Sketching on Public Transportation

It's been a long time since I posted something so I though I would post some comments about my daily commute. I've demoted myself from Commuter Rail train to the MBTA buses and trains in order to save $100 per month in costs and it hasn't been easy. For anyone who is not a resident of Massachusetts, let me explain that the Commuter Rail are the big Amtrak-type comfy trains that you actually get to sit down in and the MBTA are the public transportation trains that are packed with people bumping into you and sometimes giving off foul odors as well. And everyone knows how buses are and why they are prime opportunities for comedy.

Anyway, I've been sketching on the trains and buses and enduring bone-jarring braking, turns that would make most race car drivers envious and hitting pot holes and speed bumps at high velocities. I've become quite skilled at sketching during quite adverse conditions but no matter how difficult it is - I'll sketching. The only way to become better at ANYTHING is to practice, practice, practice!

Artists and potential artists make all kinds of excuses not to draw and paint but if you want to get good then you have to practice. You have to draw and you have to paint if you want to improve. All you need to draw is a pencil and a piece of paper. It doesn't get any easier or cheaper than that.

I sketch faces from the free newspapers and recently I started sketching photos that I have stored on my Blackberry. I took some photos of my Loomis and Barque books and I bring them up on my Blackberry screen and sketch from that. I also sketch people on the train. You have to sketch them quick because you never know which stop they'll be getting off the train so it makes things interesting. You can even sketch your own hand or your shoes or your feet if you don't have shoes but I hope you do have shoes.

Keep sketching! You can find at least 30 minutes a day to sketch - no excuses!

15 Minutes each Day for your Art

We're all busy and artists who have families with young children and teen are especially busy. We're busy with our lives and we're also busy taking care of our children's lives as well.

With this in mind, there is no reason EVERYONE can find at least 15 minutes per day to draw or sketch. If you take public transportation then you even have less of an excuse because you can take a sketch book and make a quick sketch during the ride to work.

List of possible places and times to sketch:

1. During your commute while your stuck in traffic.
2. During your commute while your en route on public transportation.
3. During your lunch break.
4. Doodle while your on the phone with a customer or client.
5. Waiting to pick your kids at school or sporting event.
6. During breaks at your kids events.
7. In the morning set your alarm and wake up 30 minutes earlier.
8. While dinner is cooking.
9. Stay up 15 minutes each night and sketch before you go to bed.
10. In line at the deli doing your groceries.
11. Just give it some thought and you'll figure out many other times.

Fifteen minutes per day and you will greatly improve your drawing and painting.

Importance of a Sketchbook

A sketchbook is one of the best tools any artist can have in order to consistently improve the quality of the art. You can have a larger sketchbook for home use and use a smaller sketchbook to keep with you all the time. I keep a sketchbook in my bag to take with me to and from work and I draw on the train and that provides me with an addtional hour of sketching time per day. This helps when you are juggling a family life and a full time (non-art) career. This helps improve every aspect of your artwork including painting. Painting is just drawing with a paint brush so if you improve your drawing then everything will improve.

If you keep a sketchbook in your car you can sketch while you are stuck in traffic, waiting outside for friends or family, etc. You should take every possible change you get to sketch and I promise you'll see significant improvements in your work.

You don't have to sketch large scenes. You just want to find something nearby, no matter how small or large, and do a quick sketch of it. You can create really loose or really detailed drawings as time allows.

You can arrange to work on particular areas of you work that you need to improve on. For instance you can agree to get proportions correct during one session and then agree to work on getting your shading rendered correctly in the next.

Keep some small items with you or in your car to draw so you don't have to rely on the existing surroundings to provide subjects and this also allows you to continue sketching at another time on the same object. Some simple items you probably already have around the house or are easy to get to take with you are: toys, small statues, pens, plastic figures, leaves, rocks, sticks, keychains and just about anything else with light and shadow and bits of details.

I sometimes sketch faces and objects from newspapers that I tear out and put inside my sketchbooks or draw people or items such as shoes people are wearing on the train. My point is that there is always something to sketch so keep your sketchbook handy and start drawing.

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art sketching session

While scouring the internet and Googling the work "sketch" I stumbled upon this strange dare I say "arts" event." On every second Sunday of the month Great Scott's nightclub offers up "Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School Burlesque Life Drawing Session" that is not your average art school life drawing class.

In there own words, "Dr. Sketchy is the life drawing session you dreamed of in your dirty little art school head. Hot models with crazy costumes, sometimes genderbending antics, poses that keep your interest for hours, nice folks around you, beer, and it's cheap. The models talk and keep you entertained, there's good music, you could win prizes for good and bad art! You don't have to be a good artist, or someone who draws everyday. Dr. Sketchy is a great place to start back, or to try to pick up a new creative outlet.

We start with short poses to get you warmed up and then move on to longer and longer poses, but that's about where the traditional life drawing session stops..."

Here are the details if you are so inclined:

Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School Burlesque Life Drawing Session
Please bring your ID - this is an 18+ event
Great Scotts (Nightclub)
Second Sunday of every month
2.30-5.30pm
Cost $8 at the door. Tips for the model are welcome.
1222 Commonwealth Ave Allston (at corner of Harvard)

Malden Sketch Group

Yesterday I found a sketch group close to my home in a neighboring town and joined them in their Thursday night portrait sketch night. They also have figure drawing on Monday nights with nude life models as well. The times for both sessions are 7pm to 9:30pm.

There was about 10 artists their painting portraits and a few sketching as well. I was a little bit nervous at first, as most people I believe are, when I first walked in but those feelings were quickly put to rest. I was welcomed by Ginger Greenblatt and soon there after by a few other artist in the room. This was a great group of artists who are more than willing to give you advice and friendly suggestions about your work.

I would like to especially thank Marian Dioguardi who gave me lots of great advice and tips. You can Marian Dioguari's work at www.mariondioguardi.com.

I would have to say that I learned quite a lot in my first meeting.

For more information about this group please visit Ginger Greenblatt's site:
http://www.artginger.com/malden.htm

Copying the Barque Plates has drastically improved by drawing

I have been utilizing my commuting time on the train to improve my drawing skills by drawing one image per day from the Charles Barque Drawing Course text book. You are expected to spend a minimum of 14 hours or so on each drawing by meticulously copying the plates exactly as they are in the book but I've been trying to copy one plate per trip which equals to about an hour to and from work. Even copying the plates during my commute has drastically improved my drawing skills so I would highly recommend you make this part of your regimen. If you have more time then by all means work on one plate for the entire week.

I couldn't get a loan large enough to purchase the book so I borrowed it from the library. C'mon you know, it's that large building in your town with all the books in it. When I read a good review on a book I usually start with the library - it saves me lots of money, especially when this particular book costs $100 or more on Amazon on most days.

If you're not familiar with the Charles Barque Drawing Course book then you should immediately do a Google Search and look it up now if you're serious about improving your sketching and drawing skills. The full title of the book which weighs the same as a small anchor is "Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gerome: Drawing Course" by Gerald M. Ackerman and contains tons of full page plates of images of casts of body parts, statues, figures in various poses and angles.

The text also includes lots of information on the drawing process as well and is the staple text for a lot of drawing courses.

Good luck