This April I took part in the Sketchbook revival challenge.

This is an 11 day sketchbook challenge organised by Karen Abend. The sketchbook revival is in its 9th year and consists of 11 days of free courses provided by lots of talented artists on various subjects, materials and techniques to get you using your sketchbook and inspiration to try something new. After the free time period of the challenge is over, you can have the opportunity to purchase access to the courses.

There were so many courses available- at least three a day- that I couldn’t do them all in the timeframe. Some of the video courses I just watched to gain inspiration, others I participated with by completing the tasks in my sketchbook, others I used as a starting point for ideas that I then developed further or altered slightly depending on my mood.

Another great feature of the sketchbook revival was that the course teachers (the artists) provided free gifts to go along with their classes- some providing further courses to take part in, others provided work sheets and printables you could use in future projects.

The courses were divided into themes so each day had three courses exploring the theme. Topics included “illustration”, “landscapes”, “abstract”, “layers”, “journal” and more. Each artist had their own interpretation of the days theme and this was explored in their course.

If this sounds like your idea of fun be sure to sign up for next year’s sketchbook revival sessions by visiting Karen Abend’s website!