Stig Legrand's Journey: Turning Daily Gratitude into Illustrated Masterpieces

Discover how Stig Legrand found art, mindfulness, and community through daily sketch journaling inspired by Domestika courses

For Stig Legrand, a Domestika enthusiast, creating an illustrated daily journal started as a simple project and grew into a life-changing practice. With influences from renowned artists and courses, Stig has turned everyday moments into vibrant visual stories, blending gratitude, art, and reflection. Her journey reminds us that even small creative steps can lead to transformative experiences.

What initially inspired you to start an illustrated daily journal, and how did you keep yourself motivated to continue this practice for three years?

I first heard about sketchbooking and illustrated journaling through Domestika. Even though I always liked illustrated travel journals from various artists, I didn’t know I had it in me to want to draw this much and share personal stories this way.

I begun Domestika courses with Mattias Adolfsson’s “The Art of Sketching”, then first tried watercolor with different teachers, discovered wonderful artists that I learned so much from, and one day in 2021, I came across Kate Sutton’s “Illustrated Life Journal: A Daily Mindful Practice”. I did the exercises she had devised, drawing tables loaded with what we ate, cutting up short stories into squares, picturing things that inspired me…

In the end, I prepared my course Project, and little did I know that it would snowball into this daily rendez-vous that deeply changed my life in these three last years.

Actually, I don’t have to keep myself motivated. It has become an essential part of my life without my noticing. The only problem is that it takes a few hours each day, so I would love to have a PAUSE button on my timeline, to be able to use extra time for other creative ideas…

But compiling these gratitude moments is important and therapeutic for my balance. Due to health problems, I don’t go out much, or see people, so drawing the moments that I find precious at home allows me to share my outlook, to build a memory of life at Maison Legrand.

It isn’t the same with photography, even though I use a lot of photos to capture the look of these moments. Drawing is an alchemy that materializes my singular perspective into a personal artistic production, with its flaws, its qualities, its uniqueness.

And it sharpens my perception of the intensity of life’s little moments!

Can you walk us through your creative process? How do you decide what to illustrate each day?

First, there always is a delay of 5 to 6 days between real-time and the moment I draw a page. I like to keep it that way as it gives me a buffer, and time to settle my feelings. I keep a journal of written notes where I jot down moments when I felt conscious, or poetic, or touched by events, or even distraught. I also take lots of photos to help me remember how it felt and how it looked. It can be pictures of our 7 cats being sweet or
silly, of recipes that I just prepared, or how I felt freshly dressed in the morning, what music I listened to…

When I am in front of the blank page, I always begin by writing at the top a title that comes from Kate Sutton’s course : «Today, I’m grateful for». It’s like a magic formula but it’s also true to my purpose.
Then, I look at my notes and photos, to remember everything and select what will end up in the illustration of the day. Most of the time, I have to trim things down, I’m lucky to have so much to be grateful for, or items I want to share.

When I have chosen the elements, I imagine them assembled on paper, I give them each a space in my mind, and often, I run my fingertips over the page, to kind of press them there symbolically. Then I first draw a light sketch in graphite (Faber Castell, and Pentel Graphgear 1000). I would like to be able to skip this part and draw directly with fineliners and color, like lapin encouraged us to do in his courses; it felt so liberating… I know I would also gain much time, and hone my skills for urban sketching which takes place in a tighter timeframe… But I’m still too line-shy somehow and can’t always find ways to play around obvious mistakes. Yes, I use an eraser.

When I’m done with the graphite, I use fineliners to ink the illustration. My favorites are Uni Pin in Dark Grey, Black and Light Grey, my most common weight is 0.5, but for details I go down from 0.1 to 0.003 ! One must remember that my Carnet de gratitude sketchbook is small (9x14cm, Art Creation by Talens). This is the perfect size for this project, even though details become really very tiny and my eyes aren’t this sharp anymore. Sometimes, I try to zoom with my fingers just like on a screen… LOL

Then I add color last. I use water-based Tombows and Lyra brush pens. I like to blend colors on makeshift palettes, to mix shades, lighten them, and create color gradients. When color is finished, I sometimes add shadows with graphite blurs and highlights with gel pens.

Then I photograph the page, always on the same table. I like to keep a coherence and try to have the same light, setting, etc. But it’s amateurish compared to what industry artists do when they maintain a graphic charter.
Another of my kinks for this project is to keep the same color for my little sketchbooks covers, a light blue, called Fresh Mint. I have bought many in advance but am already finishing the 6th.

