I don’t know about you, but I love getting a peek at artist’s sketchbooks and the sketchbook materials they use.

For the last few months I’ve been making a conscious effort to use my sketchbook more regularly, most of this inspiration has come from Helen Wells. If you ever need a push or motivation to start a regular sketchbook practice, watch a few videos from Helen Wells and I promise you will be getting out your art materials in no time!

At the moment I actually have three sketchbooks I work in: they are all A5 in size, one is a watercolour sketchbook that I do my longer sketches in, the other two are cheaper blank notebooks that are for very quick and fun art play.

In this blog post I’m going to share some sketches from my watercolour sketchbook and a list of the art materials I use for sketching.

My watercolour sketchbook is an A5 soft cover watercolour sketchbook from Winsor and Newton. I have used this type of sketchbook for a couple of years now, it is a great size, the paper is nice and thick so can handle lots of paint, and they are inexpensive.

I’ve been playing with two main styles in my sketchbook:

Watercolour shell illustrations

First is watercolour shell illustrations. What I do is choose a shell during the day and set up my sketchbook with the shell and paints. After my daughter is in bed, I firstly use a Polychromos coloured pencil to do a quick sketch of the outline and main features.

I then use Winsor and Newton professional pan paints to paint the shell, I try not to be too fussy here and focus on the colours and shading.

Once the paint is dry, I use a combination of black fineliner, 4H pencil, Polychromos coloured pencils, and a white gel pen to add any extra details.

All up I try not to spend more than 20-30 minutes on each shell.

Verdict: I can sometimes spend hours trying to do a perfect shell illustration. Limiting myself to a shorter timeframe and also sketching straight into my book has made me loosen up a bit and I quite like the more sketchy/arty look of these illustrations. This is now my go-to sketchbook activity when I’m unsure what to do.

Paint swatch sketch

The second style I’ve been playing with has been influenced by both Ohn Mar Win and Helen Wells, where you ‘prepare’ sketchbook pages with random swatches of paint or ink, and then use these as a base to draw or paint over.

I quite like this style as it is a great way for me to use up extra paint, and having a starting point on the sketchbook page can help overcome any ‘blank page overwhelm’. Also it is great for playing with mixed media and working out what can be used together.

I have created sketchbook swatches with watercolours, ink, and more recently acrylic paint.

I do the swatches during the day, usually when I have finished another artwork and have paint left over, I quickly grab a brush and pretty much just wipe the paint into my sketchbook without thinking too much about what it looks like.

Once the swatch is dry I use a combination of Polychromos pencils, Staedtler Textsurfer Dry Highlighter Pencils, Stabilo fine tip pens, Posca paint pens, blue highlighter, black fine liners, white gel pen, and white ink. Sometimes I use a photo for reference for the drawing I do over the swatch, otherwise I just draw what I feel suits the page.

Verdict: this style is just plain fun – it feels much more hands on when creating the swatches, your sketchbook is already infused with colour and movement and texture, and it is really enjoyable to create a visually-appealing sketch of something that may actually look more boring with a plain background! I definitely want to explore this style more and use it to inspire some travel illustration for an upcoming trip.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post about my sketchbook materials and it has inspired you to play in your own sketchbook! In my next post I’ll share my favourite art materials with you ✨