What do you think?
Rate this book
Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators, and Creatives
Now published in paperback, Sketchbooks provides a revealing glimpse into the inner workings and private inspiration of creatives from the worlds of advertising, design, graphic design, fashion design, art, street art, and illustration. The material is complemented by interviews in which artists explain how they use their sketchbooks and how they relate to finished works. These, along with the sketchbooks themselves, give readers a direct and unmediated insight into the process of research and creation.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2009
3 people are currently reading
242 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
December 7, 2011
This book inspired me to start a proper sketchbook. It freed my mind of ridiculous hangups I had and has made me realize that, in a since, it's a type of diary...good and bad. I found one that I love. The binding folds out flat and it's a joy to draw in.
March 4, 2018
Illustrators, artists, and anyone working with their sketchbooks are tuned in to their observation and sensory at an intuitively sharper radar. Incisive snapshots, quotes, thought spurs, lightbulb moments, eavesdropping, making sense and linking far-fetched logic.
Notes:
“For me sketchbook is like a kind of a portable laboratory, a space to mark with references, to capture the immediate, to experiment; a memory warehouse to which I can return whenever I am searching for an idea or who I simply want to remember an instant, a time in the past.”
Pep Carrio
“My sketchbooks allow me to be free, to express myself without boundaries. In a way my sketchbooks are far removed fro the reality as everything can be included and quality is not important.”
“Keeping sketchbooks helps me to empty my brain, while making connections between ideas without judgement. Once something is in my sketchbook I can forget about it, and then find it later. I use my sketchbooks as tools for recording my moods and thoughts.”
Frédŕique Double
“For me sketchbooks have no filters, everything goes in.”
Andrea Dezso
“Everything I have experienced goes into my sketchbooks, the things I have seen, eaten, heard, felt and, perhaps most importantly, they are the perfect place to document my strange daydreams”
Fumie Kamijo: lots of inked rabbits
“A sketchbook is like a valve, a pressure release system. Instead of weighing things up in my head, I give them a place in my sketchbook. Sketches are like embryos, and as soon as they have been realised, they are born and start to live”
Daniel Kluge
“I often make lists of words - a dynamic list of 20 words can equal 2,000 words of prose. They act as a catalyst to one’s thoughts, a provocation of one another, if you like, notes of notes.
Peter Saville
“I think keeping a sketchbook is a good way of teaching yourself how to edit well - you fine-tune your ability to know exactly what to keep and what to discard. You realise that what you leave out is as important as what you put in.”
Holly Wales: collages configuration of shapes, colours and spaces, collecting materials from old books in libraries and charity shops and translate new ways of ‘engineering’ images.
Holly Wales
"Sketchbooks are incubator space, a free and non-judgemental place to make mistakes and try things out”
Johnny Hardstaff
Highlight sketchbooks pages:
- Hendrik & Joakim Drescher: sketches, figurines, , on graph paper,
- Ed Fella: mixed media, postcards, collage, snippets, ticket stubs, found paper.
- Isidro Ferrer: layers, papers, sketches, travels observation
- Hiro Kurata: beautiful scribbles. “It is interesting when you start to realise that your lines are telling you something. When I am fed up or, by contrast, feeling free, my lines are very different. When I feel calm and aware of what’s going on around me, the lines I create are calm and confident, the rhythm of my breathing and the stroke of my hand link together"
Notes:
“For me sketchbook is like a kind of a portable laboratory, a space to mark with references, to capture the immediate, to experiment; a memory warehouse to which I can return whenever I am searching for an idea or who I simply want to remember an instant, a time in the past.”
Pep Carrio
“My sketchbooks allow me to be free, to express myself without boundaries. In a way my sketchbooks are far removed fro the reality as everything can be included and quality is not important.”
“Keeping sketchbooks helps me to empty my brain, while making connections between ideas without judgement. Once something is in my sketchbook I can forget about it, and then find it later. I use my sketchbooks as tools for recording my moods and thoughts.”
Frédŕique Double
“For me sketchbooks have no filters, everything goes in.”
Andrea Dezso
“Everything I have experienced goes into my sketchbooks, the things I have seen, eaten, heard, felt and, perhaps most importantly, they are the perfect place to document my strange daydreams”
Fumie Kamijo: lots of inked rabbits
“A sketchbook is like a valve, a pressure release system. Instead of weighing things up in my head, I give them a place in my sketchbook. Sketches are like embryos, and as soon as they have been realised, they are born and start to live”
Daniel Kluge
“I often make lists of words - a dynamic list of 20 words can equal 2,000 words of prose. They act as a catalyst to one’s thoughts, a provocation of one another, if you like, notes of notes.
Peter Saville
“I think keeping a sketchbook is a good way of teaching yourself how to edit well - you fine-tune your ability to know exactly what to keep and what to discard. You realise that what you leave out is as important as what you put in.”
Holly Wales: collages configuration of shapes, colours and spaces, collecting materials from old books in libraries and charity shops and translate new ways of ‘engineering’ images.
Holly Wales
"Sketchbooks are incubator space, a free and non-judgemental place to make mistakes and try things out”
Johnny Hardstaff
Highlight sketchbooks pages:
- Hendrik & Joakim Drescher: sketches, figurines, , on graph paper,
- Ed Fella: mixed media, postcards, collage, snippets, ticket stubs, found paper.
- Isidro Ferrer: layers, papers, sketches, travels observation
- Hiro Kurata: beautiful scribbles. “It is interesting when you start to realise that your lines are telling you something. When I am fed up or, by contrast, feeling free, my lines are very different. When I feel calm and aware of what’s going on around me, the lines I create are calm and confident, the rhythm of my breathing and the stroke of my hand link together"
August 30, 2024
"Sketchbooks" is exactly what its title say it is--a collection of pages from artists' and designers' sketchbooks, along with a one page commentary by each artist.
