"You'll never have a face of your own until you've learned to fight. Believe me."

I got the Little My set from the Moomin x Traveler's Notebook collaboration, and I'm just so happy! I've loved Moomins for most of my life and Tove Jansson's artwork has always been a huge inspiration to my own illustration. Plus they're whimsical creatures that live in the forest, they're my whole vibe. There was a Snufkin Travelers Notebook released in 2021, but I waited it out hoping for a future release with more characters when Little My was announced. I loved the cover as soon as I saw it, but I still wanted to wait to see if actual Moomin came along. But then a couple of weeks ago I began sketching in a passport insert and I’ve realized how much I love this size and wanted a cover so I can turn it into a proper sketchbook to carry around with me. And the Little My cover was the only one that would do! I’m still hoping for a Moomin cover at a later date, but I’m also convinced that it’ll be a blue cover to match his eyes and probably a standard size, and whilst that’s OK (anything for Moomin!) I really prefer the brown colorway as I love how the leather patinas. Plus I love the quotes they’ve chosen for Little My!  I’m a naturally very anxious person so Little My’s bolshie attitude isn’t something I naturally connect with, but I could learn a lot from her assertiveness and need to channel her more.

I’ve really fallen in love with Travelers Notebook the past couple of months, it’s a brand I’ve dabbled in here and there for a few years but it never really clicked for me until recently. It’s basically a leather cover with an elastic band, which you use to hold together several thin notebooks. The company celebrates analogue and puts a lot of emphasis on these items being a companion for life, for it to age naturally from daily use and to see the beauty in a well loved product, and honestly I love that. In such a throwaway world it feels so romantic to buy an item once to take everywhere with you. It’s designed to be portable and easy to carry, and I love how the modular system allows me to compartmentalize. The cover is permanent, but the inserts are inexpensive and as disposable as you need them to be so if I’ve moved on from something emotionally, I can move on from it physically too. But also it can be really satisfying seeing a shelf fill up with your used inserts, and that’s the beauty of this notebook system, it can literally be anything you need it to be.

I’ve filled it with two inserts, one of plain paper which I’ve been doing ballpoint sketches in like some kind of Inktober challenge without it being Inktober. And a sketch paper insert, as I’ve noticed the plain paper ghosts a bit with the amount of ink I use. I love that I can carry two separate books everywhere with me, so I can use one to stick to my ink drawings but I have the other if I’m inspired to draw any other way. I thought at first the size would be too small to draw in (it’s literally the size of a passport) but it’s amazing how quickly I got used to it. I’ve had art block for over a year now, and this has inspired me to draw every day so I’ll take it!