Making Sketchbooks: An Introduction

Simple Approaches to Making Sketchbooks

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AccessArt offers Inset and CPD around Sketchbooks. See our Inset Brochure here, or contact us on 01223 606139, info@accessart.org.uk

	Making your own sketchbooks is a great way to get started on this project. Buying sketchbooks is fine, but they can be anonymous and expensive. Making your own sketchbooks is a great opportunity, and there is nothing like action to get the creative juices flowing.There are many many ways to make sketchbooks, and often no right or wrong ways – merely tips and advice. Here we’ve tried to outline a few different approaches to sketchbook making so that you can decide which is right for your class/school.
	One of the most important parts of the sketchbook project, is that it is about encouraging pupils to become more actively involved with their own learning experiences – to enjoy a sense of control, decision making, and revelation, and to realise that through working in a sketchbook their book takes on a very real and tangible personality – and that that “personality” is actually theirs! This can be a very empowering experience. And this process should start with the actual sketchbook, and not just what’s inside.So whilst we provide tips and guidance here, we’d like to encourage teachers to to try less to “teach” how to make a sketchbook, and more how to “enable the opportunity” to make a sketchbook, and to see diversions to original plans (by teachers and pupils) as creative adventures!
	Which Sketchbook type to choose… The first term of using sketchbooks is all about trying out ideas and processes, so that the seeds of the sketchbook habitcan begin to be sewn. So making a variety of sketchbooks is not a bad way to start, so you are in effect making a sketchbook collection, and you’ll use different types of books for different approaches/activities. We’ll show you later how they can be “housed” to keep them together.Click on the sketchbook photos on this page for How to… videosSee also our collection of Sketchbooks and Drawing PDf’s for immediate Download

UK Charity AccessArt welcomes artists, educators, teachers and parents both in the UK and overseas.

We believe everyone has the right to be creative and by working together and sharing ideas we can enable everyone to reach their creative potential.