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Tips, Tricks, Treats, and Sketching at Blicks!

Join us for the fun and comradery at Blicks. It's a great place to sketch inside and out.

Sign up here at Eventbrite and you may win a goodie bag! Of course, as always, you can just show up. If you are a newbie be sure to introduce yourself to one of the admin. We'll have our name badges on and we'd love to meet you!

P.S. There's free parking!

Best Practices for Sketching People in Public (and not getting caught)

I am often asked how I am able to sketch people in public without getting people angry or upset. After years of sketching people at airports, on commuter trains and even while in waiting rooms, here is what has worked best for me. Perhaps one of these will work for you. A special thank you to fellow urban sketchers Ted Gordon, Angie (Haugh) Novak and Emily White for their experiences and shared tips.

1.    Sketch first, ask later. In my experience, when you first ask for permission to sketch a person, it may be met with initial resistance, or it will effect the pose you were originally attracted to. Besides, if you already have a sketch started and the person asks what you are doing, having a concrete example can work better than explaining what you are planning to do.

2.    Creative Disguising. Normally accepted disguises, such as hats and sunglasses work well to cover your gaze. The idea is to blend in, not stand out and attract attention so sunglasses in a dark restaurant or tavern might cause suspicion.

3. Sketch in a smaller book is a great way to disguise that you are drawing.

4.    Don’t Be A Bobble-head. Pick a more crowded location. If you are the only other person in the room, anything you do will be noticeable. Cartoon of head movements.

5.    Leverage reflections at night. If someone looks back at you, move your head side to side as if trying to look past them. Cartoon of subject upset, on window is warning “Caution: objects in reflection are closer than they appear.”

6.    Sketch from inside your car. Lots of people eat or have phone calls inside their car. Sad cartoon of lowly artist sketching from behind steering wheel.

7.    Sketch from an upper level, or from the side, out of their line of sight. Sketching from below is still within their peripheral.

8.    Capture first in pencil to block out the basic posture and position. Add color or shading later if you have time. For moving subjects, go for your impressions of their movements such as dancers or skateboarders at the park. 

9.    Pick subjects who are fully engrossed in their activity. Examples might include commuters on their electronic devices, a chef at work behind a viewing window, or an athlete during a sporting event.

10. Invite a friend to lunch or coffee and chat while sketching over their shoulder. I used this technique when I got together with Liz Steel while we planned out our WGN-TV interview while sitting at a coffee shop. She, of course, did the same and we sketched in opposite directions.

In the event that you do get "caught" and the subject confronts you, simply show them your sketch and allow them to look at it. Most of the time, people will be relieved that you were not taking photos and sketches are more flattering than photographs. Feel free to start a conversation with the person if the opportunity presents itself.

I'd love to hear which one works best for you and your stories of how it turned out in the comments below. 

Spotlight Sunday – Cathy Turley

Spotlight Sunday is series of interviews designed to introduce and highlight Chicago Urban Sketchers individually. Now that our chapter has reached nearly 500 members it has become more of a challenge to meet every single member in person and have a meaningful conversation. These posts concentrate on individuals and speak in their own words.

Meet Cathy Turley!

Cathy Turley

Interviewed by Barbara Weeks

Barbara Weeks: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Cathy. Tell us a little about yourself.

Cathy Turley: I’m originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. (“Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo!”) I came to Chicago to go to Moody Bible Institute. I’ve lived in Chicago for the better part of 25 years. I am a graphic designer/production artist at an advertising agency. I’ve always considered myself artistically inclined, but not something I have developed regularly.

BW: What prompted you to join USk Chicago?

CT: Somehow I stumbled across the Instagram feed of USk Chicago (@uskchicago) just before the Sketch Seminar last summer. I liked the sketches I saw on the feed and when I heard about all the giveaways for the seminar, I thought, that’s a really great deal! Then I attended the seminar and I got excited about drawing again.

BW: Why do you sketch?

CT: I love it. I like trying to accurately represent something I see. It uses a different part of my brain – a different type of focusing. Plus, I like getting better and meeting other artists.

BW: Do you have a favorite sketching medium? What do you like about it?

CT: I enjoy using pencil, followed by watercolors and then black ink. Right now I’m using a student watercolor palette and LePen Drawing pens. I had tubes of paints in college but they're all dried out. I figure it’s good just to sketch with any medium at hand. I, also, like the watercolor sticks we received in our swag bags at the seminar. I want to try the Velasquez palette, just three colors, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and Yellow Ochre. I like the portability. 

