Sketchbook Activities
- Madison Holmes
- Jan 8
- 13 min read
Each day, you will have 30 minutes to complete a sketchbook activity from the following list. You get to choose which activity you want to work on. The prompts are organized by category; you are responsible for labeling each activity with the corresponding category and prompt number. You are accountable for finishing your sketchbook activities if you are absent or do not finish them in class.
Quick Drawing Prompts
A grouping of seashells
A single flower with all its leaves, etc.
A cluttered place close-up
A pile of dishes sitting on the sink
Your favorite food with the wrapper included, and product showing
A close up set of 3-5 pieces of popped popcorn
A close up of the various pieces from a game, the board, box, etc.
A set of keys and a couple other items from your pocket or purse
Your shoes or sandals (off your feet)
Your sunglasses and what they reflect
Your digital camera with the last image showing
Your computer from an angle you do not usually view it, cords and all
A view out a window of your choice (with motion or still) showing inside and out
A shiny Christmas ornament and the view it reflects
A magnifying glass and what it is magnifying as well as the space around it that is unmagnified
A grouping of photographs of you, your family or friends in collage form
Your school books positioned in an interesting manner
A single object of choice drawn from several views with significantly different light sources in each view
Something you view from a prone position looking up at whatever it is
Your pet or favorite object from 3 distinctly different views
A pile of shoes
Looking from an interior space to an exterior space (IE: a doorway)
A figure drawn in an unusual perspective
Still life objects
Reflective objects
Self portraits with expression or mood
Pasting a piece of a magazine on paper and then drawing outward
Something morphing into something else
Painting or drawing in an artist's style
Distorted reflections
Action!
Anatomy
Shaded 3D forms showing strong contrast
Architectural drawing
Art history prints & design elements
People
Draw someone you sit by in an odd pose.
Draw family members with things that are important to them.
Draw yourself (or someone else) painting toenails.
Find a quiet place in a crowd. Draw the crowd.
Draw a relative by the light cast from a TV/Phone/Computer or other screen.
Make a portrait of yourself in twenty years. Or in fifty years. Or both.
Draw a masked man (or woman) that is not a superhero.
Draw the ugliest baby you can imagine.
Draw two sports figures–one in a dynamic pose, one in a static pose.
Draw two self-portraits with odd expressions.
Draw something or someone you love.
Draw hair. A lot of it.
Take a picture of someone near you on a bus or in a car. Draw them.
Animals
Draw an animal playing a musical instrument.
There is an animal living in one of your appliances. Draw it.
Draw a dead bird in a beautiful landscape.
Draw something from a pet’s point of view.
Draw an animal taking a bath.
Draw an animal taking a human for a walk.
Combine 3 existing animals to create a completely new creature.
Draw a family portrait. Plot twist: It is a family of insects or animals.
Draw the most terrifying animal you can imagine. Or the most adorable.
Draw a series of animals in motion. Such as a cheetah running, a rabbit hopping, a bird flying. This can be in any media and you can use just three views or images in a row.
The skeleton of a small animal or bird really small or really big.
Food
Draw a pile of dishes before they get washed.
Tighten a C-Clamp on a banana. Draw it.
Draw a slice of the best pizza you have ever seen.
Draw junk food and the wrapper.
Draw your favorite food.
Create your own restaurant. Draw the restaurant, your executive chef, and a 12-item menu.
Draw the ingredients or process of your favorite recipe.
Draw salt and pepper shakers.
Draw fresh fruit or vegetables, or something fresh from the oven.
Draw a salad.
Draw the oldest thing in your refrigerator.
Draw a piece of fruit every day until it becomes rotten.
Draw everything on a restaurant table.
Objects
Draw what is in the rearview mirror of the car.
Draw moving water. Draw still water.
Draw an object floating.
Make a drawing of all of your drawing materials.
Find a trash can. Draw its contents.
Draw tools that belong to a certain profession.
Draw three objects and their environments. One of the three should be in motion.
Draw the interior of a mechanical object. Zoom in, focus on details and shading.
Create three drawings of messes you have made.
Draw five objects with interesting textures: wood grain, floors, tiles, walls, fabric, etc.
Draw a collection of purses, wallets, or bags.
Draw your favorite well-loved object or childhood toy.
Draw a watch or another piece of jewelry.
