About this app

The "Living Sketchbook" is new technology that lets you experience one of James Gurney's actual sketchbooks on your smartphone or tablet.

Volume 1 features the sketchbook entitled "Boyhood Home."

With this app you're able to:
• Explore every single page in high resolution with pinch-to-zoom interactivity.
• Listen to voiceover describing the details of brushes, paints, and technique.
• Hear the actual sounds recorded while the paintings were completed.
• Watch videos of some of the images actually being painted.

This app includes super high res zoomable images, voiceovers for the cover and all 24 sketches, plus 7 behind-the-scenes videos.

No internet connection is required after the initial download, so the app works perfectly while offline.

The app is compatible with both smartphones and tablets. We hope you enjoy it!

Required OS:
Android 4.4 (KitKat) and above

Refund policy:
You can get a refund within two hours of purchase. If you'd like a refund, open the Play Store app, tap Menu > Account > Order history, and click the Refund button.

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Praise for “Living Sketchbook Vol 1: Boyhood Home”:

''James Gurney's Living Sketchbook: Vol. 1 celebrates the mobility and charm of gouache, casein, colored pencil and pen & ink in sketchbook form. This brilliant app is loaded with beautiful high resolution artwork set to a powerful environmental soundscape that brings you there. The narration is full of insightful observations and wisdom to pass on to artists of all levels. Additional layers of video are dispersed in the volume to clearly illustrate approaches by a master teacher and storyteller. An elegant and generous offering that will immediately make you want to sketch out ‘in the wild'!"
—Erik Tiemens - Watersketch.com

"There is a lesson to be learned with every sketch in James Gurney's The Living Sketchbook — whether it's about light, color, materials or composition. Spending time with each sketch and being able to zoom in on them allows you to really think about how they were created. And videos that accompany many of the sketches enrich the experience because you see the sketch develop from large color blocks down to final details. And of course hearing James narrate his thought process — whether it be about his limited palette choices or the characters he meets while sketching — is what makes it come alive for me. It's done with warmth, humor, honesty and a vast wealth of knowledge."
—Shari Blaukopf, Urban Sketchers

“This app is outstanding! One of my favorite aspects of James's videos is getting the opportunity to hear his thoughts about the pieces he is painting. I love that I can get that same experience while enjoying the detailed views of the high-resolution sketches in the app.”
—Jon Schindehette, Art Director, Art Order

“It’s as nice as having James's sketchbook in my hands! Having followed many of these pieces and seeing the originals in some cases, I find that this is a really helpful tool to see how he paints in real life and being able to examine the images at my leisure to see the way that the final brushstrokes are put down.”
—Michael Mrak, Design Director, Scientific American

New features

Add Links page for writing a review and checking out Living Sketchbook Vol. 2 app.