Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Horn.
Hi Lauren, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was an art teacher for almost ten years, and the first year back in person from Covid was really rough. My students were disengaged and I was teaching in-person students and online student at the same time. In an effort to connect, I downloaded Tiktok and had my students give me suggestions of content to make. I started posting their artwork and experiences from our classroom. My third video was a comparison of self-portraits they had created – one on the first day of class, and the second after the end of the 9-week grading period and it absolutely blew up.
A really common response from people was that they were shocked that art is teachable and there was a ton a demand to take some sort of art course from me. At the time, my husband’s National Guard unit was activated so I was solo parenting with two young kids and I knew I couldn’t teach in-person or live lessons. After reflecting on courses I’ve taken, I came up with This is Not a Sketchbook, It’s an Art Class.
This is Not a Sketchbook looks like a sketchbook but is actually closer to a workbook. What makes it really unique are the QR codes printed on each page. When you scan them, they take you to private YouTube video lessons, by me, teaching you how to do each page.
It truly is just like taking the same class my incredible students did. You get all the practice sheets, reference photos, and a teacher to guide you through them all. It starts with really simply lines and shapes and then we build up from there. It’s extremely beginner friendly, but will also have intermediate artists filling in some gaps to help them draw more accurately and efficiently.
Eventually the business grew, I had another kiddo, and there was a lot of change going on in my district so I decided to temporarily step away from teaching and pursue the book full time and it has really taken off since then. As much as I miss my students, I’m much more available to my kids, I have the time to make my own art, and I’m able to work on more products and materials.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not. Balancing being there for my students, the business, and most importantly my family took a lot of energy. When I filmed the book videos I was 7 months pregnant. My husband and I were fulfilling hundreds of pre-ordered books with a two week old and extremely limited sleep. I’ve dealt with all sorts of business issues – the two largest being 3k books with a vital misprinted page that we had to replace by hand and the hundreds of scammers that are selling fraudulent copies of my book. That one been an ongoing issue but some action is being taken, I just can’t speak on it very much right now.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have a few sides to my story – I am an art teacher, an artist, and a small business owner. People definitely know me mostly from the book/business but now that I’ve had more time to pour into art its been really cool to get involved with the art community here. Leon Bridges just purchased a painted I made of him. It was a cool connection since he grew up in the area I live now.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Education is going through such turmoil right now, and unfortunately arts always seem to be on the chopping block first. I think a lot of people are going to be fleeing public ed as well. Which is really unfortunate, but the results are the same – students are going to be left without a trained art teacher. I want to make sure that anyone who wants to create art has access to great materials, properly scaffolded by an experienced educator, with a teacher to guide them through the lessons. I have no data to prove this – but most of my customers are adults that missed out on an art education. A lot are homeschool students, or students unable to take an art class for various reason. I think these numbers are going to grow, so my goal is to stay ahead of them, and always have the next steps ready. I’m really excited about the project I’m working on now, with is more material specific.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thisisnotasketchbook.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenhornart/?hl=en and https://www.instagram.com/thisisnotasketchbook/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577332685037#
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisisNOTaSketchbook
Image Credits
Photos by Kinsey Linnae LLC
