"You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh."

- John Singer Sargent

Many students and aspiring artists want to know how to improve their drawing skills. The answer of course is practice, and a great way to practice is to keep a sketchbook, but it doesn't have to just be an academic exercise....

The artist's sketchbook is a time honored tradition from the days of DaVinci to the painters, illustrators and designers of today.  It can be a personal journal, a notebook on current or upcoming projects or a random collection of drawings, inspiration and ideas. Fill it with studies for paintings or drawings from observation, imagination or memory. Collect photos, scraps and tidbits from newspapers or magazines  or found objects that inspire you. Use it to gather your thoughts or improve your techniques.

A tool of observation or invention, the sketchbook can be the jumping off point for a project or a finished work of art (or anywhere in between). Regardless of its final goal, the sketchbook is something every artist should keep close at hand in the studio or on the road.

Spotlight Artist Kurt Hollomon's Sketchbook

Drawing is the backbone of almost every art discipline and a fundamental form of communication. This makes the ability to translate what the eye sees onto paper a valuable skill for all artists. Before one can toss aside convention and explore the abstract and the fantastic the original form and realistic representation must be understood.

Observational drawing is the way to exercise the connection between what the eyes see and what ends up on paper or canvas. It requires focus as well as attention to detail and the ability to find relationships. The relationship of one object to another and the relationship of those objects in space. The practice of observational drawing will improve concentration, drawing skill and your overall ability to see the world around you.

Observational drawing can include cityscapes, landscapes, a small or large still life, friends and family, interiors or exteriors... Pretty much anything that you can find to look at and draw. Here are a few ideas:

• On nice days take an hour to do a drawing in your local park or at the zoo.
• Sit in front of a mirror or other reflective surface and create a self portrait.
• Choose a few objects that you feel represent you and set up a still life.
• Hold a small object in your hand and spend 10 minutes sketching it.
• Have a friend or family member pose for a portrait.

Remember to keep looking back and forth from your drawing to your reference. You should spend almost as much time observing and evaluating as you are making marks on your page.

Good luck and keep drawing!

"Habitual sketchbook practitioner- my work employs the direct observational drawing style that gives my illustrations a sense of reality tempered with a quirky, spirited line." - Kurt Hollomon

Former Mt. Rainier climbing guide and Portland native Kurt D. Hollomon has been art director, designer and now illustrator as well as teacher of drawing and illustration at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.

Kurt is a crafter of images; drawings, maps and sketchbook journals documenting everyday life with direct observational drawing. His use of type and color and his drawing collages are key identifiers to his current working method. Kurt fills his sketchbooks with purposeful compositions of pen drawings accented with chalk pastels, watercolor paintings and hand drawn typography.

You can see more of Kurt's sketchbooks and illustrations here.