As is to be expected, there is a wide range of approaches to keeping sketchbooks--some I liked a lot, and some not at all. But I enjoyed looking at them, and the book left me with a lot of ideas.
Isidno Ferrer: "The full ones are empty of space and the empty ones are full of possibilities."
Daniel Kluge: "The process of learning to look can make the simplest thing quite amazing and beautiful."
Seb Jarnot:
"I often don't remember the exact moment I made the drawings--sometimes I have the impression that they are somebody else's drawings, and that I receive them as messages".
I can identify with that.
As is to be expected, there is a wide range of approaches to keeping sketchbooks--some I liked a lot, and some not at all. But I enjoyed looking at them, and the book left me with a lot of ideas.
Isidno Ferrer: "The full ones are empty of space and the empty ones are full of possibilities."
Daniel Kluge: "The process of learning to look can make the simplest thing quite amazing and beautiful."
Seb Jarnot:
"I often don't remember the exact moment I made the drawings--sometimes I have the impression that they are somebody else's drawings, and that I receive them as messages".
I can identify with that.
July 12, 2019
I like eavesdropping on other people's sketchbooks. Sometimes I'm inspired, sometimes I'm jealous, sometimes I'm underwhelmed, but it's a wonderful way of spying on the creative processes of others. This is a nicely presented collection, but sometimes I felt like it would be nice to go deeper with a smaller number of artists rather than 3-4 pages from a wide number. Oh well.
January 29, 2024
I read this some time back and just picked it up again and think I will for a very long time. I love this book so much and it's so inspirational to see people use their art to express themselves through the use of quite simply, sketchbooks. It's also so powerful, it takes a lot to show your art, especially inside our sketchbooks. An easy 5 star read and highly recommend to any artist.
Read
April 13, 2025love dat hier een boek over bestaat, maar girl idc dat deze kunstenaars voor Coca-Cola en Nike hebben gewerkt,, hun schetsboek spread selectie is zo kaal en karig... de gemiddelde Youtube schetsboek tour van een middelbare scholier is prikkelender
August 28, 2021
An inspiring book about the sketchbook for any visual artist!
December 18, 2021
Some sketchbooks are incredibly cool!!
October 23, 2022
It's quite liberating creatively to see this stuff. Although a couple of pages isn't quite enough to get into each artist's work. The cover design by New Zealander Sarah Maxey is superb.
April 3, 2024
Chidl tmb jsjajajs. Descubrí una artista egresada de laUniversity of Brighton
April 7, 2014
GLIMPSE INSIDE THE SKETCHBOOKS OF ARTISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
A sketchbook is an artist’s diary. Some are neat and orderly, some are peppered with shopping lists and coffee stains, some are filled with rough experiments, and many reflect the artist’s most inner thoughts and emotions. Sketchbooks gives us a glimpse into 41 different sketchbooks that belong to artists, illustrators and fashion designers from around the world. Author Richard Brereton also interviews each sketcher on what keeping a sketchbook means to them. It’s fascinating to see how varied each sketchbook is in both its tone and style. Sketchbooks left me feeling creatively inspired and motivated to get back into my own journals.
– Carla Sinclair
Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives
$5 Buy a copy on Amazon
A sketchbook is an artist’s diary. Some are neat and orderly, some are peppered with shopping lists and coffee stains, some are filled with rough experiments, and many reflect the artist’s most inner thoughts and emotions. Sketchbooks gives us a glimpse into 41 different sketchbooks that belong to artists, illustrators and fashion designers from around the world. Author Richard Brereton also interviews each sketcher on what keeping a sketchbook means to them. It’s fascinating to see how varied each sketchbook is in both its tone and style. Sketchbooks left me feeling creatively inspired and motivated to get back into my own journals.
– Carla Sinclair
Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives
$5 Buy a copy on Amazon
October 20, 2022
All united in sketchbooks.
... Except that like only 20% of artists in this work are woman artists.
Still some good visual inspiration here.
... Except that like only 20% of artists in this work are woman artists.
Still some good visual inspiration here.
December 19, 2012
It was really interesting to read how the different artists use their sketch books. Some used them as diaries, some as a repository for everything including to-do lists and phone numbers. Some worked out commissioned works and some only wanted to use them for "good" work and art. It was also nice to see that there were a lot of pages in there that I didn't find very interesting or "good". It seems like it might take some of the pressure off of myself when working on the new sketchbook project.
February 12, 2010
An inspiring and sometimes bewildering glimpse into the pages of selected professionals' sketchbooks. Each artist's short introduction to their work reveals the varied approaches to the idea of sketching and the meanings applied to it. A great collection.
August 8, 2012
An insight into excerpts from sketchbooks of some people who certainly don’t draw any better than I do, but who, for the most part belong to the 30-something generation AND, therefore, are “in”…while I am not.
January 17, 2012
I love looking at people's sketchbooks. This is a particularly good collection.
December 5, 2012
As sketchbook collections go, this is a particularly well-curated one with a no-nonsense format. The artist excerpts are insightful and focused.
February 16, 2014
Very Cool!
March 15, 2014
A fascinating insight into the creative mind and the different ways that sketch books are kept.
May 13, 2014
An awesome and diverse collection of artist's sketchbooks. Includes Oliver Jeffers and John Hendrix - whose children's book illustrations I admire.
September 5, 2016
I love looking at other peoples sketch books. This gave a peek into sketchbooks and why the artists keep them. I only wish there were more!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews