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Sketch: A Project Guide to Drawing with Confidence
An inspiring and practical guide to give you the confidence to draw like you.
Drawing helps you see. The more you draw, the more you look, and the more your world opens up.
Many of us feel we can't draw even though as children we drew unselfconsciously. Artist Sam Marshall believes we are all inherently creative and through her book she invites you into a welcoming workshop where you will develop techniques to help you maintain a regular drawing practice. This is not a 'how to draw' book but an encouraging project guide that will support you to sketch and be creative in your own way.
The book starts with a series of warm-up exercises and then leads into a set of challenges divided into chapters that increase in complexity from drawing at home and in green spaces to drawing from paintings. It concludes with a series of more advanced exercises including collage as a means of drawing and working on larger imaginative pieces.
Sam suggests the use of a variety of materials including coloured pencils, felt tips, inks and marker pens. For each exercise she presents her own drawings and observations as well as those from a select group of her students to show that everyone's mark making is unique.
This is an inspirational guide that will change the way you think and feel about drawing. It will help you to discover the joy of drawing in a sketchbook as a way of looking, reflecting and relaxing.
Drawing helps you see. The more you draw, the more you look, and the more your world opens up.
Many of us feel we can't draw even though as children we drew unselfconsciously. Artist Sam Marshall believes we are all inherently creative and through her book she invites you into a welcoming workshop where you will develop techniques to help you maintain a regular drawing practice. This is not a 'how to draw' book but an encouraging project guide that will support you to sketch and be creative in your own way.
The book starts with a series of warm-up exercises and then leads into a set of challenges divided into chapters that increase in complexity from drawing at home and in green spaces to drawing from paintings. It concludes with a series of more advanced exercises including collage as a means of drawing and working on larger imaginative pieces.
Sam suggests the use of a variety of materials including coloured pencils, felt tips, inks and marker pens. For each exercise she presents her own drawings and observations as well as those from a select group of her students to show that everyone's mark making is unique.
This is an inspirational guide that will change the way you think and feel about drawing. It will help you to discover the joy of drawing in a sketchbook as a way of looking, reflecting and relaxing.
- GenresArt
208 pages, Paperback
Published March 17, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 13, 2026
Sometimes, a book comes along that is exactly what you need exactly when you need it. That's this book for me. :)
From the exercises and the uplifting and can-do tone, to the cool format with 12 artists in the Sketch Squad sharing their own responses to each exercise and the author's generosity in sharing her work on the cover and throughout the book, this drawing guide encourages and meets you where you are in your mark-making journey.
It's important to know that this is an ideas, big-picture type of art guide and not a step-by-step drawing how-to guide.
I found the Drawing from paintings (chapter 13) and Personal projects (chapter 16) sections to be especially insightful and fun to read. I also loved the Drawing your dream (in Experimental drawing, chapter 15) and Dealing with comparison and envy (chapter 11).
This is a book jam-packed with excellent ideas and also includes wonderful Resources and Further reading recommendations. I'll keep this one handy on the shelf. I look forward to continued drawing and to getting my hands on some Caran d'Ache pencils in the future.
From the exercises and the uplifting and can-do tone, to the cool format with 12 artists in the Sketch Squad sharing their own responses to each exercise and the author's generosity in sharing her work on the cover and throughout the book, this drawing guide encourages and meets you where you are in your mark-making journey.
It's important to know that this is an ideas, big-picture type of art guide and not a step-by-step drawing how-to guide.
I found the Drawing from paintings (chapter 13) and Personal projects (chapter 16) sections to be especially insightful and fun to read. I also loved the Drawing your dream (in Experimental drawing, chapter 15) and Dealing with comparison and envy (chapter 11).
This is a book jam-packed with excellent ideas and also includes wonderful Resources and Further reading recommendations. I'll keep this one handy on the shelf. I look forward to continued drawing and to getting my hands on some Caran d'Ache pencils in the future.
June 3, 2026
Easy to read and work through the exercises. Throughly encouraging and positive.
April 22, 2026
A great book for anyone wanting to either start drawing or get back into it. Prompts are given for drawing suggestions. It’s not a how to draw book but more like a book to help you start a daily drawing habit.
March 12, 2026
Good
“Sketch: A Project Guide to Drawing with Confidence” is an excellent guide for those who want to take their art habit a little further. It is not a “How to Draw” or a “How to Draw in My Style” book, but rather more of an art class or course in book form.
It is designed for those who want to create a sketchbook habit, and allows the reader to draw in their own way, and preferred style, with no demands placed upon them for what medium they choose, or how something “should” or “must” be drawn, leaving lots of space for interpretive freedom.
This book is broken up into several themed projects, with exercises for each. Those range from simple warm up exercises to challenges like drawing in public spaces, or drawing someone you know, with an array of prompts in between.