Draw something hideous that you keep for sentimental reasons.
Draw something with a mirror image.
Technical Skill/Skill Development/Observational
Draw all the contents of your junk drawer with one continuous line.
Make a detailed drawing of a rock.
Draw a dark object in a light environment.
Draw a light object in a dark environment.
Make a detailed drawing of five square inches of grass.
Draw a transparent object.
Draw a translucent object.
Do several studies of eyes, noses, and mouths in a variety of poses.
Draw an interesting object from three different angles.
Value Studies–Draw three eggs and part of the carton with a strong light source.
Draw three metallic objects that reflect light. Focus on highlights and reflections.
Refraction–Create two drawings of separate objects partially submerged in water.
Make three drawings (your choice of subject) using materials with which you are not familiar.
Draw a piece of patterned fabric with folds.
Draw a bridge and all of its details.
Select an above or below point of view in a specific area (your room, kitchen, bathroom, outside, in a car, etc.) Complete this drawing paying attention to details. You may complete the drawing in pencil, colored pencil, pen, etc.
Arrange three related objects (3 kitchen items, 3 shoes, sports equipment, etc.) into a composition. Draw on one page using a light source and shading.
Practice drawing anything from observation- the most common things are good practice.
Look at yourself in a spoon- draw the distorted image.
Make a detailed drawing of your hand holding something related to the season OR related to school. Make the drawing large enough that it touches all the edges of the page. You may add color or use shading.
Practice observational drawing skills by drawing from the following list:
Shoes
Corner of a room in your house
Create an arrangement of objects, use a lamp or other light to make dramatic shadows,
Your pet
Creative views of your car, bicycle, skateboard, etc.
Make the image reach all the way to the edges of the page. Demonstrate what you know about point of view, emphasis, composition, positive and negative space, etc.
Draw your eye twice in two very different ways, both from direct observation.
TWO DRAWINGS, DIFFERENT APPROACHES, DIFFERENT PAGES
Make a DETAILED drawing of your eye and the area around it. Include everything you see when observing closely in clear, even lighting.
For the second drawing, make a drawing in HARSH lighting, showing the shapes of the shadows only. SUMMARIZE, don’t itemize. This drawing will not contain detail, but will accurately represent the shapes of light and shadow on and around your eye area.
Draw a portrait using light and shadow. In order to achieve strong gradations and a sense of form, place a light from different angles than normal. These can be under the chin, behind the head or from the top. This can be in graphite pencil or colored pencil.
Study your feet and shoes. Create a strong thick and thin contour drawing of your shoes drawing from different angles. Include more than one drawing on the same page over lapping and filling the format. Pen or pencil.
Draw a place around the outside of your home. This can be a plant, part of the building or objects on the porch. Use ink and watercolor to create a strong contrast between the color and the ink. Crosshatching as a style is suggested but not required.
Draw bottles and cans. Have them crunched up for details in the reflections and folds of the metal. Include lots of detail and only show a small area instead of the whole can or cans. If it is a bottle, find an area that shows off the reflections and surface quality of the bottle.
Create a series of positive and negative space designs. On your desk at home stack a few objects into a pile. With a light shining from the back look at the space that is white (light) and draw the shapes as a contour line shape. Use black paint or ink to fill in the spaces as a flat shape. The silhouette of the object should still be seen but new shapes created.
Draw a piece of furniture in your house. This can be in color or black and white. Sit in an area and observe the lines and shapes of the piece. Create a format around your observed area and look for textures, gradations, wood grain or interesting shapes and make a detailed study.
Pop some popcorn. Take a few kernels and look at the shapes and shades created. With pencil and smudge shading, study a few of the kernels and fill the page with them. This drawing should show a good sense of drawing skill and soft grays with a Tortillons or some blending device.
Draw yourself using a strong light source on one side of your face. Use a mirror and try to have some expression. Focus on the strong shadows created by the light. Use pastel for blocking in large areas with a lesser amount of detail.
Divide the page into three areas with a ruler. Create a very involved contour drawing with pen of a small object of your choice and put it in one of the areas going outside the shape. Next, in another area, draw the same object with pencil using good shading and proper proportion. For the last area, distort or abstract (like in cubism) the same object using three values or colors.
