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

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.

Urban Sketching with Markers (Part I)

TUESDAY TIPS & TRICKS

Urban sketching is a crazy collection of whatever skills you can bring to the table. There are those who sketch with paints/watercolors, colored pencils, pen and ink, graphite, markers and even dry erase markers. It's all good. As they say in the south, "dance with the date you brought." I am one of a number of urban sketchers who has found comfort in the use of markers. Our styles range from a tighter, realistic style to a loose energetic style and everything in between. For example, check out the range of styles between Lisa Flahive http://flahive.fineartstudioonline.com/collections/48778, and Donald Owen Colley http://buttnekkiddoodles.com. Both have styles I greatly admire.

By the way, much like picking out paint brushes, there is a large variety of marker tip sizes and shapes available, from very fine pens, brush tips to chisel and calligraphy tips (also known as nibs in some places). The advantages of using markers is that they are fast-drying, blendable with other colors, and come in an assortment of colors and kits. For example, you can pick up a set of cool greys, warm greys, basic colors, earthy colors and pastel colors. These are great if you can identify in which color palette your sketches normally reside. Of course, you can always mix and match to create your own customized marker set. I will cover the many popular brands of markers available in my “Part II of Urban Sketching with Markers.”

Many people have asked me about my secrets to using markers. Here are a few tips that I like to use which may be of interest to you. (Click on the image below to enlarge it for better viewing and detail).

Step 1: I like to sketch out my scene in pencil or fine point pen.

Step 2: Using the Push Fade and Pull Fade techniques, I will add color. You can notice that, by lifting the marker during the stroke, you can achieve some nice graduation in color.

Step 3: Now I can go back over the original color strokes and overlap them with secondary strokes to add more color or more dimension. Often I will add pastel colors and pick up the sky tones, skin tones and reflections to add energy to the sketch.

I Am An Urban Sketcher

Whenever I tell someone that I am an Urban Sketcher, I get a number of different responses. "You mean like a graffitti artist?" or "Do you draw all over sidewalks?" 

In order to explain what Urban Sketching is, let us first dispel some misconceptions about what urban sketching is not.

1. Urban Sketching is not a super hip retail clothing and apparel chain based out of Philadelphia, PA.

2. It is not a crowd-sourced, online dictionary of common slang words and phrases

3. It is not a line of sneakers and athletic shoes popular with skateboarders

4. It is not the name of the current head football coach for The Ohio State Buckeyes

5. And finally, Urban Sketchers is not the country male vocalist who once lived in Australia.

Urban Sketching is the activity of capturing a scene from an urban setting, whether that be architecture, nature (such as parks and forest preserves), people going about their lives (there is a whole list of urban activities that people can be caught doing that are just made for the urban sketcher), modes of transportation and any combination of all of these. We sketch with pencil, markers, watercolors, chalks, or anything else we have in our tote bags into our sketchbooks (although I have yet to see anyone sketch in lipstick). The best thing is that Urban Sketching is a group activity where companionship and sharing of technique is a big benefit to belonging with this group.

Urban Sketching (USk) is a global community of artists that practice drawing on location in cities, towns, and villages in which they live, work or have traveled. It is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location. 

USk Chicago (USk Chicago) is the local community of diverse artists united by a passion for sketching, discussions, socializing and sharing their unique visions of the world around them with others. In fact, the Urban Sketchers motto is "we see the world, one drawing at a time."

I hope this helps explain the movement in which I am involved. I hope this helps your understanding of it but if you still have questions or comments, please reply to this post and I will be happy to clarify anything for you. 

Wes Douglas, Urban Sketchers Chicago