Finish of the work found in the sketchbook varies widely depending on the artist and their style of work, with some having very simple drawings and notes, and some having highly worked images. Sketchbooks began as a way to provide a readily available supply of drawing paper in the convenient form of a book. Sketchbooks come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, with varied covers, and differing numbers of pages. Invention: this follows the artists' digressions and internal journeys as they develop compositional ideas.Observation: this focuses on the documentation of the external world and includes many such travel and nature studies and sketches recording an artist's travels.The exhibition of sketchbooks at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University in 2006 suggested that there were two broad categories for classifying sketches: Some also use sketchbooks as a sort of blueprint for future art pieces. 'Sketchbook of English Landscape and Coastal Scenery,' by the artist William Trost Richards, at the Brooklyn MuseumĪ sketchbook is a book or pad with blank pages for sketching and is frequently used by artists for drawing or painting as a part of their creative process. For other uses, see Sketchbook (disambiguation).