i-m-a-g-i-n-efx-august
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Workshops<br />
9 make DeLiberaTe marks<br />
Practising specific marks is like practising writing. We know what an A is<br />
supposed to look like or a D or a W. Once we know what those letterforms<br />
look like, we know how we can squash them, stretch them or skew them to<br />
achieve a desired effect. Similarly, if we know a handful of marks inside and<br />
out, then we can use those few marks to achieve a broad range of results.<br />
A confident mark can often do more for us than accuracy. A sketch with a<br />
little funk in the anatomy and gorgeous mark making is far more interesting<br />
than an anatomically perfect sketch with marks that are just, well, meh.<br />
10 contrast<br />
oF shapes<br />
Contrasting shapes add<br />
visual interest. If you<br />
draw everything with<br />
curved shapes it’ll<br />
become boring. Throw in<br />
some angles and spice<br />
things up.<br />
If I’m working with<br />
more detailed forms and<br />
paying attention to how<br />
the forms turn, I’ll apply<br />
some graphic elements<br />
to make the viewer look<br />
twice. If I want a portion<br />
of the drawing to be<br />
more aggressive or more<br />
soft, I’ll choose shapes<br />
accordingly but I won’t<br />
limit myself by saying it<br />
all needs curves or all<br />
needs angles. There’s<br />
a panoply of shapes out<br />
there and we should<br />
make good use of them.<br />
A confident mark<br />
can often do more for<br />
us than accuracy<br />
11 keep the Marks new<br />
Don’t just do a finished pencil sketch, only<br />
to redraw it in inks. It’ll stagnate. Sometimes<br />
I’ll go right in without a pencil sketch at all.<br />
If I do a rough, I tend to do it very loose.<br />
I like to keep myself guessing a bit. Staying<br />
on my toes keeps me interested and the<br />
sketch interesting. I don’t want to draw the<br />
same thing twice.<br />
Sometimes I may take the opposite<br />
approach as well. I’ll put more information<br />
in the rough than I’m going to use in the<br />
final, just so I can edit along the way, but<br />
in either case I’m always making decisions<br />
and adding or omitting information. This<br />
ensures that the final drawing is new and<br />
as spontaneous as I can manage.<br />
12 carry a skeTchbOOk<br />
ThaT yOu can LOve<br />
This is important. If you don’t love<br />
your sketchbook, you won’t want to<br />
open it. You need books you want to<br />
open and that you want to draw in.<br />
I personally love Moleskines. They’re<br />
my absolute favourite books by a<br />
very large margin. They make me<br />
want to fill them with sketches. This<br />
makes me want to keep drawing. I’m<br />
always excited to fill the last page<br />
and start a new book. If we’re going<br />
to do this stuff every day, we better<br />
love every aspect of it.<br />
74 August 2017