How to Sketch part One

Can I make a confession? I was a really bad still-life drawer. I cannot for the life of me explain why, but I would rather have done a complicated human life study than a simple still-life. Of recent that has changed.
I got the book, Keys to Drawing, by Bert Dodson and he covers drawing in general. It's a great book.

 

Rule no. 1 of drawing is, well....Seeing.

Our minds are incredible: we have so much info in there that if we shaded lines in a particular manner, our minds will recognise the shapes if they are familiar. So when most of us want to draw, we immediately start and then follow our mind's eye, not what we see in front of us. Which is why our drawings look stiff and awkward and others look artistic.

Before you start worrying about proportions and drawing an apple to look like an apple, why not try this: 

Draw straight lines and use them to form an apple. 

Force your mind to be uncomprehending of thought, so your mind goes blank and you record what you see before you and not what your mind thinks an apple looks like.

This is a sketch I did of some trees in Freedom Park, Lagos Island. People actually recognise them, but they are not precisely drawn. I've suggested them. And I did it in 5 minutes, to force myself not to think of what I was drawing, and just draw.

 

Tree study, charcoal on paper

Try it today, grab some paper, pencil or a pen. Heck, even a piece of cooking charcoal. We're all artists on the inside.