Paris Sketchbook
Meet your creative edge, have fun and enjoy learning from three world-renowned artists
September 14-19, 2027
Sketching Workshop in Paris!
You’ve seen those travel sketchbooks, bursting with life and color. Stories and adventures pop off the page.
A filled sketchbook is a memento unlike any other. Sketchbooks are intimate and personal and carry the power to bring you back to that moment and all its sensual detail instantly. You think: I wish I could do that. Well, now you can!
Join world-famous sketchbook artists in Paris for the creative adventure of a lifetime.
Beyond drawing or sketching, we will show you how to combine words and images to bring your Paris experience to life in your pages.
Our goal is simple: to fill a sketchbook in a week. Imagine your sketchbook filled with your Paris stories: outings with sketchpals, moments in cafés, delicious treats you ate, people you met, plus ideas and insights that you will use later in life and art.
Workshop Fee
“As someone who designed and facilitated intensive leadership programs over many years, I thought your design was thoughtful and brilliant. 🙂 Probably one of the best-designed and facilitated programs I’ve been on.” TD
Imagine the fun you'll have with a group of creative adventurers like yourself
Finally feel creatively free
- Get past insecurities about drawing
- Break the curse of the blank page
- Have fun making memories in your sketchbook
Make space for your artist
- Focus on what you want to capture instead of getting caught up in trying to draw everything
- Slow down enough to capture the wow of your experience
Learn practices you can use at home
- Take ideas and sketches from your sketchbook into your art
- Fit sketchbooking into a busy schedule at home or away
By the end of our week, you will have gained confidence in your style and will love seeing your full, vibrant sketchbook pages.
"I am very excited to return for the positive energy, skills, and encouragement of each of the three teachers. This week filled the bill for me on my drawing journey. You three were always receptive to our needs and suggestions. The venue is perfect, and the meditation, warm-ups, daily focus, pacing, and curriculum were all superb.
Other courses I've taken focused more on techniques rather than expanding one's own style and creativity. You said we could fill a sketchbook and, holy moly, did we! I do not want other drawing courses that offer tastings, cooking, and meals. I absolutely loved my autonomy, which made intentional interactions with classmates more special. We had a wonderful group of independent, experienced travelers."
Karen W Parnicky
A travel sketchbook improves your experience at home and away
You may already keep a sketchbook, or you wish you could do it when you travel. Yet you don’t feel confident enough to sketch in public. Let’s get you sketching, and soon you will have your sketchbook with you always.
"Goal accomplished. I’m drawing each day. Un stuck. Drawing people, too. Hope to do it again! Don’t change a thing!"
~ What To Expect ~
This is a group experience that’s customized by you. You choose your lodging and means of getting around the city - bike, metro, walking, or taxi - yet you are part of a group with a shared mission: have fun filling our sketchbooks.
Every day, we’ll meet for workshops on different elements of keeping a travel sketchbook. This workshop is about much more than drawing or sketching.
We will host optional meetups, 'sketchups' to connect with the group, mingle and do more sketching. These informal gatherings at the Pont des Arts, Luxembourg Garden, Père Lachaise cemetery, artist studios, and other magical spots in Paris give you a chance to make friends and share your experience. Buddy up with fellow sketchers for dinner.
What our students have to say
"This week has been just so precious to me. I normally get bored so fast with any sort of formal course. But this week was just bundles of joy. Each teacher is so different and so engaging. Thank you so, so much." Lorna
"Such a magical, soul-nurturing, fun, enriching connection-creating week! Thank you to all the teachers and participants who showed up open and eager to learn and create. I would recommend this in a heartbeat. It was fun, enlightening, expansive, well-run and well-priced." Karen Wright
"I definitely recommend this program. I loved the diversity of being guided by three amazing artists with completely different styles. The format worked brilliantly for me: a combination of studio input and work each morning, followed by sketch-ups each afternoon to put into practice what we had learned each day.
I liked that we could choose our own accommodation, giving us time to reflect each evening on our learnings and what we could do to improve our art. The activities pushed me out of my comfort zone, which was good, and made me see things differently.
