New Sketchbook, New Things

Back in November I set myself a challenge to be more consistent with my sketchbook — just to try and get something on the page every day, but also to hopefully sidle out of my comfort zone a little. It’s very easy to do the same thing (which you know works!) over and over again, but it’s usually in trying new things where the more exciting and fun stuff happens.

I started with a small (A6) watercolour sketchbook so as not to put myself off with acres of white pages. And I also started off with something firmly in my comfort zone. A little sketch of Soho (London, I believe other Sohos are available, but they possible capitalise them differently…) from a photo I’d snapped. A quick watercolour sketch to get the colours and tones in the right place, then details drawn with pen on top.

I liked it. But it was not new. So I spent a bit of time flicking through Pinterest and Instagram and seeing what was catching my eye. Bright colours, and pencil. Coloured pencil. I’d not drawn with coloured pencil since I was a child, but I definitely knew how to use them. And I had bright colours in my paint tin. So I started by laying down some random orange, teal, blue on the page and then, once it was dry, drawing on top of it with the pencils — based on a photo I’d taken whilst wandering around Barnes.

And I loved it! I mean, it’s not perfect, but the lions! The brightness! The way the random colour seemed to work with the composition in a way I hadn’t planned! So I decided to fill the rest of the sketchbook WITHOUT USING MY PEN.

I’d love to say that these were drawn in person, that the image of me, sketchbook in hand on various street corners, is accurate. But it’s not, at all! I tend to snap a photo when I see something I like or that catches my eye and then sketch later when I’m at my desk. I’d love to do more en plein air, but it’s just not realistic with my life at the moment. Working around my children and other commitments means I can’t just stop to ART when the mood takes me.

But there are advantages — your photo can be rubbish, as long as it reminds you of whatever caught your eye in the first place. You can come back to it when you have time, and wander off to let one bit dry rather than rushing through.