Course Overview
This course shows you how an artist’s sketchbook is difference to a journal, scrapbook or diary. Learn techniques to take control of your sketchbook and allow your creativity to flourish, new ideas to germinate, and your projects to develop in new exciting ways.
All images are students work completed on the course
Student Review
“If you want to find inspiration for unlocking your ideas, this course is perfect. Brian takes you through using different materials, techniques and research and development to ensure that you always know where to take an idea to next. I loved everything!” Kieran D
Course Structure
Personalising your sketchbook
Session 1
You will learn techniques to get you through any fear of the blank page and free up your imagination for creative play. You will be taught clever ways of making structural changes to your sketchbook that will ‘re-make’ them into highly personal expressions of your creative ideas.
Developing your ‘sketchbook attitude’
Session 2
You will learn an exciting observational drawing technique using ink and a dip pen that will make you feel creatively empowered. You will learn how to give yourself a mental ‘reset’ that will shift you from fearing to fail to embracing the opportunity to ‘fail’ leading you to a greater willingness to play, have fun, and feel creative joy.
Story telling in your sketchbooks
Session 3
You will learn techniques to enable your ideas to flow between pages developing visual stories and connections throughout your sketchbook. You will learn about page composition and discover ways of deeply exploring and studying your theme or subject.
Widening your sphere of influence
Session 4
Embrace the influence of other artists and learn how to infuse their spirit into your work to help transform your ideas in new and unexpected ways. You will work on a mini project that shows you how working in your sketchbook enables you to release new unthought of ideas to arrive at surprising new styles and techniques within whichever field you choose to work in – painting, sculpture, craft object, or design.
By the end of the course…
You will leave inspired with new skills and techniques to transform how you use your sketchbooks feeling confident your sketchbook will be the ‘engine of your creativity’ with the ability to lead you forward – always offering you new directions for exciting new developments.
Student Quotes
“A person who did not know how to start and fill a blank page I have finished the 2-day course feeling more confident with lots of ideas to use a sketchbook to experiment and take the first steps to try out different techniques, materials, and to be creative. I feel it has given me ideas, techniques which I will carry on to develop my new art project” Jane M
“I wanted to find out how to use a sketchbook to support developing art projects and the course has done exactly this. [I learnt] how to use a sketchbook to generate and develop ideas (as well as some new techniques). This will help me fine tune ideas, experiment, develop more complete pieces of art.” Cathy J
Lisa Sumner (verified owner) –
Another excellent course delivered by Brian. This one was one of my favourites as I absolutely love sketchbooks and he introduced the topic in such a creative way. I loved the way we set up our books in a personal way then developed a project throughout. There was plenty of space for your own creativity and skills to grow.
Thank you!