Review: Sketchbooks: Drawing the Everyday by Paul Heaston (Craftsy course)

Right after completing Shari Blaukopf's watercolour sketching course, I bought another video tutorial on Craftsy which is by Paul Heaston.

Paul Heaston is an artist, sculptor and teacher who's really good with pen and ink art. He has a blog that I follow and that's how I got to know of his work.

He has recently released a video tutorial on Craftsy that talks about sketchbooks and sketching. It's called Sketchbooks: Drawing the Everyday and it's created for beginners who want to get into the habit of sketching. By the way, he also has a more advanced course called Pen & Ink Essentials for those already sketching but want to learn more specifically about pen and ink art.

The official retail price for Sketchbooks: Drawing the Everyday is USD $29.99. It's discounted occasionally and you should take advantage of the discounts whenever they appear because this video tutorial is worth the money.

The whole course runs for 160 minutes and it's split into 7 lessons, namely:

• Choosing & Using Sketchbooks
• Sketching with Pencil
• Pen & Ink, Light & Shadow
• Color Your World With Watercolors
• Sketching on Location
• Composing in the Field
• Location Sketching Process

It's a very accessible beginners course for anyone who wants to get started.

In the first lesson, Paul Heaston shows off the numerous sketchbooks he has filled over the years. Many of the incredible pen and ink sketches he has posted on his blog. There's one particular multi-fold sketch that took him weeks to complete! So passionate! The first lesson should probably be enough to inspire you to pick up sketching.

The lessons then move on to talk about the materials and then dive straight into the demonstrations. The drawing materials are actually just the pencil, pen and watercolour. Those are tools you can find easily. There are lots of drawing tips and techniques shared. The instructions are concise and clear, easy to follow along. The tone of the course is very encouraging. I've watched the videos over several days and really enjoyed them.

The first few lessons focus on the basic drawing techniques. The latter lessons build on the earlier lessons and talks about outdoor drawing techniques. You'll know basic composition, like how to fit your drawing onto your page, things to look out for when drawing outdoors, such as cars that may move and block you (happened to me lots of time) and what you should do, and many other practical tips.

At the end of each lesson are some homework that you can do and post on the Craftsy platform. You can get to see the works of other students as well. Questions can be asked too on Craftsy and Paul replies quite promptly.

Overall, I would highly recommend this course for beginners. It's educational and you'll find out why sketching so wonderful and enjoyable.

More than 5,000 students have already enrolled at the time of this writing. Impressive.

Check out more reviews from other students and enroll for Sketchbooks: Drawing the Everyday on Craftsy.

Disclosure: This course was provided to me by Craftsy for review purposes. You can support Parka Blogs by using the affiliate links as I get a little commission from each sale. :-)