Sketchbook Skool

Sketchbook Skool (SBS) is an online art school that specializes in courses about drawing and painting in sketchbooks. It's based in New York and Amsterdam and the teachers are from all over the world. Often you have more than one teacher in one course. Most courses (or kourses as they say) take five to six weeks, but there are shorter ones, too.

I got aware of them quite some time ago and registered there not so long ago, but haven't taken a course with them so far. The courses are not really cheap - compared to say Craftsy. Still they have enthusiastic participants who have taken several courses. I have watched videos on their Youtube channel, followed their blog and seen what their students do at Facebook groups and I like their over-all approach of sketching in sketchbooks and being loose while still teaching about techniques that help you improve. One important reason I haven't taken part so far is that often watercolour is used, which I don't use, and with prices being quite high I don't want to lose a week's worth of course material because they teach something I don't want to use.

Finally, I have enrolled in a klass. It's shorter and cheaper than most of them and you can use whatever tools you prefer. I thought it may be ideal to try SBS out. It's about making greeting cards and taught by Salli Swindell who has designed greeting cards for major greeting card manufacturers. I'm not necessarily planning to design greeting cards later, but I hope to learn a good deal about designing and illustration, about the process that is behind it.

Klass starts tomorrow and I am really curious what it will be like.

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Introduction

I have been drawing for 20 months now. I started back then, because I wanted a creative hobby, that you can do on a daily basis without needing lots of material initially. So I decided to learn a bit about the basics of drawing, practiced and soon found out, that it is easier than everybody thinks. And after all, you don't have to be perfect for it to be fun and for your drawings to be valuable. You are free to find your own way of drawing. While drawing as often as possible, I often find myself thinking a lot about this craft and me doing it. I certainly like drawing and sketching in sketchbooks. They are like journals you can browse through again and again and see what you were up to when you filled them. I am going to share my thoughts about drawing here and hopefully will dare to share one or the other drawing.

New Sketchbook

There is nothing like preparing a new sketchbook after you have finished the previous one. I like to decorate the insides of the front and back cover with stickers. One that says „Sylvia‘s sketchbook no. x“ and some simply for decoration. After filling the first page I also add the month I started it. After filling the last page I then add the month I finished it. The stuff on the right is just digital.

Gouache

I have bought some Schmincke Designers Gouache and some Hahnemühle watercolour paper. I need to start practising with the good stuff, because my older niece has asked me to paint something for her 16th birthday in October. So I have done this little painting in my mixed media sketchbook today. The paint is great, so much smoother and easier to handle than the cheap stuff I have used so far. After getting to know it better and practising a bit I will also test the new paper. I‘m looking forward to more painting adventures.

Sylvia‘s Art Journey

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