Drawing on Location

An excuse to get out and around. Pack up your favorite sketchbook or papers and drawing stuff (pencils, pens, markers, pastels, whatever) and hit the road to some scenic area nearby that you've wanted to hang out in for awhile, whether it's a park, coffee hangout, pub or somebody's backyard. You can really draw on location anywhere you happen to be, but it's easier to _allow_ yourself to do it if you make yourself get away from your usual surroundings. It's always hard to make the time, but think of it as much-needed self-maintenance time.

Figure on spending a good part of an afternoon (or morning if you're a morning person). Allow yourself to wander around for awhile scoping out likely spots that inspire you; look for cool shapes and contrast, lights and darks that you think might be interesting to try to capture rather than specific subjects. Then plonk down and dig in. You'll probably want to do a few quick warm-up drawings first, but eventually just let yourself get sucked into some of them for a longer period.

A few suggestions:

--A whole huge scene outdoors can be quite overwhelming to figure out where to even start, so focus in on a small area and decide from there what your focal point in your drawing will be, whether it's a tree, a chair, whatever.

--Sometimes it helps to frame a bit of your scene. If you use your hands shaped like a frame, look around to see what looks good. Sounds so cliche, but it works.

--Paper boundaries: most of us will tend to lose track of the edge of the paper and realize part way into a drawing that we're running off the edges. Part of the trick in avoiding that is to do your framing (above), and look at your paper before you make any marks to place your drawing mentally. White spaces and edges will go a huge way towards making a mediocre drawing look better; makes it look more deliberate and planned. One trick I confess to being fond of is to actually drawing a box on the paper, lightly, after you have an idea what you want to draw but before you're bogged down in the drawing. It reminds you of placement and composition as you go along.

--Gawkers: One of the hardest things to deal with when drawing in crowded areas is the people who want to see what you're drawing. If you're at all shy and self-concious, it's hard to let go and really draw when you're being watched. If you use a big pad or an easel, you're fair game for every curious onlooker, and you'll need to get in a frame of mind where you just don't care what people think. Actually people are fascinated to watch someone draw, and they're usually kind, but if you want to avoid all of those pressures, it helps to keep your sketchbook or pad relatively small, like lap-size; makes it more private and people are less likely to pry.

--Try to loosen up and relax; most of us start out all tight and nervous. It usually takes some warming up and relaxing into it to get some good drawings out of a session. The idea isn't to be detailed and accurate but to capture a flavor and a feel for a place. Try to think in broad terms visually rather than getting bogged down in trying to "get it right".