I feel like I’m bouncing backwards and forwards this month with colleges back and courses starting up again.
It feels like we are back to a normal academic year. But with restrictions on social distancing and many courses still online, never mind the worry of rising infection rate, it’s back to lockdown blues!
My online courses started a few weeks ago and it’s going well, with some new faces, which is fantastic.
Life drawing is going back this month, so fingers crossed that goes well. Lots of precautions have been put in place to keep us all safe, but thankfully none that will impact on the course and the friendly atmosphere too much.
So this month I thought I would encourage you to begin your own ‘Drawing Normal’. No matter where you are or what is happening we should make time to sketch and draw. This month there is a great charcoal tutorial for you to download from my Tutorials page.
But…. Let’s also set aside time to get better at drawing (or any other medium you want to work with).
When I get out of the habit of sketching I need to push myself to stick to a routine. So here’s what I do.
Week 1: sketch (or substitute with your favourite medium) anything (even doodle) for 2-5 minutes 4 times this week. (4 different days or if you have to 4 different times on Friday!)
Week 2: now a bit longer 5-10 minutes of sketching 4 times this week.
Week 3: and a bit longer still, 5-10 minutes sketching 6 times this week.
Week 4: hopefully now you should be finding it easier to set that little bit of time for yourself and it should be easier to find something to sketch. By this time I am sketching for more than 10 minutes each day as I find I want to work on more complex images and ideas.
Week 1 is the hardest as you find it hard to find something to sketch. But remember it can be anything! Your coffee cup, the door handle, the cat, a flower in your garden, or just a doodle. The key is to push yourself to do it, and then as the weeks go on you may even start enjoying it!
Above are some examples of students work.
This is a great way to make sketching (or whatever arty medium you want to develop) into a regular practise. If you can keep it up you will definitely see the difference.
Give it a go, you can always share your daily practise on the student chatroom.
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