sketchbooks | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

Sketchbooks are a wonderful way to practice your craft as an artist. You can use them to plan out future compositions, as a visual daily journal, to practice (so you can improve drawing various subjects), or for one of the many other reasons artist keep sketchbooks.

If you’ve decided to start keeping a sketchbook of your own, here’s what you can do to get started:

1. Get your supplies

Head over to your local arts and craft store to pick up a sketchbook and drawing materials. You may want to use regular graphite or something like color pencils, oil pastels, or water colors.

2. Figure out your sketchbook’s purpose

Do you want it to be a free-form daily journal, or a book of potential ideas? Should it be used to practice drawing? Or will you use it to produce mini, original works of art? Figuring out the sketchbook’s purpose will help keep it focused.

3. Pick a schedule and stick to it

This will help you ensure that you consistently use the sketchbook. This also helps document how your work in the sketchbook changes over time.

4. Occasionally revisit previous entries

Taking the time to review your work every once in a while, helps you evaluate what you’ve previously done, and make a mental note of the direction you’d like to move in.

And there you have it – a list of steps to get you started with a sketchbook. Good luck and happy creating!

Sketchbooks are a great tool for artists to practice their craft. You can think of sketching as creating a rough draft of a work of art. Sketchbooks often hold a collection of sketches or ideas for new work.

Here are a few reasons why artists keep sketchbooks:

1. Practice

Sketchbooks can be used to master the art of drawing something specific, like the figure.

2. Exploring Ideas

Before committing an idea to canvas, or whatever the materials are that the artist is using, the idea can be explored with a series of sketches. That way the artist can determine beforehand what the piece might look so she or he won’t waste materials.

3. Troubleshooting Layout Issues

If the composition for a work in progress isn’t quite working out, sketching can help figure out possible solutions to the composition’s layout.

4. Journaling

They can be used like a visual journal where an artist can sketch out his or her thoughts on a daily basis (or however frequent is necessary).

5. Inspiration

Through the sheer force of practice, if an artist forces his or her self to frequently sketch or do different exercises in a sketchbook, even when feeling uninspired, it can help spark inspiration.

6. Works of Art

Other times it’s simply an easy way to store polished works of art.

If you’ve used a sketchbook for some other creative reason, feel free to share about it in the comments below.

Tag: sketchbooks

How to Keep a Sketchbook