I’m currently packing up my sketchbook supplies for a short tour that I’ll be doing through Hong Kong and Vietnam (sketches coming soon!), and I was reminded of a very weird sketchbook class that I made. About aliens. And UFOs. In Chile.

I decided to post part of it on YouTube here.

How I started making weird sketchbook classes

A few years ago, Skillshare reached out and asked if I would be interested in filming a class with them. I’d stepped down from my illustration faculty position at SCAD Atlanta a few years prior to focus on making books, so I was eager to get back into teaching. The timing was great.

I had no idea what an online class/workshop structure should look like, so I made a list of things I wanted it to include.

1. The topic would need to be related to keeping a sketchbook.
2. I wanted it to be weird.
3. I wanted it to be something travel-related.

So, we settled on Sketchbook Illustration: How to Draw a Personal, Colorful Travel Map.

Next, AS A JOKE, I kept suggesting the type of location where we could film it—something like an antiquated library that I could pretend was my home studio. I told them I wanted to be sitting in front of birdcages, plants, or a fully stocked cooking-demo-style kitchen. Of course, I assumed they had an in-house studio where these courses would be shot.

They understood it was a joke, and then…they proceeded to book an apartment where we could film in Brooklyn that included birdcages, plants, a fully stocked cooking-demo-style kitchen, and rows and rows of fake books for me to sit in front of. 

Here’s me in the apartment. I was doing this weird lean the whole time. I’m not sure why.

I flew up from Atlanta and walked for an afternoon in NY with friends (Odette NY). The next morning, I took a cab to THE FILM SHOOT. (That’s what I called it. Is that too dramatic?)

The apartment was perfect. For a few hours, I drew an illustrated map while a small crew filmed and interviewed me. A lot of it was rambling, but they were able to trim it down to a 26-minute class that shows people how I make illustrated maps from start to finish. Amazingly, they left in all the weirdness I’d hoped to bring to the class. Including showing off my collection of Irish antiques, which I’d said were handed down to me by my ancestors. (They were purchased on Etsy.) And the locket I wore that contained photos of sheep.

EIGHTEEN THOUSAND people have watched it. It ended in an absolutely bizarre twist: it’s now available to watch on all American Airlines flights.

I kept making weird sketchbook classes.

I loved the whole process. I started making a list of future topics I could explore in these mini-course video workshop things.

(I’m getting to the part about the UFOs.)

I started with these classes about keeping a sketchbook:

Always Drawing: How to Start and Keep a Daily Sketchbook

For this one, I set up in my living room and filmed for a few days. 
 

Forty-two thousand people have watched it! Holy cow!

And then there’s this one that I filmed in our backyard.

Always Drawing: 7 Creative Exercises to Jumpstart Your Sketchbook

And finally, I created this bizarre course about drawing UFOs. 

A few years after the Brooklyn apartment course, I decided to make a travel-style sketchbook video where I actually traveled to the location I was discussing. I’d been reading about a stretch in Chile where people often spotted unexplainable events in the sky, and I realized it was the perfect place to film a video about keeping a sketchbook. (right!?)

And I made this class all about it.

I flew to Chile with friends, and while we explored, we filmed this promo together.

It’s the weirdest sketchbook course ever. And it was a lot of fun to make.

You can read about that trip and see more sketches here.
MIKE LOWERY'S CHILE SKETCHBOOK TOUR.

Does that mean I’ll be working on a sketchbook course in Hong Kong and Vietnam?? Maybe!! What sketchbook-related topics would you like to see in a course or future newsletter? Let me know! SEND SUGGESTIONS HERE!

Thanks for reading, 

WEIRD BONUS IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR.

SEVEN years ago, I created this little commercial for my Doodle Adventures series. We shot this whole thing on an iphone in a friend’s house (bakey bakes) and used props from their living room. Doodle Adventures by Mike Lowery