A Few Quick Drawing Tips

I always do these things as I'm drawing

I try to get out and do these drawings very often. They are one of the things that I turn into fridge magnets, of which I have many. My fridge door and sides are full, as are a few smaller magnetic bulletin boards. But I send a lot of these small images off, so it’s not too bad. I really like making pieces this small, so luckily thus far the accumulation has been manageable.

When I first head out in the car, I have no idea what sort of place will cause me to stop…..other than the fact it has to be safe place to park the car at the side of the road. A lot of places aren’t safe, and a lot of places are just too busy, but that still leaves me many options.

This location is very close to the Ganaraska Forest and it was one of the first places I came to draw when I retired from teaching more than 5 years ago. As I was approaching here today, I thought about how free and wonderful I felt on that day, and how I was day-dreaming about all the wonderful places where I’d be able to draw and paint now that my time was entirely my own. Retirement is great….every day is Saturday!

Here I’m parked on top of a high hill, I get a great view, and my car is safely visible for all cars approaching from behind. But it was perfect…..nobody drove by in the half hour it took to make this drawing.

There are a few things that I do to keep the stress of starting to a minimum. I take a big travel cup of sweet tea with me every time…that means a little treat and some look-around time will always happen. Perks before and after work!

When I choose the scene, I always want a distant sense of space. I grew up in Saskatchewan, where in the country you can see for miles, so maybe that explains that preference. And I look for how the motif is dividing up the space and creating movement. I know what will be included before I begin drawing……actually I pretty much know what will be included before I park the car.

Once I start drawing I am on auto pilot. The pencil will not stop moving at all, and there are no corrections. If something ends up in the wrong place…tough beans, it just gets incorporated into the composition.

I first make some marks to map out a few of the compositional areas, with my eye moving back and forth from the motif to the drawing. I itemize and enter….I am looking at the drawing more than you might thing, and I’m looking at the motif LESS than you might think. I am not really after an accurate representation, although obviously what is out there is totally guiding me. I am after a bit of life being created on the page.

As the drawing starts to fill in, I am constantly assessing how the Darks, Lights, and Middle Values are dividing up the space. There have to be some of each. The lines always have to look alive, fresh, and free. That’s why nothing gets corrected…to correct is to kill that idea right from the start! The mark that comes from the pencil in my hand has to have its own authority. Sometimes the lines are drawn lightly and gently, and sometimes the darks are scrubbed in over and over. I’m using a mechanical pencil, so there is a fair bit of layering going on.

I am also always looking for the contrast of areas that are more densely worked, to areas that are left almost empty. The greys should be clearly visible as distinct from the extreme darks and extreme lights.

And ALWAYS there is the underlying ideas that we are just here to show up for a coffee break, NOT to create a masterpiece. After perhaps half an hour of looking and pencil moving, the drawing is done. I take a few moments to set the drawing by the passenger seat window to assess the darks and lights. And I DON’T fuss. If something looks like it needs a bit more work, I’ll enter it quickly…this is usually an area where I think the darks need to be brought up to establish more contrast and suggestion of space. This time of analysis is very brief. I do the adjustment and then I say DONE!…and I enjoy my tea, look all around…and day-dream some.

I always leave some time just to look…….this is the view in the opposite direction.

They end up looking like this when they are turned into magnets. 2.75 x 2.75 inches, the pieces are varnished for protection, signed on the back, with a strong magnet on the back.

I don’t know if I’ll keep making these forever, or if they will just stop at some point. But I’ve made them for quite a long time now and I’m still enjoying the whole process, probably because this size allows a lot of new things to happen. It welcomes innovation and is not at all about refinement. If the major imputus of the work is refinement, I can easily predict that the action will not be sustainable, and the process will simply peter out.

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