7 Ways To Enjoy Urban Sketching More

Tuesday Tips & Tricks (Wes Douglas)

Congratulations! You've decided to join the Urban Sketchers Chicago (USk Chicago) group (or have recently been added) and now you might be wondering what's next. Here are some of my tips on how you can make your experience with USk Chicago a more fulfilling one.

1. Sketch something from your day. It could be from home, school, your work, during one of your breaks, or while you are traveling. Take a good clear photo of your sketch and share it on USK Chicago's Facebook page. If you have reservations about posting your work on the Internet, do this simple step and rest assured your work will be protected: Somewhere on your sketch, embed your name and the date you sketched it onto your sketch before you snap your photo. This way, your name will always be attached to your sketch. Consider an identifying stamp too.

2. Tell us a little something about one of your sketches, like the size, what drawing tools you used and the kind of sketchbook/paper you chose.

3. Ask a specific question to the community about your sketch. For example, I once posted a sketch of a stairway railing and I asked the group if my perspective was off or not. The amount of helpful and constructive feedback was very useful and gave me the positive kind of information I could use to effectively fix my sketch.

4. Don't hit the "LIKE" button. If you see another artist's sketch that you admire, write a thoughtful comment about a specific area you think works really well. To the artist who posted the sketch, this tells them a whole lot more than "LIKE" and it starts to build a conversation.

5. Ask another artist about what kinds of techniques they used to achieve their sketch or how they approach a sketch. My experience is that artists in this group love to talk about art skills and learn a few new things from each other as well. Plus, the very nature of a Facebook group is to be social and conversations go a long way toward strengthening the bond with other artists. The very fact that we are a social media group who actually meet face to face on a regular basis is what makes this group so special and unique.

6. Come out and join the group at one of our monthly Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawls. We call our events “Let's Sketch Chicago” and we meet in person at a designated location and time announced at the beginning of the month on Facebook. It is typically on the third weekend of the month and we alternate Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate more people’s schedules.

7. Volunteer for group activities. Our biggest event every summer is our USk Chicago Sketch Seminar. There are lots and lots of ways to volunteer – ranging from organizing and planning the event, spreading the word to local media, schools, art institutions, sponsors and to the larger population of artists who might want to attend. If you have a special skill that you would be interested to share in a workshop setting with other urban sketchers and painters, please think about becoming one of our workshop instructors. Ask me for more details. I can tell you from experience how incredibly fulfilling it is to affect people's lives with new skills and knowledge.

Time for Details

TIPS AND TRICKS TUESDAY - By Angie Hauch

In my urban sketching practice, there is one common theme to almost every drawing I make...

I didn't have enough time to put in all the details! 

Sound familiar? That unfinished feeling can steal the fulfillment of flipping back through your sketches and cause you to dwell on the anxiety of incompletion, instead of remembering the moment in time or the scene you chose to record.  Here's a couple of hacks I use to cheat time and use details sparingly in order to get a finished look, because let's be real, will we ever allow ourselves enough time to draw? I hope so, but in the meantime...

1.  Contours for the Complicated

Contours, or outlines, are a great hack for complicated things you don't have time to draw (i.e. leaves, trees, blades of grass, strands of hair etc). Suggest what is happening in one area by adding details. I find it effective to do this in the immediate area surrounding your focal point, and then hint at it as you work your way away from the subject.

In this drawing I knew it would take me all day to draw those trees so I worked in just a few details by the house, 

and with a quick contour, added a fully wooded dune in the background. Presto woods-o!

2.  Contours for Composition

Another tricky way to use contours, is to accentuate your composition.  Before you start to draw, ask yourself what (or who) is most important. Build in detail from the inside out.  In this setting there were 3 women drinking coffee and computing... I was really limited on time, and I could tell the farthest woman was already packing up. I chose to focus on the central character whose face I could study the closest, and used contours to capture the other characters.

The contours of the other women become a frame, and force our eyes right to the focal point.

Are you an urban sketcher over achiever?  I definitely was in this drawing and was far from finishing,
I decided a quick contoured skyline is so much nicer than a floating building.

3.  When all else fails... sign your name and turn the page.

When this couple got up and left mid-sketch, and then a waiter moved all the chairs, and then someone sat right in front of me... I figured this sketch was doomed.  Perspective is my enemy, and faking four chairs and table legs was simply not happening.  I tried the contour trick but even then, some lines and a big blank spot under the table left that bitter unfinished taste in my mouth. It was time to move on. I blocked out some boxes big enough to "finish" the drawing, and used what was left on my palette to date, initial and plug Panera. Try it! And then tell everyone it was intentional ;)

Ten Reasons to Draw and More

#inktober

Tuesday Tips & Tricks:

Everything Old is New Again

Did you know that until the late 1920s - early 1930s drawing was part of the regular school curriculum? While not one of the 3 Rs, it was considered an important tool for developing concepts, sharpening thought, and sharing ideas. What happened? One of the major factors was the development of photography made drawing seem like an unnecessary skill. In more recent years, computer advancements in the visual communication field made drawing appear to be unimportant even unnecessary but things are changing. Whether it’s called drawing, sketching, or doodling, today, we’re rediscovering the benefits of drawing. If you're an experienced artist looking to reboot or a newbie looking for kindred spirits, this is for you.

Why Draw?

1. Improves eye-hand coordination
2. Improves memory
3. Improves communication skills
4. Relieves stress (Have you seen all the coloring books for grown-ups that are in the stores?)
5. Increases creativity
6. Increases observational skills
7. Increases attention to detail
8. Increases positive emotions (Why do you think restaurants give crayons an paper to children?)
9. The more you draw the better your drawing skill
10. It's fun

And this is just a partial list!

Drawing relieves stress, preserves a memory, and conveys ideas.

Draw More

We know the benefits of drawing; it only makes sense to draw more. Want to draw more but need a nudge? It’s funny that two of the causes for drawing less are big helps to start drawing more – the computer and the internet. There’s an internet group out there made just for you and your sketching needs. FaceBook offers an almost endless list of groups that unite like-minded sketchers for encouragement, inspiration, to share information and sketches. There are drawing quests issued on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to challenge you to draw more. Post your work, add the proper # and join in the fun. 

Here’s a small sampling of groups to get you started. Don't hesitate to explore others, too. Be sure to read the groups’ guidelines and join those that are a good fit for you.

On location sketching:

• Urban Sketchers       Click here for Regional Chapters  (edited 10.24.15)
• Urban Sketchers-Chicago
• Plein Air Artists Group
• SketchCrawl
• Urban Watercolorist Group

Sketchbook work:

• Everyday Matters
• Artist’s Journal Workshop
• Inside Your Sketchbook
• In the Artist’s Studio: Daily Practices and Procedures

Hashtags:

The challenges vary and crop up seasonally. Search these hashtags for ideas:

• #inktober
• #everydayinmay

Enjoy and share sketching online communities – Sketchbook Work, Urban Sketching, #EDM2015

Working for years as a graphic designer, I reached a point when I felt handcuffed by the computer and missed the creative boost of sketching by hand. That's when I discovered Urban Sketchers and Everyday Matters. They were the beginning. There was no turning back! I found I didn't need  an excuse to draw, I had reasons to draw. How about you, why do you draw? Do you have a favorite group?