Recently my friend Haidee-Jo asked if I could give her a few tips on sketching to share with her students in one of her painting workshops. I put together these 10 tips which I also felt I needed to share here. Enjoy them and enjoy the sketches too!
1. There's only one thing that can stop you from being a sketching machine-your eyesight-make sure its good, make sure your sketching hand trusts your eyesight.
2. There's always something called the overall view of anything. Let this be the most important thing you aim for while sketching anything. Never get bogged down with details.
3. Your sketching equipment-I don't care what you use. Just make sure you understand everything that it can do. That way you become a master of the material. The way to master the material is to love it, play with it, experiment with it, do everything possible with it, until you know every single thing it is capable of doing.
4. You are a unique individual, there is something about you that everyone needs to know. That's why we don't look the same, so why should our drawings and paintings? Get to sketch loads and loads and loads, until you become you and nothing but you.
5. You look at your sketches and you feel proud-(good!) But beware of being comfortable with what you are producing now. Strive for more, long for the best you can ever be.
6. You look at your sketches and you feel low(-bad!) Never let where you are now determine your pathway. Always have a healthy, comfortable view of what you have done and NEVER communicate that low feeling when talking about your work.
7. When sketching, it's all about time. If you have a longer time, make that your pace. And if you have shorter time make that your pace. It's always about how much time you have at your disposal.
8. Your mind is everything when it comes to solid sketches. Always have it at the back of your mind the words, IT IS POSSIBLE.
9. If you don't like perspective don't worry. What you need to like is the reality of how things need to appear in distance to create a meaningful use of space in the three-dimensional on a two dimensional surface. Sometimes its just the word that scares us not the meaning.
10. Finally, there's nothing that can stop you from progressing to the next stage of your career! The only thing is YOU. Believe in yourself!
SPECIAL QUOTE
"HASTE IS THE ARTIST'S WORST ENEMY"-I heard while in College