3.3 ART MAKING EXERCISE:
TAKING YOUR SKETCHBOOK OUTSIDE
I want to share with you some techniques to capture visual notes when outside. There is something wonderful about drawing outside, I enjoy using photographs as source material, but nothing beats drawing outside, it is a full and wonderful sensory experience. You are able to use all your senses to inform your drawing. You can also describe what it feels like to be in the landscape or setting, its three dimensional and you are in amongst it. You are absorbing a huge array of information when you draw outside, making a memory of the place. I know if can feel daunting to draw outside so here are some things you may like to consider:
Make it as easy as possible to draw outside by taking a really limited amount of materials. A sketchbook and a few pens and pencils
Do not try and capture a perfect scene, capture your experience, the things that drew your eye, your response to what you are looking at, not a perfect rendition of what you’re looking at.
Lower the stakes, drawing outside can sometimes feel overwhelming, start small, thumbnail sketches can be a useful entry point and don’t try and draw every detail, simplify, eliminate draw just the light and dark shapes.
If you’re outside you may have to draw standing up and this actually helps to make your drawings quick and immediate, it brings an energy and dynamism that you may enjoy.
Think of your drawings as a starting point not finished pieces. The sketches you make outside are notes for activities we’ll explore later in this course, we will unpack our drawings and use them to inspire further work, they are not finished pieces in themselves. I find this helpful to remember when I’m out drawing, it means I don’t worry about creating a beautiful finished piece when I’m outside. It allows me to be more interested in what I’m seeing, instead of how my drawing looks.
I often don’t start with a clean white page, I mess it up before I even leave the house with scribbles and marks, I enjoy drawing over an already interesting surface and find it makes me less precious and more care free in my approach. Try this for yourself and see what you prefer.
The drawing process is information gathering, data collection, helping you to consider what you are seeing more deeply. You are building your knowledge and your awareness as you go.
We don’t want drawing to feel like the hard work before the fun begins, think of your drawings as exploratory, a way to fully experience where you are and what you are seeing in a lovely new way, a way to embed the memory of the place into your brain, a way to understand what you find interesting about what you are seeing.
Try drawing quick studies one after the other, I try and come back from being out with at least ten drawings, you will find that the more drawings you do, the less worried you are about how they look.
The more you look at what you are drawing the more you discover.
When deciding what to draw look for interesting shapes and collections of shapes. Variety of shapes and variety in the placements of these shapes can make for an interesting composition. Consider if there is something on both the horizontal and vertical plane. Diagonal elements can add a dynamic feel.
Try and simplify your drawing by looking for the most important big bold shapes. You may find it helpful to look through squinted eyes to add a little blur to what you are seeing so you become more aware of the dominant shapes.
