Sketchbook Inspiration #1
ART TIP – Sketchbook Inspiration #1
Drawing in a sketchbook is about the process and the practice, not the finished product. Be inspired to use your sketchbook to try new things and keep creativity flowing – good habits for your brain!
What Kind of Sketchbook? Use different sizes, preferably with good paper (“acid free”).
Mark the first page “Please return to:” and put your name and phone number on it.
Step One - Relax, Breathe
Relax and clear your mind before a drawing session. Sit up straight, both feet on the floor, shoulders down, arms dangling loosely. Close your eyes and do some deep breathing while you loosen your neck muscles. Pick up your pen for some warm-ups.
Step Two – Warm up your Brain
Draw big in the air or in a large sketchbook. Make doodles. Make a series of freehand straight lines, inhaling and exhaling while you draw each line. Do the squiggly line warmup by drawing a wavy line across left to right without lifting your pen. Repeat!
Step Three - Choose a Subject to Draw
The real world gives us too much visual information. Draw simple subjects, or simplify your drawing by thinking of the 3-dimensional objects you see as 2 dimensional. Everything has potential for art, so stop waiting for that spectacular subject to come your way. Draw your hand! Draw your breakfast! Draw from a magazine ad! Draw the people in your Zoom meeting! If you’re at a loss on what to draw, Draw Garbage!
Step Four – Increase your ability rapidly
Timed Drawing forces us to improve. Set a timer, draw for 2 to 7 minutes. Repeat.
Draw with your non-dominant hand. Doing something different helps your brain at any age. Try Contour Drawing. Draw the outside edge first, then the largest shapes within the outline next. Try it with a bunch of bananas. Draw Negative Space, meaning draw the spaces around your subject, not the subject itself. That can be a brain teaser!
Draw with a Pen – When you think of an eraser as an anti-learning tool, your drawing ability can suddenly get better. (Yes, you can make lovely shading with soft pencils, but soft 6B pencils, for instance, make a mess of portable sketchbooks.) Try a pen! Use the fear of making a mistake as a tool to look more carefully, be more deliberate, and make each stroke count. Draw with a fatter ink line. Using a Micron .005 (a very tiny nib) makes lines appear scratchier and more restated. Drawing with a larger nib pen can help your drawing skill even more. Fine point Lamy fountain pens are equivalent to a .05- or .08-Micron pen. Boldness makes for more deliberate strokes.
Step Five – Make it a habit!
Get help with your drawing habit. Drawing for brain health keeps the flow of creativity going and lowers stress. Have someone who cares for you ask you each day if you have had a few minutes to draw that day, in a supportive way. Use a date stamp to stamp tomorrow’s date on the next blank page of your sketchbook. Practice drawing and figure out what works for you! When you are drawing happily, you relax and your brain goes into a state where terrific ideas for your art arise. Creativity happens while we are being creative!
See more sketching on Susan Sorensen’s susansorensen.blogspot.com, by name on Facebook, and in Susan’s Facebook group, ‘Draw Garbage’.