Draw a chess set set-up and partially played - do the same with other board games- use your favorite game from childhood.
Landscapes with and without man-made structures.
Draw buildings and man-made structures with character- bridges- the interior of old churches or old theaters.
Fill bottles with colored water and use in a still-life.
Fill plastic bags with objects and draw - draw bags of candy or marshmallows.
Play the Password Game. Divide the class into groups of five or six. Use one painting each group comes up with five descriptive words from the same work of art. The students share their words with the class and everyone must then take all the words and write a piece of poetry. The poetry must use all the words, words that are repeated must be used as often as they are repeated. Students then illustrate their poetry.
Draw small architectural, mechanical things tiny may be very small drawings only 3 or 4 inches
Contour drawings of insects like a bug collection... (or dead flies off the window sill)
Botanical drawings especially pine or spruce twigs w/pinecones.
Wash drawings from real life
Wash drawings taken from paintings, esp. of groups of people
Use a slinky or tubes to demonstrate circles and ellipses in perspective
Five views of the same object or objects.
Rather than just drawing hands, draw the same hand rotating and changing with each view...
Draw the face, at least twice, summarizing it into shapes of shadows and light. You may draw from a HIGH CONTRAST photos, or from direct observation, harshly lit. DO NOT use any magazine photos of models, which are meant mainly to showcase makeup. Observe and record how the shadows connect features. Media: Your choice of Graphite Sticks, Oil Pastels, Charcoal, or any media you feel will give you the high contrast you are seeking. At least 2 faces. If it is your own, you can just change pose or lighting.
Creativity/Originality/Illustration
Draw yourself as an original superhero.
Draw a noise.
Make a drawing that looks sticky.
Draw a mysterious doorway or staircase.
Draw an empty room. Make it interesting.
Draw a flower. Make it dangerous.
Draw an object melting.
Draw an imaginary place, adding all kinds of details.
Draw a gumball machine that dispenses anything but gumballs.
Danger! Draw yourself in a dangerous situation.
You are on the back of the bus. Figure out who is with you, where you are going, and why. Illustrate and explain.
Draw what’s under your bed (real or imagined).
Draw the most incredible game of hide-and-seek you can imagine.
Create a new sport. You can improve an existing sport, combine two existing sports, or come up with something completely new.
Over 2 pages show the gradual transformation of a pair of scissors into another object- example: scissors into a shark- DON'T USE THIS EXAMPLE. Details are needed in the drawing- color is optional.
Choose an enclosed space- a kitchen cabinet, a television, an oven, a refrigerator, in a drawer or closet. What human qualities do the objects in the enclosed space assume when no one is watching? Do the mustard bottles dance? Do the socks play cards? This can be one page with details…be sure and show the interior of the space as well as the objects.
What happens when a 6-foot tall squirrel shows up in your yard?
Illustrate a dream you have had using only 5 symbols (single images that communicate ideas) This may take one or two pages. You may use color or black and white to complete the image. Consider what you know about composition, emphasis, etc. as you build the images.
Practice drawing from your imagination by drawing from the following list:
What would you see if you grew wings and flew over our town?
What if your big toe became its own person?
What if you suddenly became very very small?
Draw or design a vehicle. This can be a car, spaceship, airplane, boat, motorcycle, bicycle or anything you want. Include details and make it big! Any media
What does the holiday season really mean to you? Your image can be abstract or realistic; you may choose the media. AVOID common images- meaning if you choose to show holiday gifts- SHOW THEM IN A CREATIVE WAY!
Where is Waldo? Students take one sketchbook page and fill it in with miniature drawings of everything that relates them and their lives… gum, braces, football jersey, soccer and footballs… etc and endless… the page must be filled, no blank space and all items are reduced to the same or nearly same size.
Open-Ended Themes
Make a drawing that is totally truthful.
Make a drawing that lies all over the place.
Make a drawing that is completely and utterly impossible.
Story Illustration: Fix a story that you don’t like, or reflect/improve upon one you do.
Let someone else choose your subject and tell you what to draw.
Draw your greatest fear.
Use song lyrics, quotes, or poetry to inspire a drawing.
Find the three most useless objects you can and draw them.
Draw an interesting form of transportation.
Draw something for which you are thankful.
Go somewhere new and draw what you see.
Draw something that can’t be turned off.
