One of the most importanvt things for an illustrator is her sketchbook. Draw and sketch everything, every day. All characters in Chantal Bourgonje's stories and illustrations started somewhere in a sketchbook. Often she starts by drawing from "life" or photo reference the animals around her and then moves on to give them their own characters and personalities. To have a liitle peek in her sketchbooks, you can view Chantal's Sketchbooks on flickr. Apologies for any inconvenience.Sketchbook pages will be added to this website in the future.

Next to sketching and experimenting in sketchbooks, life drawing is an essential and enjoyable discipline. So often, as an illustrator, you need to draw the human form. Whether this is life- like or cartoon like, it is still important to know how the body works. Therefore Chantal regularly attends local life drawing sessions, using pencils, pastels, soft sepia pencils,soft 6 - 9B graphite sticks,pen and ink and anything else that she happens to find in her big box of drawing materials.