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“Open yourself up to other things that can inspire you. You have to expose yourself to other worlds to keep your mind active.” Hussein Chalayan, Fashion Designer

Remember the sketchbook is just a tool which helps encourage explorative thinking. Some of the discoveries will happen in the sketchbook, but many discoveries will happen “outside” the sketchbook, but as a result of it. 

Keep the sketchbook close (open!), even as pupils explore other areas. Encourage them to use it as a notebook, reference point, place to scribble ideas, whilst they are working in other media.

Sometimes during this stage, throwing in a left-field sketchbook activity can also help freshen or challenge thinking, so don’t be afraid to present the class with sketchbook tasks which appear unrelated to the main task in hand. 

And remember where one project ends, another begins, and the sketchbook can be a vital tool in helping pupils understand both where they have been and where they might go.

Warm-Ups & Ice-Breakers to Re-Invigorate

See All the Warm-Up Resources

<< Back to The Sketchbook Pathway <<

This is a sample of a resource created by UK Charity AccessArt. We have over 1500 resources to help develop and inspire your creative thinking, practice and teaching.

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.

The AccessArt Sketchbook Journey is a series of resources designed to help teachers, pupils and learners of all ages navigate their way towards a greater understanding and experience of how sketchbooks can develop our creativity. Paula Briggs, Co-founder and Director of AccessArt explains the thinking behind the project.

AccessArt has been an advocate of the use of sketchbooks as a tool to nurture creativity for many years. Our aim is to enable as many teachers and facilitators as possible (including non-specialist teachers) to feel able to explore the use of sketchbooks with their pupils.

For over 20 years AccessArt has been asking the question:

What kind of mechanisms do artists use to enable their creativity to flourish?

The answers to that question contain clues; clues that might suggest to us new ways we can enable creativity in children and teenagers.

One of the ways many adults develop their creativity is through the use of sketchbooks, and we see that in schools where sketchbook use thrives, creativity thrives too.

The AccessArt Sketchbook Journey aims to share sketchbook knowledge and experience through the following steps:

Step 1: Understand. What is a sketchbook? What happen’s inside a sketchbook? Let’s lift the lid and better understand the potential.

Step 2: Practice & Explore. Make time for sketchbooks and exploresketchbook activities. Experience what a sketchbook journey might look like.

Step 3: Reflect & Discuss. Use sketchbooks as an opportunity to understand more about our creativity, and as a tool for sharing the creativity journey.

Step 4: See Sketchbooks in Action. Be inspired by the sketchbooks of artists, teachers and children.

Throughout all the above stages, the journey for teachers is simple:

We give permission. We show pupils what sketchbooks can be in the widest sense, and we give permission for pupils to embrace that potential in an aspirational way.

We create opportunity for pupils to practice sketchbook skills and explore exciting projects

We nurture ownership, by reminding pupils that they can take control of their journey in and through their sketchbooks.

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