person drawing. More than documenting what a place looks like, it can communicate what it feels like to be there.

Five themes, five ways of looking

The book will be organised into five thematic chapters, each approaching a different aspect of the relationship between drawing and experience. Rather than following a geographical or chronological itinerary, the chapters will explore recurring ideas and situations that emerge throughout the sketchbooks.

The themes will encompass the observation of people and their gestures, the peculiarities of everyday environments, the experience of unfamiliar places, the relationship between drawing and memory, and the unexpected narratives that arise from the act of looking. Together, they will form a personal reflection on how drawing can become a way of understanding and engaging with the world.

Each chapter will combine a carefully curated selection of drawings with a short essay of approximately four to six pages. These texts will reflect on the experience of drawing in situ, the act of observing, and the relationship between curiosity, perception and place. They will bring together personal anecdotes, reflections on the drawing process and references to artists and writers whose ideas have influenced my thinking, from John Berger and Alain de Botton to Francis Bacon and Vincent van Gogh.

The relationship between image and text will be central to the publication. Handwritten notes, captions, drawings and essays will create a visual and literary dialogue, allowing the reader to move between observation and reflection. The graphic design will respect the spontaneity and material character of the original sketchbooks while creating a coherent editorial structure for the book as a whole.

Drawing as visual storytelling

With 25 years of professional experience as an illustrator and comic book artist, I have developed a strong understanding of visual storytelling. My practice extends across illustration, comics, graphic design and animation, allowing me to explore different approaches to visual communication and narrative.

This experience informs the way I approach my sketchbooks. I am particularly interested in the narrative potential of an image: how a gesture, an expression, an unusual character or a seemingly insignificant detail can suggest an entire story. My background in comics has taught me to recognise the relationships between images, to pay attention to the small details that give a situation its meaning, and to understand that storytelling does not necessarily require a conventional sequence of events.

The sketchbooks contain a different kind of narrative from my published work. They are collections of fragments, observations and encounters, in which each drawing becomes a small window into a particular moment. Some are funny, others unexpected or poignant. Together, they reveal the stories that an attentive eye can find in the most ordinary circumstances.

An invitation to look more closely

Notes from the Outside is intended for illustrators, artists and students of drawing and visual arts, as well as a wider audience interested in creativity, visual culture and the ways we experience our surroundings.

For fellow artists, the book offers an insight into an experienced illustrator's personal drawing practice, revealing processes and visual explorations that usually remain private. For students, it provides an inspiring example of drawing as an ongoing practice of observation, experimentation and discovery, beyond the conventions of finished illustrations. For a general audience, it offers an accessible and engaging invitation to explore the relationship between images, stories and everyday life.

The publication will be produced in English and German, reflecting both its international perspective and my personal connection to the two cultural contexts in which much of this work has developed.

Ultimately, Notes from the Outside is a celebration of drawing as a way of thinking, remembering and connecting with the world. By opening up the pages of my sketchbooks, I hope to share not simply a collection of drawings, but a particular way of seeing: personal, curious, humorous and attentive to the stories hidden in everyday life.

It is an invitation to look again at what surrounds us, to discover the extraordinary within the ordinary, and perhaps to become a little more curious about the world.

About the Artist

I am a Brazilian illustrator and comic book artist with 25 years of professional experience across illustration, graphic design, animation and visual storytelling. In 2007, I received a scholarship to study Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts in London, where I began a new chapter of my professional and personal life abroad. After eleven years in London, I moved to Berlin, where I have continued developing my artistic practice.

Throughout my career, I have worked across different fields of visual communication and developed a particular interest in narrative drawing and the relationship between image and storytelling. And alongside my commissioned and published work, I have maintained a continuous practice of observational drawing, filling more than 20 sketchbooks with drawings, notes and visual reflections accumulated across different countries and cultures.

I have presented my work in lectures and classes, and writing has always been an important part of my artistic practice. My interests extend beyond the act of drawing itself to the ideas, experiences and ways of seeing that inform it.