Are you ready?

The new Sketchbook Challenge begins in just 9 days!  I am really excited about the challenge and based on the number of comments and emails and the spike in traffic to this blog and the facebook page I can see that you all are too.  One of my goals for the sketchbook challenge is to keep it approachable and easy to do for everyone and anyone regardless of whether or not you have ever drawn anything or have been sketching for years.  One of the things that I think can help you stick with the challenge is to have a sketching supply kit put together so that whenever you are ready to sit and make a quick drawing you won't have to worry about trying to find your supplies.  

I keep my sketching/coloring kit in one of my zipit beast pencil cases (I have several of these cases folding travel watercolor set, a fewwaterbrushes, blackwing pencils, black waterproof pens, eraser, pencil sharpener and a little 6″ long ruler.  That's it, that's all I need to make a sketch in my little 5" square Global Art Materials sketchbook . I absolutely love the size of this sketchbook for this project.  The pages are large enough to create a fairly detailed sketch without being so large that the amount of space to fill becomes overwhelming.  Perfect for keeping this project simple and stress free!  Oh and I also have a piece of paper towel folded up in a small ziplock bag so I can easily clean my water brushes. 

Why not take a few minutes between now and January 1st to put together a little daily sketching kit?  Your kit doesn't have to be a replica of mine because you should work with whatever materials and tools that you like.  If watercolors don't appeal then go ahead and use colored pencils, markers, brush pens, crayons, acrylics, pastels etc.  Use what you like so that the process of drawing every day feels like a joy and not a chore.  Just make sure whatever sketchbook you use has paper that is appropriate for the medium that you are using.  Maybe you prefer to use a mechanical pencil instead of a traditional one - great!  Go head and use that.  Not interested in adding color to your pages - that's okay too.  Go ahead and work in black and white - there are no rules here!

Actually I take that back - there is a rule for this challenge.  Are you ready to hear what it is?   Okay here it is:

Enjoy the process and have fun with it

That's it.  It's as simple as that.

Okay so I want to get this challenge kicked off with a little "getting started sketchbook kit" giveaway!  I am going to give this kit away to one lucky Sketchbook Challenge reader.  

Here's what's in this kit: a 5" square Global Art Materials sketchbook, a set of 12 double sided colored pencils, a set of 10 Superior Needle drawing pens, 2 blackwing pencils,  an eraser, a pencil sharpener, a set of 7 metallic Gelly Roll pens and a pencil/paintbrush.

Want a chance to win this pretty awesome little sketchbook kit?  All you have to do is leave a comment here on the blog by 12/31/18 and I will pull a name randomly from all the comments and announce the winner on January 1, 2019.  

Good luck!

p.s. If you have gotten a head start on the challenge don't forget to tag your photos with the hashtags “drawingwithsueb” and “dailydraw2019”  You can also post on the Sketchbook Challenge Facebook page here and don't forget to follow the  Sketchbook Challenge Instagram account too!