Sketchbook Prompts

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• What is an Art Portfolio?
• Sketchbook Prompts

Stuck in a creative block? Use the prompts below to help fill those blank pages.Choice of medium is up to you.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery,it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” -Michelangelo

Portraits From Observation

• Draw a family member or friend watching TV or reading a book (3/4 view portrait)

• Draw a self-portrait from your reflection in a doorknob

• Draw a self-portrait from your reflection in a spoon

• Draw a self-portrait from your reflection on a pot or pan

• Draw someone sitting in an odd pose

• Draw people you see in a coffee shop, in the airport, on the subway, etc.

• Draw a self-portrait with expression or mood

• Draw yourself drawing in front of a mirror

• Draw your hands holding something that you love

• Draw your pet sleeping

• Take a photo of someone underwater to draw

• Take a photo of someone blowing bubbles to draw

• Take a close up photo of someone eating to draw

• Take a photo of someone about to sneeze to draw

• Take a photo of someone looking at their reflection in a mirror to draw

• Take a photo of a family member at work to draw

• Take of photo of someone prepping a meal to draw

Still Life From Observation

• Draw an inventory of things in your purse or bag

• Draw an inventory of things in your bathroom cabinet

• Draw a pile of shoes

• Draw the things in your room that you love

• Draw things in your house that hold a special memory of someone

• Draw a pile of dishes

• Draw a pile of silverware

• Draw a crumpled bag

• Draw crumpled wrappers

• Draw a pile of candy

• Draw a pile of laundry

• Draw popped popcorn

• Draw a pile of sea shells

• Draw your keys

• Draw your favorite food with the wrapper/ packaging

• Draw your glasses/ sunglasses and what they reflect

• Draw a glass and what it reflects

• Draw a crushed soda can

Practicing Perspective Drawing from Observation

• Draw what you see inside your closet

• Draw a hallway in your house

• Draw a corner of your house

• Draw the inside of your fridge

• Draw your legs and feet while standing, looking down

• Draw your legs and feet while sitting at the table, looking down

• Draw a stack of chairs

• Draw a house of cards

• Draw what you see outside your bedroom window

• Draw an interior space opening to an exterior view (ex. doorway)

• Draw a pile of your favorite books

• Draw a glass cup full of ice cubes

• Draw a stack of boxes

• Draw the inside of your car

• Go to a park and draw what you see

• Take a photos walking around your neighborhood to draw

• Set a timer on your phone for 5-15min. and go for a walk. When the timer goes off stop where you are at and take pictures of what is around you to draw.

Conceptual Drawing Ideas The following prompts are taken from The Sketchbook Project themes

• A day in the life of . . .

• A story worth telling

• Ahhh! Monster!

• Along the line

• And suddenly . . .

• Below the surface

• Breakfast, lunch, dinner

• Capes and masks

• Characters

• City lights

• Comings and goings

• Color spectrum

• Diagrams

• Dwellings

• Familiar friends

• From here to there

• Great hopes

• Guidebook to the future

• Heros and villains

• Home

• How to

• Jackets, blankets, and sheets

• Lights in the distance

• Lines and grids

• Neighborhood characters

• Parts of the whole

• Pockets

• Repeat pattern

• Sandwiches

• Science project gone wrong

• Signs and symbols

• Slow motion

• Super clothes on everyday people

• The great adventures of . . .

• The view from up here

• The woods

• Thread and surface

• Time traveler

• Travelogue

• Uncharted waters

• Upside down

• Wanderer

• Waterslides I never rode

• Writing on the wall