Sketching Action
February 25, 2014
I love coincidences. I tend towards calling it fate or destiny, but I'm romantic like that. :)
I recently read the article "Drawing the Olympics" by Liza Donnelly on The New Yorker website. In the article she talks about "tweet-drawing" the Olympics. What is tweet-drawing? Essentially, she watches a live event on TV (in the past she has done it with award shows) and quickly draws sketches which she then tweets out:
"Tweet-drawing requires the immediacy of the moment as I see it on the television, and the exchange that ensues with my followers. I am emboldened by their responses as I share my sketches. It’s a fast-paced, visual conversation on Twitter...."
Her sketches are fun and fast and quirky and made me smile. I made a mental note that I wanted to try doing some tweet-drawing -- maybe without the tweeting. Seeing something filled with action on TV and then quickly sketching it. It seemed like an exciting challenge.
By coincidence (or fate or destiny), almost the very next day an interesting e-mail crossed my desk. I belong to the NYC Urban Sketchers. Every single Saturday they have interesting sketch get-togethers at locations throughout the 5 boroughs. On this particular Saturday, they were going to the Manhattan Fencing Center. Talk about action. So, I decided I would give sketching action a try.
It was hard.
I definitely need more practice.
Everything moved so quickly and I don't have a strong enough grasp of anatomy to fill in the gaps where I was unable to see it. That said, I had fun and learned some things.
Here are a few of the sketches that I did:
These are super quick sketches -- all done in 30 - 90 seconds. To capture anything in that time frame you've got to focus on the gesture. As difficult (and frustrating) as working this quickly was, I'd like to do it again! I think it's such a great way to train your eye. One of my artistic goals for this year is to get better at sketching. And there's only one to do that: practice, practice, practice! (And then maybe I'll get a little brave and try some tweet-drawing like Liza!)
Finally, here's a quick video I made for you on how I got the painterly look you see in these sketches!
Thanks for stopping by!