Out of This World Sketch Pad
October 17, 2022 – March 26, 2023

I encrust my sketchbook covers with stickers as I come across them. This is the back cover of the Out of this World sketchbook. As you can see I eat a lot of oranges.

I have put to rest what is probably the last of the novelty sketchpads distributed by the Horizon Group USA to Target stores. At least it was the last that I had, and I haven’t been able to find any more. Tina bought this for me as a Christmas gift in 2017 along with another sketchpad with a cartoon llama on it. I used the llama book first, but it didn’t quite contain the magic that the original Sketchbook from Heaven had so I put the Out of This World pad away. I figured I would use it eventually. The eventuality happened this past October.

The Atomic Warrior fires up his Atomic Sword

When I did break it out, I could feel some of the same old magic that the Sketchbook from Heaven had welling up in its already yellowing pages. It was fun to draw in as opposed to the many Sketchbooks from Hell which were a chore. I always kept the Out of This World sketch pad close at hand along with a nylon roll up case stocked with my favorite pencils and lead holders. I did some little sketch or doodle in it nearly every day so its 125 cheap pages did not last too long.

Sigh…

So what’s next?

I have a similarly sized and priced sketchbook from Five Below. Five Below is a Philadelphia based discount chain that carries close-out or remainder items like any dollar store would. My guess is that the remainder market isn’t always steady or dependable so they have started to manufacture their own goods to line their shelves. Among these items are knic-knacs, tee shirts, computer accessories and cheap sketchbooks. The sketchbooks are readily available thus far. I’ll have to see if the paper has any magic cooked into its pages. I may find out sooner rather than later.

Or I may just head back to the old Strathmore sketchbooks which I have used for years and I know I can get them at any art supply store. I had a half-used one in work, and I drew in it one day when I forgot the kiddie one. I like how the pencils went down on the paper. I could get a blacker black because the paper is better than the toilet tissue they use for the novelty pads. I wish Strathmore would bind their small pads along the short end, but you can’t have everything.

I don’t know if any of the new sketchbooks I may buy will be fitting replacements for the Out of This World sketchbook. I found myself filled with sadness as I came to the last couple of pages over this weekend. This silly little pad of paper and I have been through a lot since October. I enjoyed cooking up new story ideas and sharpening my drawing skills as I plumbed the depths of TubiTV’s streaming catalog on my Roku box. I drew a lot of monsters and watched a lot of crap. As I’ve said before:

I sit on a couch with a cat and a spouse scribbling my graphite grotesques into the night.
Some of them are good. Some of them stink. Some of them I do in pen and ink.

I’ll miss you, old chum.

The little green bits on the cover glow in the dark.

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