I thoroughly enjoyed every minute and fully immersed myself in it. Thank you all very much for making my week so interesting, informative, and enjoyable." Jeanette Clarke
Finally, a way to travel with like-minded creatives with just enough focus and free time
Calling artists of all types, writers, sculptors, architects, stitchers, and people who love to observe the world and want to capture it in color and line.
Seasoned sketchbook keepers or blank page beginners are welcome!
Are you a savvy traveler who feels ready, willing, and able to make your way in Paris on your own and with the group? This is for you!
What's included:
Daily workshops
Daily instruction in English with three sketchbook pros. Instruction in drawing, lettering, writing, color, and overall freeing up your artist from three world-renowned artists.
Our atelier near Opéra in the 9th arrondissement is perfect for our learning and connecting.
Inspiration for your artist
Carefully curated Sketch Kit for the art supply lover in you. You will love the goodies we've chosen for you!
Afternoon meetups
We will host late afternoon meetups (we call them sketchups!). Locations include a visit to Marcus's art studio, a gathering on the Pont des Arts, sketching in Luxembourg Garden, Père Lachaise cemetery, and a group boat ride on the Seine.
Closing celebration
Final 'show and share' to celebrate our sketch adventures.
What's not included:
- Lodging
- Airfare
- Transportation to and around Paris
- Meals
- Excursions on your own
Much more than a workshop about drawing
With three seasoned sketchbook artists and teachers, imagine how much you will learn. You’ll get guidance in:
- Drawing or sketching to express your style
- Hand lettering to make bold statements
- Experimenting with different techniques
- Using color and line to capture a moment
- Quick storytelling devices that sum up your experiences
- Telling a story with ephemera and collage
~ Meet Your Teachers ~
Your sketchbook teachers are fun, generous artists!
Meet your cohort of creative pals who will help you enjoy travel in a whole new way.
You’ll get instruction and inspiration from some of the world’s most devoted sketchbook keepers. Each teacher has honed their skills and style by filling hundreds of sketchbooks at home and on travels. Meet your guides:
Koosje Koene
Koosje Koene (pronounced “Kosha Koonah”) is an artist, illustrator and writer, and co-founder of Sketchbook Skool. Ever since starting a regular drawing practice herself, she’s been teaching others why drawing makes you happy and can change the way you see the world and yourself. In her sketchbooks, Koosje draws the world around her; she captures exciting adventures as well as everyday things. She does this in her classes, in her weekly YouTube series Draw Tip Tuesday, and in her book “Life is better when you draw (it)”.
Marcus McAllister
Marcus McAllister is a French-American full-time professional artist based in Paris for the past twenty-five years. In his acrylic paintings and long-term sketchbook discipline, he layers figures, animals, text, abstract signs and mystic symbols to create meaningful dream-like glimpses of his inner universe. He sells his artwork at shows in Paris and Arkansas. Check out more of his artwork on marcusmcallister.com.
Cynthia Morris
Cynthia's illustrated journals are bursting with color, drawings, and snippets of life both on the road and at home in Colorado. Her pages show how to see familiar and faraway places with new eyes. Cynthia is the creator of Writual Blessings, a colorful deck of affirmations for writers. Cynthia illustrated the book, How to Sell Your Art Online by Cory Huff. She has been leading writing and creativity workshops in Paris since 2005. Find out more about her books and coaching here.
Are you ready to have the time of your life with your new creative friends? (that's a hellllll yes!)
We're different teachers with a shared ethos:
Anyone can fill a sketchbook
This is not about being an artist or being good. Our program focuses on process, exploration, discovery and play.
We're all in this together
Your inner critic might want to bring competitiveness, but we have a bouncer to leave the compare and despair beast outside the gates.
Play & fun are our purpose
Travel and sketchbook making should be fun. We can't help but play and bring our joy to your learning.
Sharing and generosity is in our blood
Your guides love to share their pages, their process, their joy and experience.
Low-key but impactful class sessions and Paris as a supporting character make for a wonderful combination of learning and creating." Molly Nunnelly
Ready for the creative adventure of a lifetime?
~ FAQ ~
