Using Your Sketchbook as an Idea Lab
A course by Joan X. VázquezIllustrator and Graphic Designer
A course by Joan X. Vázquez, Illustrator and Graphic Designer
Learn how to use memory, abstract language, and wit to experiment and expand your visual vocabulary
Lose the fear of the blank sheet and discover drawing exercises that can unleash your creativity. With the help of illustrator and graphic designer Joan X. Vázquez, learn how to create illustrations by observing your environment and developing a personal bond with the image, generating unique illustrations that are full of character.
In this course, learn how to use the sketchbook as a creative tool and a space for experimentation. Explore the ideas that arise from memories, abstract language, and wit, and allow them to evolve in order to experiment and expand your visual language. Once finished, you will be able to create content in sketchbooks that can be applied to publications, exhibitions, or any personal or professional project.
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 38 downloads
What will we do in the course?
1 minute, 47 seconds
The notebook as an object
6 minutes, 29 seconds
materials
14 minutes, 16 seconds
Notebooks and processes
5 minutes, 30 seconds
Register the present
8 minutes, 54 seconds
Notes and appropriation
15 minutes, 58 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start the course by getting introduced to your teacher. Joan shows you some of his main projects and talks to you about his influences, referencing books and artists he admires. He also gives you an introduction to the course's contents.
Afterward, see some materials and resources to help you start experimenting. Learn about the wide variety of sketchbooks so you can choose the one that best suits you. Take a look at the kind of content that can make up a sketchbook: observations, notes, and conceptual ideas, among other topics.
Then, see how to turn the sketchbook into a tool for testing and generating ideas while analyzing the importance of keeping a record to improve your artistic process. Put different techniques into practice to unleash your creativity, such as the interpretation of others' works or free figuration.
Discover methods to make sense of your chaotic ideas. Start drawing through a writing exercise: combine time and space in the same image and create illustrations by navigating through your emotions and experiences.
Finally, Joan goes into more detail about the process of making his project, Chaos. Reflect on the exercises in the sketchbook and get some ideas about the possible uses for all the material you’ve produced.
What is this course's project?
Make an artist's sketchbook full of drawings, where you explore various themes and techniques that can be applied to publications, exhibitions, or a personal or professional project.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is aimed at art enthusiasts, cartoonists, artists, illustrators, teachers, and anyone who wants to use drawing as a tool to unleash their creativity.
Requirements and materials
No previous knowledge is necessary to take this course, just curiosity and a willingness to experiment.
Regarding materials, you should have a sketchbook with paper that can withstand mixed techniques, colored pencils, watercolors, markers, India ink, brushes, colored or textured paper, glue, scissors, and any other material you have around and feel like using.
Reviews
- 5 months ago
love the course
- 11 months ago
Muy buen curso para todos los que queremos experimentar en cuaderno y no sabemos por donde empezar!
- 11 months ago
Es muy bueno!
- 11 months ago
This class was very helpful and meaningful to me.
- 1 year ago
Muy bien!
Currently, he creates conceptual illustrations for magazines and books, as well as for for social and cultural projects.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- What will we do in the course?
- U2
The notebook as a rehearsal space
- The notebook as an object
- materials
- Notebooks and processes
- U3
Record the chaos
- Register the present
- Notes and appropriation
- What are stones for?
- Free figuration
- U4
From chaos to idea
- Interpret nothing
- I remember
- The space and time
- U5
From the idea to the artist book
- An invented museum
- Artist book? Chaos!
- FP
Final project
- Using Your Sketchbook as an Idea Lab
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
Certificates
PLUSIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn to use sketchbooks as a core tool for visual journaling, personal exploration, documenting creative processes, and experimenting with various drawing, collage, and unconventional materials.
This is an intermediate-level course, perfect for those with basic drawing skills who want to deepen their techniques in recording, observation, and artistic creation within sketchbooks.
You’ll need sketchbooks in various sizes, pencils, crayons, markers, tracing paper, recycled materials, gouache, acrylics, pens, and collage supplies. A variety of materials is recommended to freely experiment.
Yes, the course includes hands-on exercises in observation, recording, collage, composition, copying artworks, visual journaling, and experimenting with diverse materials in sketchbooks.
Documenting your process in sketchbooks helps you capture ideas, analyze your artistic growth, spot creative patterns, and develop personal or editorial projects more deeply.
You’ll explore techniques like screen printing, photocopy collage, observational drawing, using recycled materials, gouache illustration, crayons, India ink, graphic patterns, and mixed media experimentation.
Yes, you’ll learn how to conceptualize and organize editorial projects such as zines, book covers, and graphic diaries, using the records and exercises you develop in your sketchbooks.