With longer brighter days, our March “How to …” is designed to encourage you to venture outside to sketch.
We hope to show how easy this can be. The act of working outside is very therapeutic and need not be difficult.
Vicki, who you will recognise from her previous How To videos, said, "For me, taking a short walk is also part of this - feeling the soft scent of the earth and flora and fauna, hearing the birds, the gentle breeze - all adds to how we feel. Add to this the act of properly looking and drawing or interpreting what we see can embed a memory of a space, be very mindful and meditative."
You can use your garden, local park or even venture to a beautiful woodland to enjoy this activity. Anywhere that you can see the sky, the trees and flowers is a perfect location to get creative.
Watch the video below and follow along with Vicki's guide to create your own outdoor sketch.
Materials
1 small sketchbook or plain paged notebook
1 x 2B pencil
Step by step guide
Step 1
Choose where you are going to walk. This could be in your garden, or a short walk to a park. The important thing is stepping outside and experiencing sketching in pencil en plein air.
Step 2
Take a small bag with a pencil and sketchbook. Make sure you are dressed in appropriate clothes. In order to be fully relaxed when you sit and sketch/draw, you need to be warm.
Step 3
Walk and find a place to sit. Take time to enjoy the fresh air, look at the garden, or park, or seaside – what inspires you? This sitting and truly looking is very important. You can do several sketches over several pages – if you want to draw more than one scene. Remember this is for you, so do not worry about using rubbers, there is no right or wrong. This is what sketchbooks are for.
Step 4
Use your pencil to work out where on the page you want to draw. Start light, using your pencil without pressure and sure up your lines when you know you have an idea of where your image. Build up your pencil marks as desired. You can leave your sketch as a line drawing or build up in tone - crossing the pencil over and over is called cross-hatching.
Do as many sketches as you would like. And remember to enjoy!
I hope you find this little exercise very relaxing. Here's to Spring!
Vicki