Your sketchbook shows your thought process
An art school portfolio benefits a lot from having a slide to show an image or two of a sketchbook spread.
The advantage of showing a sketchbook spread is that it’s an opportunity for you to demonstrate your thinking, sketching, and brainstorming process in it’s raw, unedited form.
![Sketchbook banner](jpg/img_0225-2.jpg)
A sketchbook should be a place where literally anything can happen, where you can feel free to make that space your own.
Every artist has their own way of keeping a sketchbook, watch our sketchbook videos to see all of the diverse ways that artists work with their sketchbooks. Then figure out what is going to work for you!
![Sketching Architecture: Jerónimos Monastery](jpg/img_0471.jpg)
A sketchbook is where everything begins
A sketchbook is one of the most important tools that an artist has, it’s one that you should be carrying with you all day, every day. If you don’t have a regular sketchbook practice, it’s time to run to the store and get a sketchbook.
![Lotus fold artist bookbinding banner](jpg/lotus-meandering_007.jpg)
Or better yet, make your own sketchbook using our Lotus fold or Coptic Stitch tutorials!
Choosing your own paper for the interior of your book, the color of the string, the book cover materials, that entire process of building your own sketchbook from scratch is fun and super rewarding.
![Artist book banner coptic bookbinding](jpg/book2.jpg)
10 minutes here, 15 minutes there, it all adds up!
If you truly are serious about being an artist, maintaining a lively sketchbook practice should be a given, the absolute bare minimum that any artist should be engaging with at all times.
![Sketchbook Prompts, banner](jpg/img_0740.jpg)
A quick sketch here, jotting down an idea there, and you’ll notice very fast how critical your sketchbook will become to your artistic thinking process.
Think about your sketchbook as the primordial soup of your artistic practice, it’s where ideas begin, grow, and mature.
What should I draw in my sketchbook?
If you don’t know where to get started, check out our sketchbook section where we provide many prompts you can use.