Drawing Everyday

I’ve recently been inspired by other artists online. I’ve seen a few doing portraits in parks in their city. They set up a sign, and then they draw portraits of passersby interested in seeing themselves in cartoon form. Sort of like caricatures but not in a caricature style. Some are doodles, and others are detailed pieces. But what interests me is how much they’re drawing and the interactions they get to have with their customers. You see, as a commercial artist, I do get to talk to my customers, but it is usually during a sale or transaction. I don’t really get to know more about them unless a random conversation sparks. It happens, but it isn’t usually too deep. So the most interesting thing about these artists is the connection that they get to have with others when sharing their art. They have to draw their client, and that takes time, so a little conversation sparks up. The act of drawing allows space to open for conversation. The stories that these artists hear from others are unique and a form of connection. Coupled with that, they also get to practice drawing every day, their inspiration being the person in front of them. It’s so cool.

The inspiration has pushed me to draw every day for the past few days. Although it’s not odd for me to draw often, the type of drawing is a lot different. I usually draw art from my imagination; the stories I have in my head become reality on paper. But after seeing portrait artists, I decided to draw my surroundings and characters based on the people and things I see in the real world.

Drawing outdoors

People are outside, so drawing in my house is a bit limiting when it comes to inspiration. Sure, I can go online and Google whatever I want and use that as inspiration. But there is something about going out in the world and seeing things as they come, some things you would never see otherwise. It also allows me to connect with the outside world and, I hope, with my community. I really feel compelled to set up my own stand outside and offer portraits, but I definitely want to improve how quickly I make art and, honestly, practice my ‘doodle people’ style as I feel like it needs a lot of work, haha. I would really enjoy conversations with others, but I want to make sure the portrait I create is something that they’ll really love, you know?

Knowing all of that, I have been focusing on drawing passersby and people just chilling at parks or around town. I feel like this is pretty good practice since I have to sort of take a snapshot of them in my mind and then quickly draw them before the snapshot fades. It’s a really daunting task, but the pressure is low, and it really feels relaxing in a way. I look forward to going outside and just drawing without feeling like it has to be some perfect or grand piece. It’s also helping me to draw others more dynamically, and I sure do need improvement with that.

Difficulties I’ve faced

When you draw every day, you learn a lot about your weaknesses in your craft. I feel like I struggle a lot with varying the different types of eyes and face shapes I use. I draw a lot of round faces and circular eyes. Even though I try to draw more sharp features, they tend to make the face more angular, which isn’t really my taste. I feel like the issue is that I haven’t had much need to vary my facial drawings. I have made comics with different characters as a kid, but the main difference between them was always their hair or their clothing. It’s not like that approach doesn’t work, but if I were to have a character that changes their clothes, or even if I were to draw close-ups of their face, it would be very difficult to tell the difference between them and another character. So it has become pretty important to me to look for people walking around and analyze how their facial features come together, and then translate them into my art style. I feel like it’s diversified my characters more and opened my art up to more exploration.

What I’ve Learned

I’ve learned a lot by drawing everyday, but there are some key things that I found I need to pay attention and continue to develop.

• I need to warm-up before I draw a piece
  • Just like working out, warming up with a basic sketch before I draw really helps me get into the groove. In the picture above, I drew each person/object one after the other starting from the top left. You can see that the first sketch is captioned ‘warm up sketch’ as it was the first sketch I did. I usually just do my standard face sketch and then outline. I can see my proportions are a bit wonky and the jaw of the character is a bit small. But then the sketch after it is more fleshed out. It’s almost if my brain-to-hand coordination need to sync before I can make a piece I like.
• Drawing without sketching first is good practice
  • For the first 7 sketches in the drawing above, I sketched with pencil first. But for the rest, I wanted to challenge my eye and relied on the memory of the people I saw and/or the reference photos I was looking at instead of a sketch. It was really interesting having my mind sort of guide me instead of a sketch, and I really had to estimate how big certain features needed to be for it to work. Overall I didn’t do too badly, but I still need practice.
• I need more practice drawing lines
  • Straight lines are hard, and lines that define the angle of an object in the drawing are even harder. I think practicing lines or even just utilizing my ruler would help make these sketches and doodles a bit cleaner.
• Proportions and perspectives need more attention
  • I found that I need to focus more on proportions and perspective, as my objects and scene tend to look a bit wonky.

Conclusion

Overall, drawing everyday especially people outside, has been an eye opening experience. It has helped me to try new eye shapes, face shapes, and perspectives when I draw. It also helps me figure out where my weak points are with my art and develop them as I practicing. I also really like how I can sort of translate everything I see into a cartoony style and spend some time outdoors. Drawing has always been a very indoor experience for me so being able to go outside and get some fresh air is really nice. I hope to one day share these doodles with others by doing portraits! I think it would be a fun way to get to hear about what’s going on with others and just feel a bit more connected with my community. What do you think about drawing every? If you already draw everyday, what are some things you’ve learned about your art whilst doing it? Leave your comments below! See ya next time!