Staying Organized with Sketchbooks

Sketchbooks are such an important part of the artist’s creative process. There are a variety of activities that take place in a sketchbook, all of which can help an artist think, explore, record & reflect. Activities include: practicing skills, doodling, making notes, collecting, sticking, referencing, reflecting, writing, drawing, collaging, painting, etc. ALL artists, designers, creators, etc. keep sketchbooks. Did you know that Pablo Picasso produced 178 sketchbooks in his lifetime! And Da Vinci filled over 13,000 pages of sketches & Notes!

As a Classroom teacher, convincing your students of the importance of Sketchbooks, is your first step! Student “Buy in” will help with student engagement and involvement and allow them to take pride in their work!

Choosing a sketchbook for your students to use in class is important too. Think about what your students will use it for. What are your goals and expectations? How many pages will you need for the duration of your class? Will you assign assignments or will student use them independently? Should you buy a classroom set of sketchbooks or make them yourselves?

There are so many ways to utilize sketchbooks in the classroom. Below you will see a description of our personal experience and success with SKETCHBOOKS in the High School Classroom.

This is one of our ALL TIME FAVORITE Art projects! We LOVE making sketchbooks and love teaching students how to make sketchbooks even more! And in our experience, Students LOVE this project, too. It’s a fantastic “1st project of the year” that will excite students and hold their engagement. It also teaches a variety of skills such as collage techniques and the craft of sewing (a lost art)!

In this unit students discuss the concept “What is Art” and choose one word or phrase to describe it. They are then tasked with the assignment to create an interesting and unique collage that expresses their idea of “what is art”. Their collage (mod podged on Chipboard) becomes the front and back cover of their sketchbook. This theme provides students with the opportunity to choose imagery that speaks to them, and results in a variety of unique and creative pieces! No two sketchbooks are ever the same, and the “themes” get more interesting every year!

Once their collages are complete, students:

Add endsheets (scrapbook paper, construction paper, etc.)
Bind together the front and back covers with binding tape (Kraft Tape)
Add pockets & a pencil holder
Fold and prep 25 pieces of drawing paper
Use binding thread and needle to sew in two separate sections of paper

That’s it! The best part is the amazement on your student’s faces when they realize they just created their own BOOK from scratch!

For our FULL SKETCHBOOK UNIT, with all resources needed to teach this Lesson —> CLICK HERE

For more book binding options —–> CLICK HERE

Sketchbook Organization

This is how we organize our Sketchbooks:

Organization is an important life skill! Students should know how to manage their ideas and assignments effectively and the sketchbook is a great way to encourage neatness and organization skills.

As the teacher, we dictate what goes on each page of the sketchbook. In one school year, we use almost all 100 pages of our sketchbooks! We know in advance what skills we will need to practice, what notes we will need to take, and what sketches we will need to make within each unit we teach. We require that our students keep a detailed Sketchbook Log to help stay organized and work on the correct page number.

Sketchbook and Log — FREE Sketchbook log HERE
(*Sketchbook logs are folded and placed in their front pockets for easy access. Each assignment is worth 5pts, and sketchbooks are graded at the end of each quarter.)

This is how we set up our sketchbooks for the year:

Students number all their pages in the bottom corners, front to back.
Page 1 = Name Art (The first page we see, the “WOW me” page. Also… this first page let’s us know who the book belongs to!)
Pages 2-9 = The Warm Up Pages: Each page represents a different month, October-May. For each month/page, students glue in (or draw) a template with boxes that represent each day we are together in class. Each day students come to class they have a 5 minute warm up to complete. (*Warm ups are graded at the end of the month, 5pts per drawing.)

CLICK HERE for the Warm Up Templates with prompts

Pages 10-13= Elements & Principles of Design Vocabulary pages (notes taken throughout the year)

CLICK HERE for E&P Vocab Sheet

CLICK HERE for E&P 90+ page slideshow

CLICK HERE for the E&P Bundle

The rest of the pages are dictated by the UNITS and assignments that relate to the projects. (see photos)

Student Examples of Warm Up Templates & Drawings

Examples of “ Element of Design Vocabulary page” – Page 10-11

Examples of UNIT work (Linear Perspective Fantasyscapes) and the Sketchbook Log to show the page Read our blog on Teaching Perspective—> CLICK HERE

Example of Student Sketch Pages/ Brainstorming before a final project.

Example of SBs used for Medium practice (Scratch paper protects charcoal work) For more about observation drawing → click here to read more

Thank you for reading! We’d LOVE to hear from you! If you have any additional ideas, questions or comments, please feel free to reach out and/or leave feedback!