Recently for a few years I stopped carrying a sketchbook even after having done that all my life, at least since I was a schoolboy. But I’m back sketching now – and enjoying it.
People.
People is what I like to draw. I enjoy that more than drawing scenery or buildings.
Usually I draw in a cafe and focus on fellow customers seated at tables. But lately I’ve been sketching at tables in the open inside shopping mall courts.
The pages below are from last week. My viewpoint allowed me to observe pedestrians coming from three different directions and they didn’t stop as they passed so I had to work fast.
Getting Cramps.
Because I was out of practise in my sketching I was discovering kink after kink in my draftsmanship, it was like being wobbly on a bike after not using one for a few years. I made some notes to myself amongst the sketches to drive home the things I needed to change.
Mainly to lighten up. I was getting tense and gripping the pad too fiercely even to the stage of giving myself cramp in the hand.
I also found I could lighten up gripping the pen and the weight of strokes too.
Not that I was scoring grooves into the paper but allowing myself to shift to using an extremely light touch increased the variety and sensitivity of marks available immediately.
Trust the Hand.
And I worked on letting myself trust my hand to make good marks.
Over-thinking and being too controlling of the pen cramps the flow of the drawing. Let go, let go.
I made myself concentrate much more on acutely observing the subject and much less watching and controlling the act of drawing. Let it go. Let it go. Chill man.