Keeping a regular sketchbook practice can be hard, and I’d like to take a quick look at the aspects that were most helpful for me – things that made returning to my sketchbook easier.
Here’s a video version of this post:
Keep it ready
You can have the nicest tools available, but when they are buried in the back of a drawers, you will likely forget about them. Remove friction by keeping your sketchbook where you can immediately open it and start drawing. I don’t bring my sketchbook everywhere, but I have it waiting for me on my desk, ready to draw in. In the same way, I have my most important tools always ready. And that’s the second point.
Keep it simple
Reduce your materials to a practical level, reduce decision fatigue, reduce having to choose. If you keep your sketching kit simple, you will just grab your tools and start sketching. It really works, give it a try. Choose a basic kit from your art supplies and keep it ready to go. Having a lot of stuff seems wonderful at first, but it can actually hinder you in your creativity.
Keep it interesting

Your sketchbook should be your safe space for exploration, so sketch what seems interesting to you, what you would like to keep a memory of. You can draw almost anything, and document it in your journal. If you need ideas for sketching subjects, look around in my blog or in my (or other artist’s) sketchbook tours. By focusing your drawings on what is important to you, and not what you think you should sketch, you’ll keep frustration and boredom out of your journal.
There is one exception: this is if you want to challenge yourself and learn how to draw something specific – this also has its place in the sketchbook as a place of practice and exploration. With unfamiliar subjects, you can except to feel frustrated or unwilling at times – this is because it’s hard to get good at a new skill. But it’s all part of the process, and that’s what a sketchbook can also be great for – documenting your process, making mistakes on the way. I would say keep a good balance between these two things, challenge yourself regularly but also have a bit of fun. Don’t expect too much from yourself – then it stops being fun – but try out a new thing from time to time to keep your sketching practice fresh. If you’re stressed and burned out, go easy with the challenges and do more of what feels easy to accomplish. It’s okay if that’s just doodling or painting color swatches of the flowers in your garden! Keep the focus on exploration.
Keep it quick
Sketching is immediate and spontaneous, and it can give you results very quickly. If you’re still learning how to draw, quantity matters more than quality (although observation tops everything, as many of my students can attest to). But definitely try sketching as much as you can, and don’t spend hours on one drawing in the beginning. Gestural drawings, or contour drawings, or figuring out basic shapes are great techniques for this, and with a splash of color these loose sketches can look finished and complete, too. Another aspect is that very often your surroundings might change in a matter of moments if you’re sketching from life, so it makes sense to record them quickly. Clouds, resting birds or people in front of a building can all be gone in a minute.
Most of my own sketches take between 10 and 30 minutes to finish. When I decide to take more time (for a big landscape or a very detailed drawing) I often break it down into several stages, that makes it easier for me to stay with it. So I create the drawing first, and then take a small break, and the finish the painting part second.
I hope these tips are helpful – at least they have proven to be useful for my sketching practice. I can think of a dozen more, but there are the most important ones, the basics that I always come back to.
Don’t forget: it’s your sketchbook, it’s for you to enjoy, you set the rules.
I love this, these are great tips! I always have struggled with keeping up a regular sketchbook practice. I’m more consistent than ever but this will definitely help, thank you! You also mentioned non-commercial instagram alternatives in the newsletter? Not sure if I just missed it in this post, but I would very much like to see what you have to say about that.
Thank you Katherine! Yes, I mentioned alternatives at the beginning of this post:
https://juliabausenhardt.com/sketchbook-tour-spring-2023-flowers-travel-sketching-landscapes/
There are different options, Mastodon and Pixelfed are the two most popular ones. I’ve found a lovely community on mastodon.art. Hope you have a look around, and should you sign up, please say hello. 🙂
Thank you Julia! Such wonderful and important advice. All four suggestions are so very helpful!
You’re welcome Linda, I’m glad to hear that! 🙂
All great tips! I’ve recently tried the first few – keeping a sketchbook on the coffee table near the sofa where I spend evenings watching TV. It has dry media paper in it so I’m not tempted to have more than a pencil in it and maybe a brush pen. If I decide something needs some color, I can pick out a couple of colored pencils from my vast collection and that at a different time. It really works to have the sketchbook at the ready with minimum tools.
I’m still working on quick sketching. I always tend to get caught up in rendering all the details but am slowly learning what can be left out or suggested with fewer lines to speed things up. Find I am just as happy with these sketches as I am with the detailed ones that take longer.
Thank you Sheila! Great to hear this actually works for you. I too find that I like the more spontaneous quick sketches just as much, I also have to hold myself back from adding every little detail.