Youth & Adult Workshops
Gain confidence and improve your drawing skills. Learn how to use a sketchbook to draw from observation, develop ideas, and increase productivity.
New Workshops Summer/Fall 2026! Enjoy our new popup studios at Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz locations. Scroll down to view the Scribbles Institute workshops.
August 15 Sketchbook Reunion: London Nelson Community Center, Santa Cruz
Rob’s alumni students and newcomers welcome! After a 4-year hiatus, we’re kicking off our new popup studio program with our Sketchbook Basics workshop at London Nelson Community Center in Santa Cruz.
What You’ll Learn: Placing your subject on the page; blocking dominant shapes; sketching contours of 3D form; drawing key details and textures. We’ll combine your sketchbook practice with studio skills as we draw while studying actual objects. Learn about the “power of the study sketch.” All skill levels welcome. When: August 15, 11:00am-1:00pm Where: London Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Room #5. (Map) Cost: $75. Materials needed: Sketchbook and 2B-9B drawing pencils; various ink pens and watercolor are cool to try too. Workshop is limited to 8 adult participants. Note: Premium Membership students can use 1 session to participate in this workshop.
September 19 Sketchbook Basics: Pacific Grove Art Center
The Scribbles Institute has relocated to Pacific Grove and the Pacific Grove Art Center is the perfect location for our first pop-up studio workshop in this wonderful drawing community.
What You’ll Learn: Placing your subject on the page; blocking dominant shapes; sketching contours of 3D form; drawing key details and textures. Begin merging your sketchbook practice with studio skills as we draw while studying actual objects. Learn about the “power of the study sketch”. All skill levels welcome. When: September 19, 10:00am-12:00pm Where: Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Avenue Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (Map) Cost: $75. Materials needed: Sketchbook and 2B-9B drawing pencils; various ink pens and watercolor are cool to try too. Workshop is limited to 8 adult participants. Note: Premium Membership students can use 1 session to participate in this workshop.
October 10 Draw With Your Kids Workshop
The family that draws together, has fun learning together! Workshop participants (8-12 years old, and parent) explore ways to make drawings look more realistic. Discover the power of study sketches as you learn fundamental skills such as blocking shapes to represent 3D objects and measuring proportions.
Work along side your child as you experiment with various drawing materials. Overcome the mindset of trying to make drawings that “look perfect” and learn to sketch a likeness of your subject while using Rob Court’s Block/Sketch/Draw method.
What You’ll Learn: Block: start with the basics such as gripping the pencil, sketching lines and shapes, and using negative space to block in an abstract framework of your subject. Sketch + Draw: Introduction to sketching form, measuring proportions, and drawing contour lines. Learn about the “power of the study sketch.” When: October 10, 10:00am-12:00pm Where: Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Avenue Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (Map) Cost: $125 (parent and 1 child). All materials included. (If you have a sketchbook, bring it along.) Workshop is limited to 10 participants (5 parents, 5 kids).
November 14 Let’s Draw PG! Sketchbook Workshop
Learn basic sketchbook skills while discovering Pacific Grove in a new way. We’ll meet in a small group at Imagine Art Supplies for a brief introduction to sketching materials before taking a relaxed stroll down Forest Avenue, chatting about perspective, local architecture, and urban sketching. We’ll end at the PG Meetinghouse, where we’ll try our hand at simple sketches of coffee cups and whatever else grabs our attention.
What You’ll Learn: fundamentals of composition and placing your subject on the page; method for observing and sketching the form of objects; sketching techniques. When: November 14, 10:00am-12:00pm Where: The PG Meetinghouse, 599 Lighthouse Ave, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 (Map) Cost: $75 Materials Needed: Sketchbook and 2B-9B drawing pencils; various ink pens are cool to try too. Workshop is limited to 8 participants. Note: Premium Membership students can use 1 session to participate in this workshop.
December 5 Studio Drawing Skills, Pacific Grove Art Center
Rob will guide you through his Block/Sketch/Draw method as you observe various objects such as plaster casts and animal skulls. Overcome the mindset of trying to make drawings that “look perfect” as you sketch through mistakes and compose a likeness of your subject.
What You’ll Learn: Block: Start with the basics such as gripping the pencil, sketching lines and shapes, and using negative space to build an abstract framework of your subject. Sketch + Draw: Introduction to form, measuring and sketching proportions, and drawing contour lines. Explore using an easel or a studio horse while drawing. Learn about the “power of the study sketch”. When: December 5, 10:00am-12:00pm Where: Pacific Grove Art Center (Map) Cost: $75. All materials included. (If you have a sketchbook, bring it along.) Workshop is limited to 8 adult participants. Note:Premium Membership students can use 1 session to participate in this workshop.
Past workshops & events that we’d like to do again in the future:
Grab a fist full of assorted pens and mix it up with random lines and shapes on a nice, big piece of paper! This workshop is for beginners and advanced artists.
Experiment with a variety of pens and ink, including Tombow pens, Micron pens, and Speedball tips. Explore various techniques such as stipple and cross-hatching Where: Location to be determined. When: Date to be determined. 12:00-2:00pm Cost: $75. (materials included) Refreshments served. Limited to 8 participants.
Join drawing coach, Rob Court for this 1-day intensive workshop. Rob will show you how to use his Block, Sketch, Draw method for drawing flowers. Learn to block in dominant shapes and angles, study and capture realistic organic form; then finish with a beautifully drawn composition.
When: Schedule to be determined Where: Location to be determined. Cost: $150 includes all materials. Prerequisite: Level 2 or 3 Drawing Lab at the Scribbles Institute or equivalent.
What you’ll learn: Begin with foundational skills by learning to express yourself with lines, shapes, patterns, and rhythm. You’ll learn to draw out your inner artist and learn basic composition skills while listening to different genres of music. If you’ve taken this workshop before, Rob will have more advanced lessons for you to work on, too Where: Location to be determined When:Date to be determined. Cost: $75 (materials included)
Adult beginners explore using Prismacolor pencils to achieve realism while drawing simple objects. What You’ll Learn: Blending colors, 3D modeling, measuring proportions. Recommended prerequisite: Level 1 Drawing Lab skills. Limited seating. Where: Location to be determined. When: Date to be determined. Cost: $75 (materials included)
The Scribbles Institute is proud to serve the Central California Coast. We are always eager to work with important organizations such as the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, shown above. Here are various workshops and events we’ve been involved in over the years:
Church Street Fair: Happy sketchers, young and old, visit our booth at the Church Street Fair in Santa Cruz. We offer free lessons as well space for sketchers to unleash their freestyle drawing powers. Participants are free to draw for as long as they want and return the next day. The fair is part of the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival and attracts a huge Central Coast crowd as well as visitors from around the world.
Lenz Arts Drawing Workshops: Extremely Fun Drawing Skills For Absolute Beginners—Especially Adults Who Think They Can’t Draw. Rob Court enjoys doing regular workshops at the coolest art store on the planet to conduct his popular drawing workshop. Reconnect with your childhood thrill of drawing as you’re introduced to basic observational drawing skills and techniques.
Museum of Art & History Workshops: We’re proud to working with Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) in engaging events for the whole family such as Art That Moves, where Rob Court helped museum participants learn to draw action sports figures such as surfers, skateboarders, snowboarders, and cyclists.
Join Us! Connect with other like-minded sketchers and drawing coach Rob Court by receiving the Scribbles Institute eNewsletter.