Which Domestika courses have you taken, and how have they influenced your approach to your daily journal illustrations?

I must admit that I’m addicted to Domestika and a little over enthusiastic about my learning capacity. Why? I have enrolled in 125 courses over the last 4 years! Of course, I haven’t completed them all, or even started them all… But it’s like a book pile: I know I can turn to any of them to broaden my artistic skills, learn new methods, and enjoy myself. How could I ever get bored?

Of course, with my ongoing Carnet de gratitude, I have less time to begin new projects. Yet I have 2 courses open at the moment : Sarah Van Dongen’s “Exploratory Sketchbook: Find Your Drawing Style”, because I like her approach and want to experiment with “careless perspective” and simplification, and Aaron Renier’s “Make a Mini Comic: Writing, Penciling, and Inking” that I bought only yesterday!

I won’t list all the Domestika courses I find great, there are too many. I learned so much from Sol Barrio’s watercolor portraits, and about inspiration and style with Gary Baseman, Felicie Haymoz, Ruby Silvious, etc.

But the artist who influenced me most for my Carnet de gratitude (besides Kate Sutton of course) is lapin. I love lapin’s style, his pedagogic approach and I learned a lot from his Urban Sketchbooking and Botanical Meditation courses… I have begun a collection of his published sketchbooks and often draw details from them in my Carnet de gratitude.

There are other sketchbook artists that I love but they don’t have courses on Domestika yet, Tommy Kane, José Naranja… perhaps sometimes in the future?

Over time, how has your illustrated journal evolved? Are there noticeable differences in style, themes, or techniques from when you first started?

When I look back on the first pages, I see a difference in composition. With time, I have learned to plot the placing of my chosen elements, to imagine where the text will go… It still doesn’t always come out as I hope, but I think this is where I evolved most.

I have signed up for courses to improve on these specifics such as composition and lettering, like “Sketchbook Techniques for Children's Illustration” by Ema Malyauka, or “Playful Hand-Lettering for Children’s Book Illustration” by Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn, and of course all the courses about Comics.

Secondly, I think I place more items on the edges of the page, using the invisible space around my sketchbook so that people can picture the missing parts with their own imagination. Mostly, it is figures, or body parts, for example when I put my feet in the bottom part of the page, or my hand on the side, it’s like I’m sitting just outside.

More and more, I mix media in my sketchbook. I like using color crayons for texture over the Tombows. And I have purchased a small thermal printer that I use to print tiny stickers if I need a title in white on dark for a record cover that I wanted to share and drew. It’s fun and why not?

My themes also evolved as new feline members arrived in our household and the Potichats take a lot of space both in real life and on the page. It’s very nice to have begun drawing them as newborns and now they are all grown. As they are all very different from each other, it gives me an ongoing workshop opportunity for cat portraits.
I also feel I shared very private painful moments, such as death. These moments were so important that I would never have left them out. They aren’t moments that I’m grateful for per se but moments that I managed to survive and turned into a memory I can cherish by drawing them and experiencing the pain in consciousness.

What role does your illustrated journal play in your daily life? Has this practice influenced your perspective on art, mindfulness, or personal growth?

As I explained earlier, my Carnet de gratitude is essential for my personal balance. It enhances my capacity to note and experience moments of epiphany. I’ve always been inclined to be contemplative but this practice has taken my nature to another level and allows me to transform these moments into an expression that I can share, that is enjoyed, and that I like to flip through as memory.

I’m always looking forward to the evening when I’m going to draw. Sometimes TV is running as my husband watches something while I draw and I only listen, as I’m focused on my page. Sometimes, I listen to music or a podcast. Time becomes elastic and I don’t see hours passing by when I’m into my sketchbook.

I really have this urge to draw, it became evident for me when I got sick with shingles but still felt like drawing even with burning pain in my hand and fingers. Or when I spent a day at the hospital and drew all along, with an IV needle in my arm.

Drawing the surroundings, what’s happening and your experience of it changes everything.

I don’t really consider my Carnet de gratitude as art, but once, somebody told me it’s becoming art because of the scope of the project… And I felt some truth in that. It’s continuity, a little like when people take selfies every day in the same setting and you can see them change, in fast forward mode.

What have been the most significant creative challenges in maintaining a daily illustrated journal, and how have you overcome them?