CT: "I enjoy ornate buildings and architectural details."

BW: If you could sketch anywhere in the world where would that be?

CT: I would be a tourist artist in Paris: little folding seat, travel easel, beret(!), sitting on the Seine sketching the city. My husband and I went to Paris for our 5th anniversary. When I saw the green booksellers booths and artists along the river, I got choked up. I said, “it’s just like the movies”. It would be a dream come true to travel through Europe and sketch. Oh, Rome!

BW: What artist(s) have had the most influence on you? Why?

CT: My watercolor instructor, Jim, at the Lansing Community College in Michigan. He gave us an overview of art history, as well as teaching us watercolor techniques.

BW: We know you’re on FaceBook, do you have other social media accounts that you’d like to share?

CT: I love Instagram. Take a look: @CathyTurley. I like graffiti, architecture, knitting and drawing.

CT: "I'm working on drawing people more accurately."

BW: Cathy is a loyal attendee at our monthly sketch meets. She’s introduced herself to us, so be sure to say hi if you see her at our third weekend of the month sketch meets!

Wonder where we’re meeting next? Click on the “Sketch Crawls” tab in the toolbar. I hope you'll join us! 

Urban Sketching Tells The Story of Our Surroundings

USK Chicago SketchCrawl at Blick Art Materials, Evanston, IL: 
In case some of you missed the story behind this sketch, this great old 1958 Triumph TR3 was sitting across from Clark's on Clark Street in Evanston. Thank you Lee Solock for pointing it out to me smile emoticon. 

I met the owner of the car, a woman named Amanda, when I was about halfway done with the sketch and she and her friend came out of Clark's. As they loaded into the car, I thanked her for letting me sketch her car. Surprised, she asked to see the sketch (which was only halfway done at the time) and she told me that this car has always been in the family and it was most recently her late father Chuck's. In her words "I'd really rather have my dad, but at least I get to drive his car around." He also loved to eat so now she honors her dad by driving this car out to eat someplace. 

I told her that now I was honoring him by sketching his car. Actually leaving the scene required a can of starting ether from the glove box and undoing the hood latches. Isn't it nice when a lady knows her way around a vintage car like this?

After I had finished this sketch, I scanned it and sent a copy to Amanda and she told me the rest of the story. It turns out that this little car was recently shipped in a U-Haul from Wisconsin (because a normal car carrier is too wide) and that I happened to capture this car on its maiden voyage since that trip. She said that the trip to Clark's was intentional and she had no idea that I would be there to artistically record this special day. 

Urban Sketchers Manifesto (from UrbanSketchers.org)

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Warming up to sketch? Here are some benefits

TUESDAY TIPS & TRICKS

Anybody who has spent time amongst first responders such as firemen, paramedics, military personnel and athletes of all levels (and Chicago winters for that matter) will know that practice, drills and a proper warm up are an essential part of being ready at a moment's notice when duty calls. Practice keeps the team in shape and alert for whatever comes their way. It also lets the team leaders work out the details on how the team will communicate and perform with each other so there is clarity and simplicity across the group. Another part of the practice and drills are in becoming familiar with all kinds of probable scenarios the team may face in real life-or-death situations so that they do not panic under pressure.

Am I suggesting that sketching requires warm up and practice to prepare for life-or-death situations? Not unless you are faced with the eleventh hour of turning in your final project for master's thesis or a big client presentation. What I am suggesting is that there may be some value in warming up your hands and brain before you attempt your sketch. 

Here are some of the main benefits to warming up. What are some of your warm-ups?

MENTAL PREPARATION

• getting yourself in the right frame of mind
• learn to search for a scene that resonates with you
• look for a story to tell and create a sketch that tells that story

PHYSICAL PREPARATION

• loosen up your wrist and arm
• increase your range of motion
• quick studies that help synch up the hand and eye coordination
• play around with basic shapes and scale

BUILDING CONFIDENCE

• practice making mistakes on purpose
• try out new ideas without fear of messing anything up
• test out your drawing tools, make sure they are in working order and find out how they will behave on certain papers

Sharpening Your Mind’s Eye – Memory Drawing

Tuesday Tips and Tricks

A photo flip sketch done after studying the photo for about 10 seconds.

