Sketchbook Exercises for Artistic Growth
A course by Sarah van Dongen
Illustrator.
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Joined March 2020
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, Illustrator
Joined March 2020
Discover tools and techniques for developing your creative skills, overcoming creative blocks, and unlocking your imagination in the pages of your sketchbook
- Best seller
- 100% positive reviews (16)
- 1799 students
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
Discover tools and techniques for developing your creative skills, overcoming creative blocks, and unlocking your imagination in the pages of your sketchbook
Joined March 2020
- 100% positive reviews (16)
- 1799 students
- 16 lessons (3h 1m)
- 17 additional resources (5 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
A sketchbook is an essential tool for any artist. It's a safe space where you can enhance your skills, develop your style, try new materials, and explore different techniques. Illustrator Sarah Van Dongen uses hers to make characterful artwork inspired by the world around her. She has collaborated with clients like Flow Magazine and Adobe, and created her own picture book.
In this online course, Sarah teaches you different exercises for developing the most important artistic skills, overcoming creative blocks, and unlocking your imagination. Learn how to fill a sketchbook with experimental drawings using different materials and reference images, designed to help you improve as a creative. Learn, play, and explore through sketchbooking.
Want to take your sketchbook practice further? Check out Sarah’s other illustration courses.
What will you learn in this online course?
Course table of contents
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U1U1. Introduction
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U2U2. The Sketchbook, Materials, and Style
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U3U3. Let's Fill That Sketchbook
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U4U4. Continuing Drawing
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FPFP Final project
Begin the course by getting to know illustrator Sarah Van Dongen. Discover the creative career that has led her to develop pieces for books, newspapers, stationery, and beyond, along with the influences that inspire the work she creates.
Learn about the importance of developing a sketchbook practice and discover the tools needed for the course. Sarah then takes you through her thoughts on style and what she considers to be the most important artistic skills to develop.
Explore drawing and observation along with ways to find inspiration and carry out research. Then use a variety of materials and experiment with different exercises to enhance your creative abilities.
Sarah shows you how to turn your sketches into inspiration for a finished illustration. To wrap up the course, find out her tips for maintaining a regular sketching habit.
What is this course's project?
Fill a sketchbook with vibrant illustrations using a variety of materials and techniques.
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone who wants to use sketchbooking as a tool to improve their artistic abilities.
Requirements and materials
No previous experience is required.
In terms of materials, you will need gouache, graphite pencils, oil pastels, acrylic markers, and other materials specified by the teacher in the course.
Reviews
A course by Sarah van Dongen
Sarah van Dongen is a Dutch illustrator based in Amsterdam who is passionate about telling stories. She began her studies in comparative literature but enrolled in the MA in Children’s Books Illustration in Cambridge, UK after realizing she wanted to pursue a more creative career.
Sarah’s illustration work can be found in children’s books, stationery, newspapers, and magazines across the globe. Her clients include Flow Magazine, Adobe, Tiny Owl Publishing, and Ragged Bears Publishing, among others. Sarah enjoys exploring themes like gardens, food, social interactions, mental health, and her childhood. She doesn’t shy away from subjects like insecurity, loneliness, and loss, she expresses them in her sketches to help make these feelings more comprehensible.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
The Sketchbook, Materials, and Style
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The Sketchbook
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Art Materials
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Introduction to Illustration and Artistic Skills
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U3
Let's Fill That Sketchbook
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Drawing and Observation 1
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Drawing and Observation 2
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Drawing and Observation 3
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Inspiration, Research, and Copying 1
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Inspiration, Research, and Copying 2
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Experimentation and Playing 1
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Experimentation and Playing 2
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Association and Imagination 1
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Association and Imagination 2
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U4
Continuing Drawing
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Making a Final Piece
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Keep Using Your Sketchbooks
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FP
Final project
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Sketchbook Exercises for Artistic Growth
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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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.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
mrsb
Very inspiring. I had to start drawing straight away. I like the idea of the difference between inspiration vs. copying.
druchunas
This course is so much fun! I have been keeping sketchbooks and making comics for quite a while but I feel stale sometimes when I get stuck working with the same supplies all the time. This class got me to play more and I am really enjoying working on a new sketchbook with different art supplies that I had bought in the past but have not been using.
an.narloch
bardzo dobry kurs. Polecam!
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iris_theekent
Amazing course!! Sarah gives you (the best!!) ideas and exercises to draw anything you want to (learn how to) draw! She's an amazing teacher and she really knows how to get you enthusiastic and inspired. Often when I buy a course, I'm inspired for a little period of time, I make a few drawings based on the course and then I forget... but I'm sure this course will stay with me, because the exerices can be used with any subject to spark inspiration and grow my drawing skills. Thank you, Sarah!
alinovit
I really enjoyed this course. There is a lot of interesting information and helpful exercises. Finally, I have started filling my sketchbook every day and I am thoroughly enjoying the process without feeling the need to show all my sketches to somebody. It's all about quick sketches for inspiration. I highly recommend this course for beginners and beyond.