A beginner's guide to sketchbooks and paper with lotsa juicy info about paper types, texture, weight, archivability and most importantly, how to avoid the common mental pitfall of sketchbooking. I'll get you started on the right path with sketchbooks so you can focus on improving your drawing skills. And you can treat this lesson as a resource you can come back to in the future when you need to refresh your memory of drawing paper.
Next week we’ll have a premium-only comprehensive beginners guide to Pencils, Erasers, and Sharpeners!
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Crimson The Kitsune
2mo
23/3/2023
taking the time and opportunity to show off the results of this video:
https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/ultimate-guide-to-sketchbooks-and-paper/notes
this helped a LOT with my mental state and also figured out what i could/needed to do when buying/starting on a New Sketchbook.
Bence
3mo
I made a new sketchbook today, the previous one was full. A4 size (Fabriano 120 g, A3 sketch sheets folded in half), own binding, 160 pages in total. It can be opened completely flat, so A3-sized drawings are also possible.
scott ford
3mo
Bence love this idea how do you like Fabriano paper ?
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Gaurav Seth
4mo
Don't know why i did it

Gaurav Seth
4mo
It is bad,shaky lines
But i enjoyed it

creativsock
4mo
Just finished with my pear and- it was fun! It didn’t take too long for me, and it’s a little bit off length wise, but, as a young artist, it came out better than I expected it would

Karen Paraskevakos
5mo
Many useful comments throughout this section. I tend to want to be a perfectionist. I need to slow down and learn to enjoy the process and realize sketching is essential and not meant to be perfect. This will be hard to overcome but is probably why I abandon my drawings so much.
Juan de Garcia
5mo
Same Here.
Juice
5mo
I play around with my new toned sketch paper and my new mechanical pencils with 2mm led. I usually sketch on white sketchpaper with a blue colerase pencil. So this is new and different . When I saw prokos DK I just wanted to draw him as well.
creativedragonfly77
5mo
I care for someone who is housebound and have to buy art materials on line. My question is if you try a new sketchbook and for whatever reason it doesn't feel right, is it like a book that you plough through to the end or is it ok to abandon it? I know there are no right and wrongs per se. Just curious.
Juice
5mo
I plough through sketchbooks even if its not my favorite type of paper. Sketchbook is for training so I use it to get hourse of drawing and buy something else next time. But drawing paper for example marker paper that doesnt work well with my material, i abandon. Or can be used for sketch or scribbles instead
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Eric A
5mo
Trying to work from physical objects (Proko Skull) instead of photos.
Joel Room
5mo
Toned paper is so much fun!

mikriarktos
5mo
Just playing around and getting used to my new material
Katie
5mo
I just found this (site/videos/whole thing) today, and joined today too! I am so excited to try this course! I was curious if Stan / Proko had considered making the lesson notes a pdf that we could download...? Not a need, just a thought.

Rui Pedro
5mo
It’s already available, when you’re watching a video there’s always three tabs, Comments / Lesson Notes / Downloads, go to downloads to get the notes as TxT file
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yuzanyoshida
5mo
Trying my best to keep myself accountable and at least draw one thing everyday. Today I sketched my cat, a lot of this is fast and loose like my other sketches. However I realized I don’t know what I do with fur, I love the left side of his face came out but everything else about this sketch I hate. Again I wasn’t trying to create a final product. I’m just trying to put my miles in.

Armando Mora
5mo
very cute regardless!
Samantha Maggard
5mo
I write down on my dry erase board my goals for drawing that day. Right now I am focusing in doing 2 portrait lay ins (I will stick with lay ins only for a couple months or more) and 2 assignments from drawbox. I will continue to do these and the projects that proko puts out. It helps to set a goal, write it down and try to achieve it for that day.
Brad
5mo
I got my sketch book! Previously when drawing I would keep my pinky barely touching the desk to keep a consistent pencil angle. When I get to the edge of the page it is pretty annoying being an inch above my desk. Am I supposed to be able to draw with a hovering hand? If not, is there anyhting wrong with tearing the sketch book apart to only work on a single page at a time?
Samantha Maggard
5mo
I pull the paper out of my sketchbook too.

pablourbina
5mo
These are part of my daily "sketches". I've been doing at least 1 page a day for the last several months. No structure so far just random sketches. Hopefully, I'll get some structure out of this course.
yuzanyoshida
5mo
Your hands are soooo cool,I am also loving the beards!!! I would love to get to where you are at some point!

David Warrington
5mo
Quote: "Next week we’ll have a premium-only comprehensive beginners guide to Pencils, Erasers, and Sharpeners!"
Stan, not sure I have your system figured out yet, but it's next week and I have not received the 'premium-only' guide you refer to. I did pay for the premium package; am I not on the list?
Justice Mosso
5mo
The last lesson was posted 6 days ago so I am assuming the next one will be posted tomorrow. If not, they'll come out at some point :)
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Stephen Bracken
5mo
Hi David,
Hopefully this will take you to the lesson: https://www.proko.com/course-lesson/project-get-your-tools-and-start-playing/notes
If this is what you are looking for it is located at https://www.proko.com/classroom/courses
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Nicolas Malloy
5mo
Egg practice
Though I am drawing digitally, I work hard to restrict my options so that I don't hurt my learning progression. I disabled my undo shortcut, use a simple brush tool (pencil), and I try not to change the zoom level while drawing. I am not sure if these limitations are enough to overcome the benefits of using pencil and paper to improve drawing skills. I hope so. I suppose I can compare an egg drawing I do on paper with this digital drawing, though I am not sure that is a valid skill test.
Any thoughts?
Justice Mosso
5mo
That egg legs amazing! Looks thoroughly sketched! I think it just comes down to if you like it, because I definitely think it looks good.
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eshields
5mo
That's a great idea. I'm doing mine digitally, as well as I can't grapple with so much wasted paper while I work through my chicken scratch! :D
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Melissa Moraitis
5mo
Nothing is quite like traditional/tactile methods imo. However, I love also doing digital works sometimes. Sounds like you're on the right track with mimicking traditional ways as much as possible, I think it's great. Even your egg looks very sketchy. We don't know what the whole course is, so I can't imagine there being a reason that you HAVE to use pencil and paper. See how it goes, you can always change it if you like. You are still learning the same things, have fun with it! :)
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Armando Mora
5mo
Some quick dino sketches! Trying to get comfortable with the supplies I bought.
yuzanyoshida
5mo
I love your Dino’s! I have nothing productive to add to this conversation.
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Abby D
5mo
These look great -- love your use of line work and markers. Great depth.
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Rui Pedro
5mo
I’ll also try some dino doodles, these are amazing 😄
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J B
5mo
Better late than never, I suppose… here is my pear, done in Procreate:

Rui Pedro
5mo
I think Stan, Sir, will forgive me for using his video thumbnail as inspiration for some doodling around 😅

Clive
5mo
Good enough to be used in one of the videos I think. A companion for Skelly? I especially like the hair which gives Sir a kind of devilish look :)
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About instructor
Founder of Proko, artist and teacher of drawing, painting, and anatomy. I try to make my lessons fun and ultra packed with information.