What is really frustrating for me is that I lack time and energy to complete other art projects. When I begin a new course, I like to take the necessary time to do the exercises, so many of my Domestika courses are on stand-by.
What I do to overcome this situation is to keep as calm as possible, to put it into perspective, to begin a new course once in a while, to dedicate some hours for it, even if it is spread over longer periods. And if I feel a need to express something about it, I can already put it in my Carnet de gratitude ;-)

Have any memorable or surprising insights or moments emerged from your illustrations? Could you share one with us?

The only thing that’s coming to my mind for this question is the fact that I have decided that I like to copy AI created characters in my sketchbook.

There is much controversy about art and AI, about danger or opportunity for artists, about intellectual property… So “borrowing” these creations as models and drawing them with my human flaws and imperfections feels like a funny twist. And I find these characters really attractive and challenging to draw ! So I reproduced many characters from “The Strangest Flea Market”, or from other generative AI using creators. Up to now, they have been amused and happy to see my versions of their creatures.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start an illustrated journal but might be hesitant about committing to a daily practice?

My advice would be to try anyway. Get yourself a nice little sketchbook, fineliners and colors, and just write the magical formula at the top of the page “Today, I’m grateful for” or it could be “Today, I’m mad because…”, or whatever.
Every story needs to be told, there is no one else that can express your perspective on the world. Daily journaling gives you a rendez-vous with yourself on a regular basis. Find your own rhythm, perhaps you won’t need to spend too much time, but it will be very satisfying nevertheless.
When you finish your first sketchbook, it will be so joyful ! And beginning the next will be even sweeter.

What impact has sharing your work on Domestika or other platforms had on your journey as an artist? Has feedback from the community influenced your work?

Even though I feel that my Carnet de gratitude is first and foremost a present for myself and my close ones, it’s true that sharing it with my friends on social media is very rewarding. There are links that were created based on my sketchbook pages, and I know people around the world who like to see them every day. I’m grateful for their interest, their feedback. They feed my creative drive and give me a warm feeling.

When Domestika features my monthly publications, it greatly increases the number of viewers and it’s an honor that surprises me every time. I haven’t published my pages elsewhere except for an audience that consists of my Facebook friends, so it’s very valuable for me to observe that many people and art students are interested in taking a look.

As a matter of fact, I believe illustrated journals are very interesting per se, so it’s not surprising that people will want to explore them. They are doorways into people’s lives and hearts, you can learn so much about other cultures there, and share humanity…

Looking ahead, do you have any new goals or projects related to illustration, or are there any other skills you’d like to explore through Domestika courses?

Of course, there are many skills that I hope to develop with Domestika ! Just take a look at the 125 courses I already have available in my profile.

The first ones that I would love to restart are those where I can learn to make Stamps, like “Sketchbooking with Handmade Stamps” by Jeanne McGee, “Engraving Stamps and Printing Techniques” by Pablo Salvage. With these improved skills, I would like to create Ex-Libris for my books and my friends' libraries, as we are a literary tribe ;-)

I also love Comics and plan to upgrade my competences in order to create some personal ones, or at least, use the Comics techniques in my sketchbook. For this, I have Marcela Trujillo Espinoza’s “Creation of Autobiographical Graphic Novels”, “Introduction to Autobiographical Comics” by Mariano Diaz Prieto, Alec Longstreth’s “Autobiographical Comic Book: Illustrate Your Experiences” and the new “Make a Mini Comic: Writing, Penciling, and Inking” by Aaron Renier.

People always tell me I should write cookbooks, and it’s true that I love drawing food. But before biting into such a big morsel, I’ll practice with Enya Todd’s “Flavorful Food Illustration with Watercolor”, and Melanie Chadwick’s “Illustrated Recipes: Making Delicious Art”.

And of course, I love Urban Sketching, and House Portraiture, so I hope to take my drawing gear on a tour around the block, sometimes in the future when I’m in better health. Meanwhile, I’ll rehearse with Albert Kiefer’s “Expressive Architectural Sketching with Colored Markers”, Stef Maden’s “Illustrated Map Creation: Reflecting a City's Essence”, not to forget my all time favorite : Lapin’s “Urban Sketching: Express Your World in a New Perspective”!

Stig’s story is a testament to the power of art in capturing life’s essence and building meaningful connections. Whether you’re inspired by her intricate illustrations or her dedication to storytelling, now is the perfect time to start your own creative journey. Explore the wide range of Domestika courses to find the tools and guidance you need to bring your vision to life. Don’t forget to share your projects with the community—they just might inspire someone else to start their own artistic adventure!