Location, location, location...
Where you are is a big deal,... well, its a big deal for you. These days, its easy to wonder if we know a little bit too much from FaceBook and Twitter postings. Instead of trying to be cool or clever, try drawing details of where you are and what you see are a good form of paying close attention and also of showing people what you see by what you draw and showing people how you feel by how your draw it. Airplanes and travel offer us exotic views to draw. What is normal for you can still be new for the rest of us. This airplane window could just as easily be your bedroom or kitchen window, a car window, or the view from the top of a staircase.
Sketchblog: Writing about sketchbook process and practice
Sketching does not just mean working with a pencil. Really, the blank page is receptive to most ideas, the question is how to record those ideas. By practicing we develop strategies. The strategies combine with our natural sense of line, color, and our innate traits to form a style.
If you focus on doing the same things over and over you gain skill and direction. If you constantly do new things every time you get lots of perspective and a broad skill base, but while you will begin to pick up new styles much faster, you will have to still put in work to make inspiration hit the page.
So, balance the two. Play with composing in color with a brush like these pages here. Its a phenomenal practice all around, but make sure you don't spend all your time learning new things. Repetition builds speed. Style allows us to cut through the many decisions and quickly get to business. April 11, 2011
If you focus on doing the same things over and over you gain skill and direction. If you constantly do new things every time you get lots of perspective and a broad skill base, but while you will begin to pick up new styles much faster, you will have to still put in work to make inspiration hit the page.
So, balance the two. Play with composing in color with a brush like these pages here. Its a phenomenal practice all around, but make sure you don't spend all your time learning new things. Repetition builds speed. Style allows us to cut through the many decisions and quickly get to business. April 11, 2011
Sketching on the go and capturing memories on a page
This is from one of the Sketchbook Class' field trips to the Ryerson Library to look at sketchbook facsimiles by the masters. While this library really is a feast for the imagination and oddly enough, no one ever is ready to go after two hours, lunch, and the train ride together is really a big part of the trip.
Its a great challenge. I always find drawing inside of trains and vehicles to be especially challenging and rewarding. The faster you go, the more accurate you become (in the very short run it might not turn out that way).
Its a great challenge. I always find drawing inside of trains and vehicles to be especially challenging and rewarding. The faster you go, the more accurate you become (in the very short run it might not turn out that way).