Get Creative Sketchbook ideas

As you will probably have discovered from your visits to Uni and Art School Open Days, that sketchbooks are a hugely important part of your art college application and portfolio.

I’m going to explain:

• Why creative sketchbook ideas are important.
• Some practicalities around sketchbooks.
• How to make the most of them for your portfolio to explore your creative sketchbook ideas.

Why creative sketchbook ideas are important

When you have a theme for your artwork, or an object or subject to work from, you need to demonstrate how you’ve explored this.

So by explore, I mean, how you’ve visually explored it. With materials, processes and experimentation.

Your sketchbooks should show your thought processes, how you tick, and offer an insight into your mind for the viewer!

All University and Art School art and design courses expect to see sketchbook development, even in a digital portfolio.

Some practicalities around sketchbooks

Your sketchbooks are so important and I would say to have at least 2 full ones to take with you to interview.

Sketchbooks are such as personal thing and to say that they must be a certain size is ridiculous.

Anything from A6 to A3 will do, make sure you fill them.

Please don’t take them with just a few pages completed, mostly empty.

There doesn’t need to be a masterpiece on each page of your sketchbook and please don’t tear out pages that you don’t like!

If you haven’t already signed up for my FREE report ‘How to avoid the top 10 mistakes holding you back from getting into art school’ please do below. It ESSENTIAL you don’t make these errors.

Your sketchbooks need to have mistakes as the most important thing that mistakes provide is a learning experience.

You can use a sketchbook to draw in, write down thoughts, decisions you’ve made, tests and experiments that you’ve made with materials, etc. Creative sketchbook ideas should record the process of making art.

Take your sketchbook everywhere you go so if you have a smaller sketchbook (A5 or A6) you have no excuse! You never know when inspiration will hit and it’s best to be prepared…

How to make the most of your creative sketchbook ideas.

If you’re still unsure how to get started please don’t just ignore it and hope for the best.

The most competitive courses for art and design WILL reject you if you have no visible sketchbook development work.

My portfolio preparation course dives deep into how best to approach using your sketchbook.

By getting started NOW then you can ditch the stress that comes with trying to do this alongside your final year school exams.

Find out more how you can prepare for success.

This article was written by Julie Read, a leading educator in the Creative Industries, as featured in The Guardian newspaper, on a mission to create a legacy to ‘unlock your creative genius’.

My passion and mission is your art portfolio, to help to get you that place at college or university.

CLARITY, in particular around the creative process, sketchbooks, and what the Colleges actually want to see are the founding principles.