Sketchbook Tour: 5 Sketchbooks From Real Artists, and What to Steal From Each

A sketchbook tour is a video where an artist flips through their sketchbook and talks you through what they drew and why. It is one of the simplest, most honest ways to learn, because you get to look over a real artist’s shoulder and see the messy version of their process: the studies, the false starts, the half ideas that never become finished work. Below are five sketchbook tours worth watching, what each one teaches, and how to turn what you see into your own practice.

As an art school, we are big believers in sketchbooks. We encourage every student to keep one, because doing so builds real skill, hones ideas before they reach a canvas, and leaves you with a visual journal of your own growth. The trouble is that a blank sketchbook is both freeing and a little terrifying. Most people are not sure what to fill it with. That is exactly where a sketchbook tour helps. Watching how other artists use their books takes the mystery out of it and gives you permission to start. If you want the deeper case for the habit itself, here is what is the purpose of an artist’s sketchbook.

What is a sketchbook tour, and why watch one?

A sketchbook tour is an artist walking you through the pages of their own sketchbook, page by page, explaining their thinking. You watch one to see the work behind the work. Finished art can be intimidating because it hides every rough step that came before it, and a tour pulls that curtain back. You see how a skilled artist breaks a subject down, how often they practice, and how comfortable they are making pages that are not pretty. That alone is worth more than most beginners realize, because it quietly gives you permission to be a beginner. The five tours that follow are some of our favorites, though this list is far from exhaustive.

What does Jeff Watts teach in his sketchbook tour?

Jeff Watts shows how loose, expressive sketching builds the skill to draw the human figure. One reason we love his work is that he embraces the loose, expressive approach we talk about so often: drawing freely to learn, rather than tightening up and chasing a perfect line. In his tour he walks through what sketchbooking means to him and the role it plays in developing his skills, and the most useful moments come when he talks about training himself to draw the human figure. Watch how much volume sits behind that ability. The figures that look effortless are the result of pages and pages of practice you are finally getting to see.

Watch it here: Jeff Watts sketchbook tour.

What to steal from it: dedicate a stretch of your sketchbook to one hard subject, the figure, hands, faces, and let the early pages be rough. The looseness is the point.

What can you learn from Kasey Golden’s sketchbook challenge?

Kasey Golden’s tour proves that excellence comes from sheer volume of practice. She took on the Sketchbook Slam Challenge, created by Holly Brown, which asks artists to fill a 600 page sketchbook in 30 days. That is cranking the dial all the way up. We love this one because it embraces a core idea we teach constantly: if you want to get genuinely good, you have to draw and paint a lot. Anyone who has done our 100 paintings in three days challenge will recognize the spirit immediately. Watching her fill that many pages reframes what practice looks like. It is not occasional and precious. It is constant and generous.

Watch it here: Kasey Golden Sketchbook Slam Challenge.

What to steal from it: set yourself a volume goal instead of a quality goal for one week. The number of pages is the assignment, not how good they are. If filling pages still feels hard to start, here are the benefits of drawing and doodling to lower the bar.

What does Alex Ross’s sketch process show about finished art?

Alex Ross shows that the finished image is never the whole story. We will admit this entry is a small cheat. Ross is one of the most famous comic artists of all time, known for a classical approach to drawing and painting comics, and he created some of the most iconic images of characters like Wonder Woman and Superman. Most people recognize his style instantly even if they cannot name him. The reason we included him is his book Rough Justice, which shows many of his comic pages in rough sketch form, before he paints them. New artists often believe the finished product is all there is. Seeing Ross’s uncolored pages corrects that. You get a real sense of the process behind the polish, and it makes the polish feel reachable.

Watch it here: Alex Ross Rough Justice walkthrough. You can also see more of his work at alexrossart.com.

What to steal from it: keep your rough stages. Do not erase or hide the underdrawing. The path from sketch to finish is the most instructive thing you own.

Why is a hundred year old sketchbook worth studying?

