Glimpses and Folds: A Sketchbook Challenge

By Tobi Meuwissen

In this resource, learners will make a sketchbook containing a series of drawings made from life, that can be folded away into one tiny drawing to reveal glimpses of what they have seen and recorded.

Learners will create their own folded sketchbooks from a single page and experiment with drawing different objects from life whilst exploring mark-making, materials, and scale. This resource is suitable for children aged 9 and above. Younger children may need additional help with folding the sketchbook.

The activity can be completed in a 1-2 hour session as a standalone activity or as part of an extended project exploring drawing and sketchbook skills.

Thank you to Toby Saville for sharing his idea of ‘glimpses’ and iterative methods of working, which planted the seed for this resource. ‘Glimpses’ was born in January of this year and was run with his Year 12’s to kick-start a major project, Toby was pleased with outcomes, and “the wealth of opportunities it has already presented for students to start to ‘notice what they notice’…..whilst establishing useful habits of documenting and celebrating fleeting, incidental and unique moments of visual intrigue.”

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