Below is a list of various topics/themes/prompts/medium explorations to try out in your sketchbook.
- Every Day Matters Challenges by Danny Gregory, Over 300 mini assignments for sketchbooking: https://dannygregorysblog.com/community/edm-challenges/, such as:
- 128 – Draw a view through a doorway from one interior room to another.
- 122 – Draw something where shade is a prominent part of the subject
- 14 – Draw what you see in the morning when you get up
- 216 – Draw your inner critic
- 311 – Draw something that you need two of to make a set
- 232 – Draw the last thing you bought
- Draw a tree:
- …inside a bounding box, drawing the negative spaces between the branches/leaves and coloring in the negative space.
- …then fill it out as your family tree.
- …then fill it out as your friend tree/circle.
- …then use it to describe your thought process on a topic of your choice.
- Create a visual recipe by drawing how to make your favorite food without the use of words.
- Come up with a familiar subject/everyday item. In 3 stages, abstract this to create an unrecognizable object/image.
- Trace the outline of your hand:
- ….then draw in all the features and wrinkles using colored pencil and/or pen.
- (or your friends’ hands)…and write how you met them/where they are from/etc around or inside the hand.
- Google your least favorite food. Write down its nutrition content/ingredients/origin and describe its flavor, texture, etc. with small, diagrammatic drawings to illustrate.
- Draw a letter from your favorite typeface. Label the parts of the letterform.
- Go to the 3rd floor of the library and pick out a random book. Draw something related to what is on page 5, 37, or 59. If it is just text, read the text and sketch what it reminds you of.
- Draw your teeth in 3 different ways, mediums, or techniques.
- Draw a tattoo or clothing design you wish you had.
- Do rubbings of 3 different textures using various colored pencils/crayons. Then use black pencil or ink to turn one into a pattern by emphasizing certain areas.
- Search the digital library at The Sketchbook Project for a keyword(s) that come to mind, then do your own drawings based on the results. https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library
- Go watch the NASA live stream views or still image gallery and do drawings based on what you see. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream OR https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html