Sketchbook Basics: Creative Techniques - Mansfield Central Library - Adult Learning

Have you ever bought a sketchbook but felt unsure where to start? This relaxed course will help you overcome the blank page and begin using your sketchbook as a creative space for ideas, experiments, colour, collage, and personal expression.

We will look at different ways to fill a sketchbook, from quick sketches and colour tests to collage, painted backgrounds, texture, pattern and written notes. You will be encouraged to use your sketchbook as a place to experiment rather than as a finished artwork.

Each week will introduce different creative prompts and techniques. These may include expressive mark-making, simple observational sketching, cutting and arranging collage materials, adding colour with paint or mixed media, and combining images, words and textures on a page.

You do not need to be good at drawing or painting to come on this course; the focus is on exploring, experimenting, and enjoying the creative process.

What will learners achieve by the end of the course?

• Confidently start a sketchbook to record ideas, experiments and visual inspiration.

• Try at least three creative sketchbook techniques, such as mark-making, collage, painting, colour testing or mixed media.

• Create a range of sketchbook pages using images, colour, texture, line and/or words.

• Combine at least two techniques, such as collage and paint, to develop a personal sketchbook page.

• Make creative choices about layout, colour, materials and subject matter.

• Share your work with others and identify at least one idea or technique you would like to develop further

What you need to bring to the session:

A sketchbook — any affordable sketchbook is fine, ideally with paper suitable for light wet media if possible.

Basic drawing materials — such as pencils, pens, coloured pencils or markers.

Collage materials — such as old magazines, packaging, scrap papers, fabric scraps, old book pages or printed images.

Any favourite art materials you already have, such as paints, crayons or pastels

You can purchase these locally in Art Shops, as well as at The Range and Hobbycraft or online at Amazon.

Funding and Fees

If you receive certain benefits, you may be able to take the course for free.
If money is stopping you from enrolling, please visit our funding page to see what help is available.

Living in England

To book and join one of our courses, you must live in England permanently and either:

• Live inside the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) area (Nottinghamshire or Derbyshire)

or

• Live outside the devolved areas listed below

You cannot enrol if you live in these devolved areas:

• Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)

• Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

• North East Combined Authority

• South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority

• Tees Valley Combined Authority

• West Midlands Combined Authority

• West of England Combined Authority

• West Yorkshire Combined Authority

• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority

• York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority

• Hull and East Yorkshire

• Greater Lincolnshire

• Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority

• Cornwall Council

• Lancashire Combined County Authority

• Buckinghamshire Council

Residency Requirements (Additional Information)

If you live in the UK on a visa, we’ll need evidence of your visa to confirm funding. You can upload this when applying, and you’ll need to complete a short questionnaire.

Some exceptions include:

• Your visa must last until after your course ends.

• Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for at least 6 months while their claim is being processed.

• You are supported by your local authority under Section 23C or 23CA of the Children Act 1989, or under the Care Act 2014.

Anyone who does not meet the funding criteria would need to pay full course fees.