Ultimate Guide to Sketchbooks and Paper

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

inDrawing Basics

107K

Mark as Completed

Comments 144

Lesson Notes

Downloads 5

Ultimate Guide to Sketchbooks and Paper

Lesson by

Stan Prokopenko

in Drawing Basics

107K

Mark as Completed

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!

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! :)