A hundred year old sketchbook is a window into a world before photography, and it shows what art preserved that nothing else could. Before photography, there was drawing and painting, and some of the best record we have of what daily life looked like long ago lives in art. Artists of the past and the sketchbooks they kept give us a glimpse of ordinary life that no camera was there to capture. The sketchbook featured in this tour is over a hundred years old and offers a quiet look into one man’s life. It is a good reminder that a sketchbook is not only practice. It is a record of being alive at a particular time, which is part of why the habit is worth keeping.

Watch it here: 100 year old sketchbook tour.

What to steal from it: treat your sketchbook as a visual journal, not just a training ground. Draw what you actually saw today. Years from now it will be a record of your life, and right now it builds your eye. If you need prompts to get going, here are winter drawing ideas for filling pages this season.

What makes Lena Danya’s sketchbook tour different?

Lena Danya’s tour shows how a sketchbook can double as a career, not just a practice. She is a well known artist on YouTube, well known enough that HBO once asked her to create a special piece for the final seasons of Game of Thrones, which gives her a certain cool factor. Beyond that, she paints beautifully and she is a strong example of an artist taking her career into her own hands. She runs a thriving channel where she shares techniques with her audience, and her sketchbook tour lets her engage with fans and create content at the same time. It is a glimpse of how a personal practice and a public art life can feed each other.

Watch it here: Lena Danya sketchbook tour. You can see more of her work at lenadanyastore.com.

What to steal from it: let your sketchbook be seen, at least sometimes. Sharing a page, even an imperfect one, builds the muscle of being an artist in public, and it connects you to people who are walking the same path.

How do you turn these tours into your own habit?

Use what you watched as fuel for your own pages, not as a standard to feel bad against. The common thread across all five tours is volume and honesty. None of these artists fill their books only with finished, frame worthy work. They draw constantly, they keep their rough stages, and they treat the book as a place to think rather than to perform. That is the whole lesson. So pick one tour that moved you, copy a single page from it to feel how it was built, then start filling your own book with the rule that it does not have to be good. If you are watching tours partly because your own practice feels stuck, art inspiration and how to overcome creative block both go further into getting unstuck.

A sketchbook is not a test you can fail. It is the most forgiving place you have to grow, and the artists in these tours are simply proof of what regular, unprecious practice builds over time. The fastest way to put this into motion with real structure is our free Two Week Challenge, a guided way to start making instead of only watching. And the rest of our creative block and identity collection is here whenever you want to keep going.

Frequently asked questions

What is a sketchbook tour?

A sketchbook tour is a video or walkthrough where an artist flips through the pages of their sketchbook and talks about what they drew and why. It lets you look over a working artist's shoulder and see the messy, unfinished, real version of their process, the studies and false starts that never make it into a finished piece. Tours are one of the easiest ways to learn what actually belongs in a sketchbook.

What should I put in my sketchbook?

Put in whatever helps you develop as an artist: observational studies, figure drawing, rough ideas for paintings, color tests, and small notes about what you see day to day. A sketchbook is a visual journal and a practice space, not a gallery, so it does not have to be pretty. The pressure to make every page beautiful is exactly what stops most people from using their book at all.

How do sketchbook tours help you improve?

Sketchbook tours show you the work behind the work. Instead of only seeing polished, finished art, you watch how a skilled artist thinks on the page, how they break a subject down, and how often they practice. That demystifies the process and gives you permission to make rough, imperfect pages, which is where real learning happens.

Do I have to keep a sketchbook to get better at art?

You do not strictly need one, but a sketchbook is one of the most useful habits an artist can build. It gives you a low pressure place to practice daily, hone ideas before you commit them to a canvas, and track your growth over time. Most working artists keep one because volume of practice, more than anything, is what builds skill.

How often should I draw in my sketchbook?

As often as you can, even if it is only a few minutes a day. Consistency matters far more than long sessions. A few quick studies most days will move you faster than one long marathon every few weeks, and the small daily habit is what keeps a sketchbook from sitting empty on a shelf.