It has been about five weeks abroad in Rome so far, and I couldn't properly explain if it has felt like it has been five days or five months. It has been quite the experience, and I learn something new everyday whether I like it or not. I have done more sketching this summer than the rest of my life combined it seems. The sketching class that I am taking has taught me a lot about drawing in general, sketching on location, perspective, light, etc. These have all been important elements that I learned about that all impact the success of my sketching. However, another element that I have learned, and am still working on with every sketch, is the amount of time spent on a sketch. Time has proven to me to be the most important factor in a sketch.
The goal of most sketches is likely to be to represent what you are sketching as accurately as possible. This is not usually an easy task to do, which is where time comes into play. I have learned that the most important thing when sketching is to first determine how much time you are going to sketch. In the past, I never even thought about how long I would spend per sketch, and it has proven to be vital information. With determining the time you have for a sketch comes a few other important factors. You then have to decide the size of the drawing and how much of the subject you are going to include, both of which are directly correlated to the time. Once you determine these things, you are more likely to create a successfully representational sketch.
I have failed and succeeded many times in learning and applying this to my sketching. I learned that a lot of the times, I can create a more successful sketch of a subject in a shorter amount of time than a long amount of time. The same could be said with some of my sketches I spent more time on. The difference is how well I "map" out the time of the sketch.
This is a sketch with two components to it that I did. The top drawing was the original one that I started with, not taking into account how long I was going to draw for. All I thought about was the subject. I spent a lot of time mapping out the drawing in terms of guidelines etc. I realized the time of the drawing was getting out of hand, so I drew the same subject below, but in about three minutes instead of thirty. Now, the larger drawing is more accurate and detailed, but for the amount of time spent on each the smaller drawing is way more successful.
The sketch below was the last of a series of quick 10 to 15 minute drawings trying to capture Piazza Navona. The first two sketches were done in 10 minutes each, both of which are very incomplete and therefore do not represent the space very well. I was given 5 extra minutes on this sketch, which was not even needed to make this one better than the first two. The difference was that I knew that I had more time, so I worried less about it. This relaxed me a little bit, (from this challenging subject) and I was able to map out the basics of the space in about the first five minutes. Then I had five more minutes to add some important value to show the light, and five more minutes to add in a small amount of details and activity.
These sketches were from a short exercise during sketching class capturing this scene. The left sketch was the first one done with the class (in a little less than 10 minutes). I started it knowing the time limit, but then not thinking about what was most important to capture in that amount of time. I started fussing with the details on the side buildings and ignored the major lighting differences. After the class finished the sketch time I realized I missed the focus of the subject and did a quick (3-4 minutes) sketch again. The second one not only shows the subject more successfully, but it took half the time. This was because I focused on the most important part of the subject and captured it without any distractions.
This sketch is an example of getting caught up in too many things rather than managing my time and moving on through the important aspects of the drawing. This exercise was a two part exercise. We started with setting up the drawing in about 10- 15 minutes. I knew the timeline for this, but managed it poorly and did not finish my guidelines after this time. I then spent part of the second half of the exercise finishing my guidelines and left very little time for any value or detail. I ran out of time completely and ended up with a very incomplete drawing that does a poor job of representing the subject.
To conclude, mapping out the time of each sketch is a very important part of creating a successful sketch without drawing forever. By mapping out the time I mean planning how long you have total, how much you can therefore included and the size, and then managing that time throughout the drawing. This lesson has been the most important skill in sketching that I have learned this summer, one that I am still working on sketch by sketch.
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