Sam chose to feature the artwork of her students, who range in ability from beginner to professional in another branch of art, which allows for an interesting range of art styles and works. She also chose to include commentary from the students, making each exercise quite intriguing as the reader gets some insight into their thought processes.
It all makes for a very welcoming feel to the book, which guides the reader-student from simple projects, to much more complex ones; and while many of the challenges may fill us with trepidation, Sam has words of wisdom for even those moments.
Ultimately, this is a great guide for those who want to start and keep a sketchbook project, or who want to challenge themselves to stretching their abilities. It’s not for those who want some hand-holding in how to draw, or even to be told what to draw. This book is instead, a guide to making those choices for yourself, and allowing your own style to come through. It’s meant to guide you through several months worth of art, so it is a book you will come back to often, as you complete each challenge.
It’s an inspirational read, and I am looking forward to digging into the challenges it sets, and pushing my own boundaries a little.
Highly recommended for intermediate to expert artists who want to challenge themselves, and for beginners who don’t want to be told how to do something.
**A note on the Kindle version: I chose to get the Kindle version of this book, for space reasons, but I would definitely be happy to get this in physical format too. I admit I didn’t read this on my Kindle, but in the app on an iPad so I could see the colours and images better. In this instance, it displays well, the images were high quality and I enjoyed being able to enlarge them for a better look. For the most part the book displayed the images and captions together, and though some were separated as they often are with digital books, it did not affect the readability of the book too much.**
“Sketch: A Project Guide to Drawing with Confidence” is an excellent guide for those who want to take their art habit a little further. It is not a “How to Draw” or a “How to Draw in My Style” book, but rather more of an art class or course in book form.
It is designed for those who want to create a sketchbook habit, and allows the reader to draw in their own way, and preferred style, with no demands placed upon them for what medium they choose, or how something “should” or “must” be drawn, leaving lots of space for interpretive freedom.
This book is broken up into several themed projects, with exercises for each. Those range from simple warm up exercises to challenges like drawing in public spaces, or drawing someone you know, with an array of prompts in between.
Sam chose to feature the artwork of her students, who range in ability from beginner to professional in another branch of art, which allows for an interesting range of art styles and works. She also chose to include commentary from the students, making each exercise quite intriguing as the reader gets some insight into their thought processes.
It all makes for a very welcoming feel to the book, which guides the reader-student from simple projects, to much more complex ones; and while many of the challenges may fill us with trepidation, Sam has words of wisdom for even those moments.
Ultimately, this is a great guide for those who want to start and keep a sketchbook project, or who want to challenge themselves to stretching their abilities. It’s not for those who want some hand-holding in how to draw, or even to be told what to draw. This book is instead, a guide to making those choices for yourself, and allowing your own style to come through. It’s meant to guide you through several months worth of art, so it is a book you will come back to often, as you complete each challenge.
It’s an inspirational read, and I am looking forward to digging into the challenges it sets, and pushing my own boundaries a little.
Highly recommended for intermediate to expert artists who want to challenge themselves, and for beginners who don’t want to be told how to do something.
**A note on the Kindle version: I chose to get the Kindle version of this book, for space reasons, but I would definitely be happy to get this in physical format too. I admit I didn’t read this on my Kindle, but in the app on an iPad so I could see the colours and images better. In this instance, it displays well, the images were high quality and I enjoyed being able to enlarge them for a better look. For the most part the book displayed the images and captions together, and though some were separated as they often are with digital books, it did not affect the readability of the book too much.**
January 27, 2026
This is an excellent motivating book. It encourages us to make drawing a part of our everyday life, with exercises designed to build up our confidence as artists.
September 25, 2026
This is probably one of the most enjoyable sketch book that I’ve read. The author builds a team of women from across Europe ranging in ages from mid-thirties to early seventies. Some are formally training artists, some are just picking up the practice. Together they go through all the prompts laid out in the book. What I found invigorating about it was the “reveals” where she shows the results of her doing the prompts and then the results of the team doing the prompts. The breath of styles and interpretations was both delightful and lowered my own anxiety around my art practice.
This is not a technical manual- so if you’re looking for how to do shading or perspective, this is not it. But if you’ve hit a wall in your art practice or just want to shake yourself out of your comfort zone, this will help.
Between prompt chapters, she also addresses the road blocks that we encounter- hesitation, consistency, anxiety, drawing in public, and self-sabotage.
Combining this book with technical manuals have offered a lot of growth in the last three months. Highly recommend.
This is not a technical manual- so if you’re looking for how to do shading or perspective, this is not it. But if you’ve hit a wall in your art practice or just want to shake yourself out of your comfort zone, this will help.
Between prompt chapters, she also addresses the road blocks that we encounter- hesitation, consistency, anxiety, drawing in public, and self-sabotage.
Combining this book with technical manuals have offered a lot of growth in the last three months. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews