Sketching requires only the most basic tools to get started and is immediately accessible to anyone who has the desire. It is a simple yet rewarding exercise, serving as the foundation of all artistic pursuits. This illuminating guide draws on the vast experience of established artists to give readers a rich variety of working methods and topics that will guide and encourage their sketching ability. Artists of all skill levels will benefit from exercises that show them how to: * Sharpen powers of observation and analysis * Capture movement through line * Set up powerful compositions * Render tiny details that breathe life into a sketch * Use sketches as the basis of strong paintings Lucy Watson has a degree in Fine Art with a Masters in advanced printmaking. She is highly experienced in all media and her drawings, prints and paintings have been exhibited at prestigious venues all over Europe, from the Academie Royale de Beaux Arts in Brussels to the National Portrait Gallery in London. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Develop your drawing skills and rediscover the world around you with this innovative and beautifully illustrated book. In Sketch Book for the Artist, acclaimed artist and teacher Sarah Simblet teaches you how to draw by combining practical lessons with examples of both her own work and some of the world's greatest drawings. She introduces all the key drawing materials, then shows you how to master the basic elements of drawing in a series of step-by-step drawing classes, covering topics ranging from simple mark-making to establishing form, creating tone, and conveying perspective. You will learn how to explore a wide variety of subjects, from still life, plants, and animals to portraits, the human body, landscapes, and buildings, all of which are introduced with outstanding drawings by famous artists. The bestselling author of Anatomy for the Artist and Botany for the Artist, Sarah demonstrates how she works - from quick pencil sketches to pen and ink studies - with expertise and plenty of encouraging tips, and complements them with plentiful examples from her own drawing books. Sketch Book for the Artist is for anyone who wants to draw, whether you are a complete beginner or would like to refresh your existing skills. Whatever your ability, it will inspire you to reach for a pencil and paper and start drawing.

Grab your pen and seize the day! Make art a part of your everyday life, and everyday life a part of your art. Vast opportunities and great joy await you as you learn sketching "on the spot"--be it in your own backyard, amid the bustle of a busy market, on a hike or wherever you happen to find yourself. Cathy Johnson leads you on this thrilling expedition as you explore ways to turn everyday sights and experiences into a cache of visual memories. She and other artists have opened their sketchbooks to share their favorite subjects, ranging from nature's paraphernalia to aging buildings, crashing waves and beloved pets. You will travel the world through sketches and stories, through deserts and deep woods, cities and small towns. Along the way, you'll pick up helpful tips and clever, on-location improvisations for making your sketching sessions pleasurable, safe and productive. • Chapters focus on sketching subjects close to home, on travels, in nature, in urban settings and from everyday life. • 10+ artists share favorite sketches, tips and techniques. • 15+ demos reveal on-the-spot sketches as they come together. • Includes expert advice on getting the best results from a range of mediums, including graphite, ink, colored pencil, watercolor and gouache. The Artist's Sketchbook is pure delight, full of passion and possibility, ideas and inspirations. You'll learn ways to be prepared, simplify, still your inner critic, embrace the here and now, and in doing so, discover wonders you never thought to look for.

This book shares large full-color images and profiles each of the high-profile, amazingly talented artists that discuss their sketchbooks and how they use them. People are fascinated by artist's sketchbooks. They offer a glimpse into private pages where artists brainstorm, doodle, develop and work on ideas, and keep track of their musings. Artists use these journals to document their daily lives, produce their initial ideas for bigger projects, and practice their skills. Using a variety of media from paint to pencil to collage, these pages can become works of art themselves. They often feel fresh and alive because they are first thoughts and often not reworked. These pages capture the artist's personalities along with glimpses of their process of working and inspirations.

For every commercial work released by an artist, countless doodles and sketches remain in sketchbooks, unseen by all but a select few. It is a rare treat to see an artists looser, more playful experiments. These early drafts and creative diversions can reveal new facets of the artists process, and often constitute a body of work just as valuable as what the artist deems worthy of the public eye. The Art of the Sketchbook cracks opens the covers of more than thirty private sketchbooks and reveals the personal work of artists in their leisure. Travel diaries, life studies, and wildly imaginative cartoons are just a few of the styles represented here, and the materials and subjects are just as varied. Double-page presentations show the sketchbooks in their raw form, and artist interviews provide both context for the images and glimpses into the role sketching plays in each artists larger body of work.

Destined to go down as one of the era's most astonishing global art projects, the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Project has, in less than a decade, amassed more than thirty thousand sketchbooks submitted by people of all ages and artistic abilities from more than 130 countries. Bursting with color, vivid imagery, and bouts of whimsy mixed with deeply intimate insights, the sketchbooks capture the texture of personal experience in a dizzying variety of illustrative styles and layouts that run the gamut from street portraits to stream-of-consciousness doodles, comics, and pop-ups. The Sketchbook Project World Tour presents the most compelling, surprising, and visually stunning examples from this one-of-a-kind artistic treasury.

This is the story of one woman's journey from amateur painter to botanical artist, told through the sketchbooks and paintings she produced for the Distance Learning Diploma Course run by the Society of Botanical Artists. Packed with advice and tips, this book will serve as a guide and inspiration to anyone wanting to embark on life as a botanical artist. This book is both a showcase of Mary Ann Scott's work and a record of her achievements, including first-hand accounts of the joys and challenges she faced as she progressed. It contains work from every assignment she undertook, from her first attempts at drawing a tulip to the triumphant paintings she made for her diploma portfolio. Along the way are delicate floral compositions, juicy fruit and vegetables, botanical dissections, and her adventures out in the field. Margaret Stevens's comments on each assignments are also included, giving an insight into the assessment process and an all-round view of Mary Ann's successes and (very rare) failures. The book ends with a glorious selection of Mary Ann's ongoing work as a botanical artist.