Draw something soothing.
Draw something you think sounds or smells incredible.
Draw something that needs fixing.
Draw something you’ve always wanted.
Draw something out of place.
Draw something that should have been invented by now.
Draw something you keep putting off, or something that causes you to procrastinate.
Word/Phrase Prompts (Try making an idea web)
Conflict of interests
More than meets the Eye (I)
Me, myself, and I (eye)
Warped
Nightmares/Other worlds
Habits
Food.. You are what you eat / Your family at breakfast.
Lonely -- L (one) ly inspired by the e.e.cummings poem "1(a"
The seasons
The End
Pairs
I get around
Balance
Home is where...
All that glitters...
Pretty -- as a picture
Layer it on
So transparent
A touch of __________?
Messing around
Over the edge (this one led to a student doing his concentration on Robert DeNiro film roles)
The senses
Threads
It's my nature
Take cover
It's not easy being green
Color outside the lines
Hot and cold
Lemon Yellow
Black and White & red all over (so glad a student made red - read)
Sunset
Metallics
Autumn
Forest floor
Magazines & Found Images
Choose a portion of a magazine or newspaper picture. Glue that picture on a page in your sketchbook. Create a drawing that incorporates that picture into a story. You may use more than one magazine or newspaper image BUT the artwork should be made mainly from your added drawings. This artwork should span 2 pages. You may use color or shading. OR you could use a color scheme (monochromatic, etc.)
Create an image using only found images (from magazines, newspapers, worksheets, etc.) The image should communicate a message or tell a story.
Appropriate an image from magazine/newspaper/web-image that illustrates/demonstrates an unusual point of view of common objects, space/place, architecture, or group of things/people, other.
Create a design using elements from magazine or newspaper images. Cut and paste the images onto the page in your sketchbook to create the design.
Art Styles
If you got a holiday card from one of these artists what would it look like?
Pablo Picasso
Berthe Morisot
Salvador Dali
Georgia O’Keeffe
Vincent Van Gogh
Frida Kahlo
Claude Monet
Jackson Pollock
Using color (Cray-Pas) create an Impressionist Landscape drawing. Use Van Gogh, Manet, Seurat, Pissaro, Sisley, or Cezanne as your guide. Use the internet and look up these artists to observe their work. Find a landscape on the net as well and draw it as an Impressionist.
Identity
Identify an object that relates to your identity. Create an artwork that uses the image of that object (or the actual object) as the SINGLE FOCUS of the artwork. Open media.
Fill in the blank… "I am a _________ in this world." Use the text of the completed sentence to inform the artwork. Open Media. This should be a 2 page spread
Answer these questions with an image:
At age six I was ________
At age twelve I was _______
Now I am ________
At age 25 I will be ______
At age 75 I will be ______
Arrange these images in a composition that communicates your identity. Open media. Should span at least 4 pages in some order that communicates the answers to the questions.
Exploration of Materials/Media
Draw on white Mat board, cover with several layers of gloss medium, cover this with oil paint- release the drawn image, the paint and the medium.
Tape a pencil or marker to a yardstick or long dowel; use this to draw on papers attached to a large wall.
Draw on objects or surfaces not usually used to draw on... these may be primed with tempera paint.
Stain plaster with tea, coffee or other natural materials... let "dirty" snow balls melt on drawing papers... draw or 2D over the dried color
Use a small picture frame, 8 x 10" (20 x 25.5 cm) or 10 x 14" (25.5 x 35.5 cm), stretch dampened paper by gluing the edges with Elmer's Glue; it will shrink and tighten when dried. Use this as a drawing or 2D design surface. The surface is "soft" and will not allow much pressure and for sure no erasing!
Draw on Mylar over an art history print with graphite to show the shapes, then another sheet of Mylar the directional lines, then the 3-5 local colors, and shading values
Take a page from the notebook for another class and draw over the notes
Every night for I week draw the same object in a different media on neutral ground paper
Stretch an old pair of jeans or flannel shirt. Prime with tempera if necessary, use this as a drawing surface for chunk charcoal or graphite sticks.
Use oil pastels to enhance enlarged line drawing. Select among the following color relationships to be a guide to using color for expression and emphasis.
Warm hues with cool accents
Cool hues with warm accents
Monochromatic
Complimentary
Analogous
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