Creative Resources

A beautiful new sketchbook can be a little frightening, because the pages are so clean and your drawings might not be. If you have ever left a sketchbook on the shelf for fear of spoiling it, here are seven gentle ways to lower the stakes and begin anyway.

Sketchbook, art journal, visual journal, junk journal: if the words have you confused, you are not alone. Here is a simple way to tell them apart, and how to choose where to start. The good news is that you don't have to pick just one.

Feeling overwhelmed in the art shop? A mixed media sketchbook is one of the most forgiving places to begin, because you can use pencil, pen, watercolour, colour pencils and even markers on the same page. Here is what is worth buying first, and what can wait on the shelf.

Sketchbooking for beginners in autumn starts with one simple decision: pick up whatever pencil or pen is closest to hand, open a blank page, and make a mark on it. You don't need a fancy sketchbook, a full set of materials, or any idea what you're going to draw. You just need to start. Autumn is honestly one of the best times of year to begin. The evenings draw in, routines settle back into place after summer, and there's something about that cosy, back-to-normal energy that