Artist Helen Wells encourages messy and joyful experiments and using sketchbooks as a place for practice and growth. She advises on materials, focusing on the pleasurable aspects of using different types of tools and mediums. Her suggestions for experiments offer many opportunities to jumpstart or refresh creative activities. The book is written in a friendly tone and the luscious illustrations will motivate readers to pull out a sketchbook and reach for art supplies.

This book is a great resource for those that want to get started with a regular art practice. She includes basics, such as color theory, and has many prompts to get you started down your creative path. She is very encouraging, and the book includes many examples of the author’s own artwork. Highly recommended,

This book, about sketchbooks, emphasizes process over outcome, as it should be. I see so many sketchbook guides that are beautiful and perfect,, but they are meant to please and impress, which is not really the purpose of a sketchbook. In "Expressive Sketchbooks," Helen Wells has captured the true purpose of sketching: to explore, experiment, play around, plant the seeds of your own creativity. The results are no less pleasing, but they are more honest and will be more useful to artists who want to discover how to unleash their own creativity rather than emulate a set path.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really needed to read this book at this point in time.
Sketchbook fear and perfectionism is real!

The author captured my exact feelings and fears as an artist and this little joyful book will help me finally finishing my sketchbook and it will help me along my art journey.
It talks about discovery, creativity, being kind to yourself but also how to evaluate your art going forward with great writing prompts.
Thank you so much Quarto publishing and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC. This book was so helpful! 😊

An absolutely wonderful and informative guide, surrounded by beautiful and inspiring images of the author's own sketchbook artwork. The book covers practical advice: types of sketchbooks, art mediums and colour theory, but has a strong focus on the emotional difficulties of getting started and the personal struggles that so many people have with allowing themselves to express their creativity. Expressive Sketchbooks is a sincere and encouraging source of support for anyone looking to begin or resume their creative journeys.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook. What a lovely surprise this ebook is. Having recently started drawing and painting again, I was keen to have a visual guide for inspiration. This ebook is perfect. It is beautifully laid out, the text is clear and very well expressed. The illustrations are lovely. It is absolutely inspirational. I will be going back to it again and again. I highly recommend it.

If you're a beginner Sketchbooker or are interested in beginning, I think you will really enjoy this delightful book. It has a great collection of the author's sketchbooks and some really simple ideas to help get you started. And it also has elegant, beautiful, and more sophisticated ideas too. There's a great mix of ideas with pencil, watercolor, and collage.

This book also talks about the emotional experience of creating, of doubting yourself, of getting stuck and learning to make peace with your art and looking at it as practice and learning. I really enjoyed the author's kind voice and soft guidance throughout. She was both relatable and knowledgeable.

A great encouragement and idea-filled book for sketchers.

with gratitude to netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I started going through the book looking at the art and wasn't sure how much I'd like it. She shows images from her sketch books and lists types of sketch books, types of mediums you can try, pretty standard. Then I began reading. What touched me deeply was the quote on page 22: "There were many years of my life when I stopped drawing . . . I was critical of everything I produced. The sad thing is my mental chatter and self-criticism about not being able to draw well got in the way of me doing something I loved." This is me, this is so many people who love to draw, but they don't necessarily consider themselves artists. This book is for those of us who need a guiding hand sometimes to keep on the creative path. To remember why we create and maybe a little push to expand our boundaries. I recommend this book for everyone, but especially for those people who have doubted yourself in the past. #netgalley #expressivesketchbooks

This book is a colorful inspiration to create anything one can put into a sketchbook, whether drawing, painting, collage or other 2-dimensional media. Helen Wells covers the many reasons one might want to start a sketchbook, various supplies and how to choose them, creative exercises and more.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is a fantastic book on how to start an expressive sketch book or art journal. There are some great ideas and lots of tips and information on how to start, things you could use, materials you could use/need, overcoming obstacles such as when your uninspired and also shows some beautiful art journal sketchbooks the author has made herself.
I've found some great ideas and information in this book to get me started!

I absolutely loved this sketchbook guide. The colors, artwork and illustrations are truly inspirational and was enthralled by the level of creativity within it’s pages.

This was a fantastic find and I feel it is very expressive and opens your thought processes to really challenge your own creativity. I highly recommend it I just loved it. I received this book from NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for an honest review.

This is a beautiful book bursting with bright, bold, and colourful ideas. I liked reading the authors ideas and suggestion but mostly I loved looking at her work. Colour and creative ideas exploded everywhere on every page, so it is a feast for the eyes. Even if it is not your style you can't help but be inspired by the authors' work and passion. Highly recommended as food for the eyes and creative spirit.

This is a lovely inspirational book for those who'd like to start making creative sketchbooks (or art journals) or those who'd like to delve deeper. While Wells refers to the books as sketchbooks, she relies heavily on watercolor, collage and a wide variety of media far past mere sketches. Sections include materials, getting started, basic art theories, finding inspiration and dealing with roadblocks, plus much more. She provides step-by-step illustrations of many kinds of art that she's done in her own sketchbooks, with lots of colorful inspiration for creative art projects and lots of encouragement.

I have kept journals for years that combine rambling thoughts, to-do lists, bullet journal type habit trackers and such with art, and I also enjoy making altered books for all kinds of purposes (cookbooks, educational books with my kids, etc.). I can see this book inspiring new directions in both of these for me. It's a fun read that I enjoyed.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

I misunderstood what this book was. I thought it was an actual sketchbook with different prompts, exercises and examples throughout. An interactive walk through that you actually created art within the pages, like a guided journal, but it's not. This is a 'how-to' book on starting a sketchbook, that you would go out yourself and buy separately. It lists reasons why you should start one and it does have absolutely gorgeous illustrations and examples. The colour palette used is very appealing to look at, but it's not what I was wanting. I'm personally not motivated enough to use a book like this, I need something all inclusive.