Have you ever wondered what it would be like to nature journal all day, everyday? Does such a dream seem unattainable and far-fetched? Let our resident nature journaling kid, Raybonto, show you how he does it.
This week, Marley set out to answer the question: Who is Raybonto?
When Marley sat down to interview him, Raybonto was quick to show him his recent pages. First was a field sketch of a tree: he wrote down and labeled the colors he saw, drew himself into the picture, and then estimated in feet the height of the tree. He also did a blind contour, something he says he almost never does in his nature journal, and then he followed up with a values sketch. On that particular day, he did not have any colors with him.
“You can label them and color them back home if you can’t color them in the field, or you can just color them from your memory.”
Later, he was inspired by Marley’s video about how to nature journal while standing up.
Raybonto learns from different teachers
One of the youngest active nature journalers in the community, Raybonto is also one of the most fearless. Regularly attending classes taught by John Muir Laws, Brian Higginbotham, Melinda Nakagawa, Yvea Moore, and others, Raybonto soaks in their ideas and practices like a sponge before making them his own. Often, he brings up other naturalists and artists whose work he has studied.
Want to meet a nature journaling teen? Check out Marley’s interview with Amaya here.
Raybonto fills the whole page
One thing that stands out about Raybonto is the way he uses the space of each page. Recently John Muir Laws had taught a class on botany, so Raybonto showed Marley his notes. There were at least 20 individual sketches over the two-page spread, as well as color swatches in every available space. When Raybonto draws, he doesn’t get tied down to any one drawing; instead he fills his pages completely, drawing a subject multiple times, from different angles, sometimes using different media with each sketch. He keeps two main sketchbooks: a practice sketchbook, and a field journal.
He has also been experimenting with toned paper, using both colored pencils and watercolor. That brings his total of active sketchbooks to three.
Raybonto is not afraid to experiment
Before his current notebooks, Raybonto had previously been using a watercolor pad as well, though he found he was not able to be as diverse with his media on it. He felt he had to always include watercolor on the paper, so changing to a different journal allowed him to use whatever media best suited him at any particular time.
He experiments with any and all media he can get his hands, whether it’s regular paper, toned paper, colored pencils, watercolors, or a 12B graphite pencil – his current favorite. By experimenting with so many different media, Raybonto all but guarantees he would be able to pick up almost any tool and be able to nature journal with it. This only adds to his resiliency as a nature journal.
Raybonto nature journals every single day
For many of us, nature journaling every day might be a goal set too high. We have other obligations in our lives, and it might feel impossible to squeeze time in for time in nature. There is no need to beat ourselves up for this. At the same time, it is more than OK to let Raybonto inspire us. He more than makes the time for nature journaling; rather, it appears he makes nature journaling the center of his day and schedules everything else around it. Raybonto truly exemplifies devotion and treating nature journaling not as a hobby, but rather as a way of life.
If you are totally new to nature journaling you can get started here with how to nature journal in 10 steps.