Let’s face it almost all drawing is, in a way, memory drawing. Whether it’s a past vacation vista or the second it takes to look from your subject to your paper, it’s your mind’s eye holding the image for you to draw. The trick is to develop that eye to keep the image true while you transfer it to the paper. The tip is to do memory exercises – the sharpen your memory the better your drawing.

Here are a few games to get you started.

1. The Photo Flip 
You can use a photograph or an image from a magazine or newspaper. Choose something in the photo that attracts you. Study and simplify your chosen image carefully but quickly, twenty seconds tops.  Now, flip the photo over and draw what you remember. Try it again with the same photo, this time study it for ten seconds. How much more did you remember?

One of my favorite books on drawing is The Natural Way to Draw: A Working Plan for Art Study by Kimon Nicolaides (1891-1938) and one of my favorite quotes from the book is:

"Try not to remember merely the position of the model, just as when you memorize a poem you are not just trying to memorize just the shapes of the letters."

2. Quick Sips
Go to a cafe. Choose someone to draw. Observe them carefully. You won’t be able to control the amount of time you have since they will move. You can count on that! Now draw what you remember. Wait a bit and you’ll find they’ll return to the same pose again and again. Draw them again. And again. How do your sketches compare? While your waiting for them to return to the same pose choose another subject and use the same techniques.

Not done in a cafe but in a park watching my granddaughter play.

3. Red Light Green Light
When you’re a passenger in a car and the car stops for a red light observe what you see out the window. When the light turns green sketch what you saw. (Sometimes as a variation I may just see how long I can hold the afterimage in my mind. Of course this can be done anytime.)

4. No Erasers Allowed 
Rather than do a new sketch for each observation in these exercises try them by drawing over/correcting your original sketch.

Another quote from Nicolaides

“Memory drawing is a little like touch typing. If you try consciously to think of where the letters are you are likely to become confused, but if you rely on your sense of touch you can become very accurate.”

Powerful observational skills and a strong visual memory are a tremendous skills for an Urban Sketcher who shares a view of a fast moving world. Practicing observation and memory skills will improve your on location sketching. 

I call this a memory doodle, done totally from a memory of Casa Batillo in Barcelona.

Creating Value with Line

Tuesday Tips & Tricks

I've enjoyed being able to contribute to the TTT series so far.  It’s challenged me to think about why and how I do what I do when I am sketching and to put it all down into words.  This is something I have never really done until recently.  It has also been incredibly beneficial to read the weekly posts of the other contributors Wes, Barbara and Alex.  In the last couple months, as Chicago winter has settled in and limited outdoor sketching opportunities, I've found myself coming back to bits and pieces of advice from several previous posts from Alex and Barbara.  In Playing With Line, Barbara reminded us of the versatility and simplicity of line.  In Thoughts on Talent, Alex reminded us the more we work on something the better we become, and that all of us can become great sketchers.  And most recently in Every Visual Creative Should Keep a Sketchbook Barbara gave pointers on how to use a sketchbook, turning it into a personal habit and practice, something we carry with us everywhere.  With these tips in the back of my mind, and knowing how the winter months can put my sketching into hibernation, I started thinking about how to encourage myself to maintain the sketching habit in spite of the inclement weather conditions.  So, (at least for the time being), I decided to trim down my entire sketch kit to one or two fountain pens and one sketchbook.

Simplifying my entire sketch kit down to two or three pieces has made it easy me to carry my sketchbook and pen(s) with me wherever I go, which has also encouraged me to sketch more.  More importantly, (and to the point of this post) I've been learning how versatile one sketching tool can really be.  This post goes over some of the techniques I have been playing with in the past few months that allow simple line drawings, with one pen (or whatever you chose to use), to be transformed from flat, valueless sketches into dynamic value filled sketches.

Creating Value With Line

Why? 
Line drawings that do not incorporate value can often seen flat and static.  Drawings that incorporate value have a sense of depth and are more dynamic.

How? 

-Use different sized pens (pencils, brushes, markers etc etc)  For the purpose of the post I am focusing on and using pens as an example.  You only need one or two.  There are several different brands of pens that come with a variety of sizes.  Some popular choices are the Sakura Pigma Micron pens, Staedtler’s Pigment Liner pens, or Faber Castell’s PITT Artist Pens.  Or you could use a fountain pen that has a flexible, springy nib, such as Noodlers Konrad Flex Pen.  My preference is to use one or two fountain pens.  If only using one, I use my TWSBI580 with an EF (Extra Fine) nib.  The extra fine nib is great for creating really thin lines, but the flow of the ink in the pen is fast enough that I can easily add value to a line(s) or easily fill in larger areas with value.  If using a second pen, I will use one that has an M (medium) or B (bold) nib.  Having a second pen with a larger line weight provides a quick contrast in line weights which can be used for things such as the profile or relief of a building, objects that are in the foreground or any line or object you want to pop from the rest of the drawing.

