Tuesday 2 November 2010

Waterfront sketching

Unfortunately I didn't do any sketching last week. Entirely my own fault - I felt particularly lazy and uninspired all week. Unfortunately that also meant that when I finally opened The Book to pick up where I left off, I felt a bit intimidated all over again.

However, when we went sketching on Saturday, I managed to overcome the little voice in the back of my mind that kept saying "Boats? You can't draw boats!" I decided to use a gel pen again, as I find that it forces me to slow down, to take more notice of what I'm trying to draw, and to pay more attention to details. With a pencil, I suppose I always know at the back of my mind that I can erase any errant lines, but with the pen, I don't have that option and so I've found that it focuses my mind more.

I only managed to draw one boat, but I'm pretty happy with it. The proportion of some of the details isn't great (e.g., the boat was actually longer than it seems in my drawing, and the mast at the front is too short), but I think I managed to capture the essence of the boat that I was looking at. Unfortunately, I got a bit carried away with the old poetic license and started trying to draw in a tree in the background (because I felt that it looked a little bare without) and then sort of messed it up...

But, it's all progress, right? :)


Thinking back on it, it probably would have been better to leave the background blank and then use some watercolour to give it some definition. But because I used a gel pen, the watercolour would just have washed away the ink, so... it'll have to stay the way it is. Next Saturday, I'm going to try drawing in biro so I can add some colour later if it suits.

In the meantime, back to The Book!

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