Introduction

Something I've hinted at in the past and something I've been wanting to get into for a while is physical sketching. I've tried a lot of different sketchbooks and portable notebooks but none of them were particularly ergonomic enough for me to make a habit out of pulling out and drawing in.

What finally ended up clicking for me was getting myself a small portfolio cover from Oberon Design. I'll admit it was the beautiful embossed design that really drew me in, but I was very intrigued by the prospect of writing on a memo pad.

Probably the greatest allure was the knowledge that a memo pad has no need of working around the awkward bump that comes from the spine of a normal booklet. The tear-off pages make it easy to doodle on one side, rip it out and flip it over to use the rest of the paper as support.

The loose pages are kept safely in the left-side leather pocket, which could also serve to keep another booklet in place should I so desire. I'm thinking of doing a dedicated blog post that would detail the drawing equipment and other such implements I carry on a daily basis.

Oodles of Doodles!

I started off doodling with a Pilot G-2, but I ended up doing most of my sketchwork on a matte-black Fisher Bullet pen. I keep it clipped to my wallet most of the time which makes it very convenient to whip out on a whim for a quick draw.

Last week I was trying to emphasize cleaner and more intentional lines. That all went out the window with this shift to physical media, sadly... I think that's partially due to the difference in pressure and technique, but I also think there's some impatience I have yet to conquer in the context of of these imprecise sketches.

I've been traveling this week, which makes for great opportunities to bust out a pen and paper. A lot of travel is waiting around. My usual medium for artwork is a 13-inch iPad Pro, which is a little cumbersome when traveling from airport to airport or gate to gate.

Sketching with Intentionality

Once my traveling was done, I had greater faculty to relax and focus on cleaner sketches. The things I doodled were mostly from reference, but I was quick to let my imagination run free.

Taking my time definitely helps. The tiger and lute player were drawn from still photograph references, but the octopus was an attempt at drawing from moving pictures. My wife and I sat down to enjoy a nostalgic viewing of Shark Tale. I found Luca the octopus's design quite striking and decided to try and draw it without a direct reference. I heard that da Vinci used to encourage his pupils to draw from motion and figured this might be a good way to put it into practice.

I'm currently reading Sorie Kim's "Drawing Basics and Beyond." She has a lot of great tips on sketching and her work is phenomenal - especially in her understanding of form and structure. I still have so much trouble drawing from construction. I don't think the ballpoint medium helps in that regard, so I'll have to work on practicing in Procreate or with pencil.

A Digital Interlude

Of course, my main medium is still digital. After a long week of mostly ballpoint and paper sketches, I longed to return to my iPad. I found a shot of Anne Hathaway from the Jane Austen biopic that I wanted to try and recreate. That's the thumbnail for this week's article.

The early stages of this portrait were pretty rough. I had a lot of trouble placing features in a way that could capture her likeness. It's a lot easier to notice the issues with someone as recognizable as Anne Hathaway.

I'll admit I did use the lasso tool quite a few times, even though my intention was to try and approach this as one would an oil painting. I only used a singular layer and brush (Procreate's "Orca" brush), which was a very fun and informative study.

I wanted to spend some more time with the digital medium, so I went on to do another value study from reference.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun with the art process this week! I could see sketching potentially replacing the incessant phone habit. I think the act of physical drawing definitely helps bridge some gaps in my mostly-digital understanding of the process of creation. It provides a lot of ideas and methods that I can bring back to my digital workflow. And of course it forces me to be infinitely more deliberate without an undo button.

I have a little more traveling to do in the upcoming week, so I'm looking forward to drawing some more while waiting to go from aircraft to aircraft. Maybe I'll work up the courage to sketch some people!

Have a tubular week!