-Cross hatching.  Cross hatching can be done in many different  ways and patterns.  Cross hatching allows you to build value up through the layering of marks.  Hatching can be done by layering lines that are all going in the same direction, or lines that are going in different directions (diagonal, perpendicular etc etc…)  The Urban Sketcher Paul Heaston is renown for his cross hatching.  (Check out more of his work on his Facebook Page) Here is one example of how he uses cross hatching to create value in his line drawings.

Here are a few simple cross hatching examples:

Multiple Pass – This is a name I made up.  Maybe there is another name for this, but the idea is that the more times you go over the same line, the more value, and thickness it will have.

Line variation – When using a pen such as a flex pen, brush pen or felt tipped pen, and with varying amounts of force, you can create variety of value in your lines. 




Line Weight - Check out the unique ways that Illustrator Lyndon Hayes uses line weights to achieve value with line.

Lyndon Hayes - http://instagram.com/lyndonhayes

Lastly, here are a few of my most recent sketches, each completed with one pen, that demonstrate creating value with line:







As soon as I narrowed down my every day sketch kit to a single pen and started re-visiting basic sketching skills as these, I became reacquainted with basic sketching styles I had started to overlook. These basic techniques, all completed with one or two pens, can produce some real impressive work. So my challenge for you is to keep it simple, and keep on sketching this Chicago winter season.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Fear of the Smear

TUESDAY TIPS & TRICKS

One of the most frustrating aspects of drawing with a wet medium is the accidental smear that results from not allowing ample time for the ink to dry. A smear can result from an object coming into contact or sliding across a wet part of a freshly drawn line or painted surface.

I like to pencil in my sketch lightly and then trace over it with pen and ink. Of course, I am a little bit of a neat-freak and cannot wait to erase the grey lines of the pencil--sometimes a little too soon after inking the line--and create a smeared line. Other times I have inadvertently rubbed the heel of my hand across a wet line when I am working swiftly back and forth across the drawing and created a mess.

Thankfully there is no need to slow down the speed at which the sketch is drawn because there are a few tricks to keeping this from happening.

Marker Techniques – Materials: Part 2

TUESDAY TIPS & TRICKS

When it comes to picking out the right marker types and paper suitable for how you want to use markers, there are a few considerations you should think about:

Who should use markers?

Any artist/creative who has traditionally worked with colored pencils, watercolors, pen & ink, and even digital art can benefit from working with markers.

Where do you most often sketch?

At home or in the studio

On location – stationary

On location – In a busy environment, 
moving around

At a client – their home or office

What speed do you work at?  

Quick Sketch: least detail

Fast Sketch: less detail

Detailed Sketch: medium detail

Refined Sketch: more detail

Fine Art: most detail

How do you like to sketch?

Loose Sketch: (Least detail)

Gestural sketch, rough ideas, Pictionary, and quick communication of idea

Memory Sketch: (Less detail)

A quick capture of a thought, a vision, a dream, or a fragment of an idea

Observational Sketch: (Medium detail)

Diagrams, how-to visual descriptions or processes, explanations, sketchnotes, botanical recordings, science experiments, field notes, cutaway views, courtroom sketch artists, consumer behavior patterns

Conceptual/Imaginary Sketch: (Medium detail)

Science fiction, creative development, product design, automotive design proposals, theme park and restaurant theme designs, mood boards

Planning Sketch: (More detail)

Storyboards, planograms, interior designs, landscape designs, fashion, and architectural proposals

Presentation Sketch: (More detail)  

to leave a positive impression with the audience
to pitch an idea with the goal of alignment or approval
(such as a real estate development)

Fine Art: (Most detail) Gallery quality

As you can see there are many different uses for markers because they are so adaptable for different applications and portable. You can now get a sense why there are so many materials available and how they have evolved out of the many new uses. 

They key is to play around with lots of materials, try them out and find which ones work the best for you. It would be really hard to make a mistake but you will start to see which ones behave the way you like.