How to Use a Sketchbook: What It’s Actually For

There’s a particular kind of sketchbook guilt I hear about a lot in my classes.

It usually sounds something like this: “I bought a beautiful sketchbook a few months ago. It’s still on the shelf. I haven’t touched it because I don’t want to ruin it.”

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone — and you’re not being silly. It’s one of the most common things adults tell me when they’re just starting out, and it makes complete sense when you understand why it happens.

But here’s what I want to gently challenge: that sketchbook on your shelf isn’t waiting for you to be good enough. It’s just waiting.

And I think most of us have got a slightly wrong idea about what it’s actually for.

The Sketchbook You’re Too Scared to Open

There’s a reason so many beautiful sketchbooks end up unopened.

We treat them as though they’re finished products — as though the pages inside need to look a certain way before they’re worth filling. We buy one with the best of intentions, then put it somewhere safe, waiting for the right moment, the right level of skill, the right idea.

I’ve done this myself. I had a large, expensive watercolour sketchbook that sat untouched for months because I didn’t want to “waste” the paper on something that wasn’t good enough.

And I see it in class all the time — students arriving with brand-new sketchbooks they’re nervous to mark. The first question is often: “What should I put on the first page?” Because the first mark feels permanent. Final. Judgeable.

But this idea — that a sketchbook should contain only finished, worthwhile things — is actually the opposite of what a sketchbook is for!

What a Sketchbook Is Not For

Let’s clear a few things up first...

A sketchbook is not:

•        a portfolio of your best work

•        a record of your progress to show other people

•        proof that you can draw

•        something that needs to be shared before you feel ready

When we treat it as any of these things, we put enormous pressure on every page. And that pressure is exactly what keeps it on the shelf.

What a Sketchbook Is Actually For

A sketchbook is a thinking space.

It’s somewhere for your observations, your experiments, your half-formed attempts. It’s for looking closely at something and trying to get it down on paper — not perfectly, just honestly. It’s for drawing the same mug four times and noticing how it gets a little easier each time.

Research into how we learn and think suggests that getting ideas out of your head and onto paper — sometimes called cognitive offloading — actually helps you process, notice, and understand things more deeply. [Check this Substack out] When you draw something rather than simply look at it, you’re not just recording what you see. You’re genuinely seeing it in a way you wouldn’t otherwise.

Psychologist Jackie Andrade’s research found that people who made marks on paper while taking in information retained significantly more than those who didn’t. Drawing is an act of attention — and attention is exactly what a sketchbook is designed to practise.

Artists throughout history have used sketchbooks this way — not as galleries, but as workspaces. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are full of crossed-out lines, abandoned ideas, and repeated attempts. Turner’s sketchbooks were crammed with quick studies made on the move. These weren’t pristine collections. They were thinking tools.

Your sketchbook is a thinking tool too. The messiness isn’t a problem — it’s the point.

How to Use a Sketchbook: The First Page Problem

There’s a specific anxiety that clusters around the first page of a new sketchbook, and it’s worth naming it directly.

The first page feels different from all the others. More visible. More committed. Once you mark it, the sketchbook is “used” — and somehow that feels like a decision you can’t undo.

One of the things I say to all my students is if they feel nervous about starting on the first page, just do this: turn the page. Leave the first page blank for now. Start somewhere that feels less exposed. You can always go back and fill them in later — or leave them empty. Neither matters.

What matters is that you start.

(If the fear of getting started more broadly is something you’re sitting with, [this post about why starting feels so overwhelming] is worth a read → [https://www.cygninicreative.com/post/how-to-start-drawing-as-a-beginner]).

What to Put in Your Sketchbook

Once you’ve let go of the idea that it needs to be impressive, a sketchbook opens up considerably.

Here are some things it can hold:

Observation drawings. Pick something nearby — a cup, a houseplant, your keys — and draw what you see. Don’t aim to make it good. Aim to really look. This is the foundation of everything. (→ [https://www.cygninicreative.com/post/the-one-thing-most-beginners-get-wrong-about-learning-to-draw-and-why-10-minutes-a-day-could-change)

Repeated attempts. Draw the same thing twice. Three times. Notice what shifts between each attempt. The third drawing is almost always more confident than the first — not because you’ve suddenly improved, but because your eye has had time to adjust.

Loose experiments. Try a new mark. A different pressure. What happens if you use the side of the pencil rather than the tip? These aren’t finished drawings — they’re investigations.

Quick notes. A colour you noticed. A shape that caught your eye on a walk. A texture you’d like to try. Sketchbooks can hold words just as easily as images.

Mistakes. This deserves its own line. Keep your mistakes. Don’t tear out the pages that didn’t work — they’re part of the record. In six months, they’ll show you exactly how far you’ve come. (→ [https://www.cygninicreative.com/post/why-being-a-beginner-is-harder-than-anyone-tells-you-and-what-actually-helps])

A Simple Way to Start Using Yours This Week

If your sketchbook is currently on a shelf somewhere, here’s a gentle invitation.

Take it out. Open it — not necessarily to the first page, just somewhere. Pick up whatever pencil is closest.

Set a timer for ten minutes. Choose one object nearby. Draw it slowly, looking more at the object than the page.

When the timer goes, close the sketchbook.

That’s it. You’ve used it. The ‘perfect first entry’ pressure is gone. And you might find it felt easier than you expected.

If You’d Like a Little More Structure

If you’d like a gentle framework to help you build a sketchbook practice from scratch, my free five-day course KickstART is built around exactly this idea — ten minutes a day, one small challenge at a time, with no prior experience needed.

By the end of the week, most people are genuinely surprised by what they’ve made.

→ I’d like to give KickstART a go: [Click here]

What’s in your sketchbook right now — or what’s keeping it empty? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Debbie x