Sketchbooking from Life

In week one, Catherine Bobkoski introduces foundational concepts for building a sketchbooking practice. You’ll begin with warm-up exercises focusing on CSI lines to develop clean linework. Catherine will then guide you through creating a value scale with watercolor pencils, followed by monochrome sketches of simple and complex objects to explore light and shadow on forms. By the end of this lesson, you’ll have a solid understanding of linework, values, and the introductory properties of watercolor, laying the groundwork for more advanced sketches.

In week two, you’ll deepen your understanding of watercolor techniques through exercises in paint-to-water ratios, brush control, and edge quality. You’ll create value swatches using the tea, coffee, milk, and butter analogies on dry and damp paper, observing differences in texture and movement. Catherine will guide you through creating a flat wash and smooth gradations before applying these techniques in watercolor value studies of a cube and a still-life cast, focusing on edge control and believable values.

In week three, Catherine introduces exercises designed to help you master color mixing and negative painting in watercolor. You’ll begin by creating color swatches and shapes with negative painting techniques. Catherine will then guide you through color wheels and practice matching color samples, before applying these methods to sketches of a teacup and sunflowers. By the end of the lesson, you’ll have a deeper understanding of creating shapes and color harmonies in your sketches.

In week four, Catherine guides you through painting flowers and plants, focusing on advanced watercolor techniques. You’ll begin with color experiments, glazing over flat swatches and using color charging to explore how paint interacts on damp surfaces. Next, you’ll paint a rose directly with your brush, defining shapes through negative space and experimenting with wet-into-wet, charging, and glazing techniques. Finally, you’ll create a study of lilies, experimenting with overlapping forms, textures, and highlights with white gouache.

In week five, Catherine will guide you through her landscape sketching process, from thumbnails to full-color sketches. You’ll start with thumbnail studies from photos, breaking each scene into visual planes. Then, Catherine will create variations using the rule of thirds, proportion analysis, and cropping to refine the compositions. Finally, you’ll create full-color watercolor paintings, incorporating techniques like dry brushing, gradations, and layering to design compelling and dynamic landscapes.

In week six, Catherine guides you through creating portrait studies using ballpoint pen and watercolor. You’ll begin with ballpoint pen thumbnails, emphasizing proportions, simplified shapes, and CSI linework. Then, you’ll create watercolor portrait sketches, combining the techniques and principles learned throughout the course to paint confident and expressive portraits.

In this bonus lesson, artist Sheldon Borenstein invites you into his studio for a sketchbook tour and assignment critique. With his signature humor and practical advice, Sheldon demonstrates his methods for sketching portraits while reinforcing the importance of sketchbooking as a lifestyle practice. By the end of this lesson, you will be inspired to put pencil and brush to paper wherever you are.