A quick note on the history of sketchbooks. Though artists have always drawn, it was the rise of the atelier system in France which saw sketchbooks become a thi

A quick note on the history of sketchbooks. Though artists have always drawn, it was the rise of the atelier system in France which saw sketchbooks become a thing. An atelier was a small private art school, usually run by an older experienced artist. The best ones encouraged young artists to find their own creative identity, and a part of this was going out into the wilds of the Parisian night life to draw direct from life. What distinguishes the drawings in a sketchbook from those done in a studio was that there was (and is) no need for sketchbook drawings to serve any real purpose of application. It was drawing for the hell of it... as an exploration of the world.