Tina Koyama just did a blog post about completing five years as a sketcher. It reminded me that I’ve been sketching for five years as well so I thought I should do a short post about that fact.
When I began as a sketcher I couldn’t draw anything. I’d read Danny Gregory’s Everyday Matters and bought into the idea that being good wasn’t important; the process of doing it was what was important. This was an important epiphany for me at the time because I’d been convinced that I had no “talent” for art.
These days I know that “talent” is something you create by passion and persistence; you’re not born with it. Anyway, I started drawing cubes and doing simple drawings of things. I started posting a few things on Russ Stutler’s sketching site, which is where I first ‘met’ Tina. At that time I was drawing on photocopy paper and throwing the results away when I was done. Someone on that group explained what a bad idea that was and that I should keep my early sketches.
This was my first location sketch. It’s dated Oct 2011.
I wish I had some of them to post here but instead I’ll post the first location sketch I did (Oct 2011), a window manikin (I figured she wouldn’t mind me sketching her) and one of my first building sketches (done in Oct 2011 from a photo). I’ll add to this the last location sketch I did just a few days ago. Hope you can see a difference as there have been several thousand sketches done in between these. With a bit more persistence, maybe I’ll improve by the end of year six. In any case, sketching has improved my life so much that it doesn’t really matter.
This one was done Sept 2016
“…“talent” is something you create by passion and persistence…”
Thank you for summing up my thoughts exactly! So glad you persisted. Love seeing your world through your eyes and yes, there’s definitely a lot of growth in your work. May you continue to have years of joy in your pursuit!
When someone tells my sketching buddy (a very good artist) how they wish they had his talent, he says “The first 2000 drawings are the hardest” and smiles. I doubt that most understand. — Larry
Wonderful to see your early sketches and how much you’ve learned and grown! Happy 5th sketchiversary, and many more to come.
Tina
Somewhat embarrassing, really 🙂 I suspect you DID see them, about five years ago on Russ’s site. We’ve come a long way down this sketching road. I figure if I keep plodding along I might just figure it out in another couple decades 🙂 — Larry
Happy Sketching Anniversary! So many of us got started by reading Danny Gregory, he is a real inspiration. As are you to me, along with many others in the sketching community, which is what really makes me not loose the inclination to sketch at the pressure of all the other things one has to do in life, like work. 🙂
I’m flattered that you see my sketches as inspiration. I often feel I should do more to pay forward all that I’ve been given by the sketching community. Fitting sketching into one’s day is mostly about priority setting and being prepared to sketch at a moment’s notice. There’s another more abstract thing, which is that you must be able to adjust (mostly downward) your expectations. No masterpieces have ever been produced while sitting in a waiting room but a lot of great sketching can happen there 🙂 — Larry