Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Seeing Through Sketching

I almost never sketch unless I'm on vacation. I've kept sketchbooks since I was about 5 years old and over the years I've found that sketching has always been therapeutic and extremely rewarding. When experiencing a new place, one of the things I enjoy most is to find a great view, sit down and try to document it quickly with a sketch. It's a very personal way of experiencing a place and taking it all in. The act of simply attempting to sketch forces the sketcher to observe and become aware of the smallest details. When you're sketching, the unique aspects of what you're looking at are sometimes hidden until you give them the time to be seen.

San Gimignano, Italy

San Gimignano, Italy

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

Lake Garda, Italy

Little Palm Island, Florida

There's No Messing Up

I only use pen because it usually forces a loose and gestural approach to the sketch. I also think that using a pen eliminates the idea of a perfect drawing and the feeling of "messing up" because you have to accept that there are no mistakes when sketching. The sketch is a way for you to experience the place you're looking at in a new way. It isn't necessarily meant to be a final piece of art, but if you end up with one, that's great. Some of my favorite parts of my sketches are when I "mess up" or an accident happens that makes me realize I've incorrectly represented something. It usually points out something that I hadn't quite seen the right way initially and the drawing reveals it to me.

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Maine

When sketching the lighthouse at Port Elizabeth in Maine a huge gust of wind lifted my paper right into my pen as I was trying to pull the pen away as to not ruin the drawing. The result is a giant strange pen mark in the sky area of the drawing, which to this day reminds me of what it felt like to be there sketching this awesome view. Think of it as a beauty mark.

Focus On the Important Elements

Sometimes I like to set a time limit to complete a sketch. This forces me to represent only the most important or unique aspects of what I'm looking at, whether is shadows of palm trees or the roof tiles of houses in Tuscany. Depending on what I'm attempting to capture I'll sometimes say two minutes, one minute or even 15 seconds to finish the sketch.

Lake Quinault, Washington

Then there are the sketches that should probably be called drawings. These are the creations that can, in no way, capture the essence of the place without some serious time and detail. A prime example of this is a sketch I did at Martha's Vineyard a couple years ago. The longest sketch I had ever done prior to the Martha's Vineyard drawing was of my family cabin at Lake Quinault in Washington State (seen above), which took a full hour. The Martha's Vineyard drawing took about 2 hours and 15 minutes with the occasional interruption of someone passing by to chat about drawing or art or what I do for a living. You'd be surprised by how many people stop to talk and stand right in front of the thing you're trying to draw without realizing that they're completely disrupting the process. This is one of the many obstacles to drawing in public. Part of the reason that this particular drawing took so long was because the paper was gigantic. I'm used to a little (maybe 6" wide) Moleskine sketchbook, but the paper that I used for the Martha's Vineyard drawing was 24" wide. Yikes.

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Montepulciano, Italy

Process is Important

I typically try to approach each sketch with a few big lines to map out the larger elements of the scene in order to create a general structure of the sketch. This may be a long horizontal line that you can see in the distance or a vanishing point, which is where all of the lines seem to converge in perspective. You can see how the horizontal elements of the buildings and the pier all lead towards one point in this sketch of Newport, Rhode Island (seen below) in the early phases. This creates the overall perspective that the rest of the drawing is based on. Establishing the perspective and general sizing of the elements is key in the early stages of any sketch. Think big picture before the details. Try to plan out the drawing mentally so that you know you can fit everything that you want on the page and plan the composition of what you'll draw to be appealing when complete.

Part 1 - Newport, Rhode Island

Part 2 - Newport, Rhode Island

Part 3 - Newport, Rhode Island

Final - Newport, Rhode Island

Context Photo - Newport, Rhode Island

Making Art Out of Sketches

Instead of keeping a bunch of sketches from a 2013 trip to Europe in a drawer, my wife came up with the idea of combining all of the little pages into larger frames to hang on the wall. I thought this was a great idea because I usually only see the sketches once every year or two and sometimes not for a lot longer than that. It's a nice way to bring back memories of a trip and certain places.

Framed Sketches from Europe

Here are a few more images, just for fun..

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

San Gimignano, Italy

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Bora Bora, French Polynesia

Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Soho House, Los Angeles, California

Soho House, New York, New York

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California

Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Tuscany, Italy

The Pantheon, Rome, Italy

Lake Quinault, Washington

Grand Street, New York, New York

Tuscany, Italy

Give Sketching a Shot

Overall, I highly suggest sketching to anyone who is even remotely interested in giving it a shot. Even if you have no artistic or creative ability, I urge you to take out a pen and paper next time you're somewhere new and I'm almost certain you'll see some things you never would have otherwise. I hope you enjoyed some of my personal sketches. Please reach out if you give sketching a shot and let me know how it goes!

Ciao for now, Steemians.

- Weston (aka @design-guy)