Sketchbook Space has produced a small booklet called “Why Keep a Sketchbook?” which you can download free of charge. The booklet gives a taster of what keeping a sketchbook is all about.
Help us distribute the booklet by printing it off and distributing it to your learners, facilitators, colleagues and friends.
Download “Why Keep a Sketchbook?” now. 10 pages A5. Any problems downloading the file pls email us here
Sketchbooks (or notebooks, or journals) aren’t just used by artists, and don’t have to be full of sketches.
It might help to think of sketchbooks, notebooks or journals as places in which you collect – collect thoughts, collect imagery, collect references…
Fundamentally sketchbooks are about making your thoughts and ideas real, by writing, drawing, doodling, scrawling, sticking. Something magical happens when you begin to externalize your thoughts, and once you get into the habit of keeping some kind of sketchbook your thinking (and learning) will develop in new and inspiring ways, whatever it is centred around.
Crucially, using sketchbooks (and carrying a sketchbook around with you so you can use it at any time), puts YOU at the centre of your thinking and that, in turn, connects all the things you are interested in, and makes learning so much more fulfilling (and far less compartmentalized!).
Sketchbooks are empowering and inspiring. Here are 10 things sketchbooks can do for you, and why we think anyone interested in informal adult learning should consider using sketchbooks:
- articulate, externalise & sort thoughts
- explore ideas
- visualise
- help you share and communicate ideas
- reflect
- make thoughts real
- encourage deeper thinking
- promote self-directed learning
- help you focus
- inspire confidence
- link learning to life
These skills have the potential to enhance and build upon any learning, in any context.
And finally 3 very good reasons to get started!
- Sketchbooks are portable and can be used at any time, (on the bus, in the evening, in the gardening…)
- Sketchbooks are cheap (free if you make them)
- The AccessArt website will give access to resources which enable this kind of learning free of charge, and at any time, via the web
