Sometimes in our travels or in everyday life we have sketching hesitations. I mean that we cannot decide what to draw, which material to use, it seems like we have no time. But we desperately want to draw. It takes a lot of time to make a decision and then, we don’t sketch at all. To help you avoid such a thing I decided to share what I do in that situation.
Take a photo or use Pinterest
If you are traveling and feel that you have no time to draw or cannot decide what to draw, take a photo of locations that seem interesting for you. Make several photos a day. You can also find photos on Pinterest, but I think that it’s better to take a photo. Then choose the location that looks the most attractive for you to sketch. This way you will make more quick decisions and always have references for the next time. If you want to know about creative ways to find references for sketches read this post.
Small kit of art materials
Choose for your outdoor sketching a small kit of materials. It will help you not to hesitate about which material to choose. Limiting factor could challenge you at first, but you also will turn on your imagination, open your mind and polish your skill. By the way, you don’t need much materials in your outdoor sketching. Read my post about materials I use for outdoor sketching.
Make collage or abstract sketches
If you feel burnout and don’t want to sketch at all, try to do collages or abstract painting. These can relax you and maybe give you new ideas and inspire you. For collage you can use everything: stickers, papers, tickets, magazines and newspapers. Abstract painting could be with different media: acrylic, oil, pastel, watercolor or maybe ink. Also you can combine both collage and abstract painting in your sketchbook. How to do this? Read my post about how to make abstract sketches easily.
Use timer
One more useful practice is to set a timer on your phone for 5 minutes and then start to walk. When the timer makes an alarm, you stop to walk. And start to sketch, it could be everything that catches your eye. This practice will teach you to make quick decisions and quick sketches and also challenge yourself. I think this is a great thing to cheer up and make fun from it.
Sketch your food
All of us have meals every day. I suggest that if it is hard to start sketching, to draw your breakfast, lunch or supper. Even if it does not look so perfect like in restaurants, nothing can spoil a cup of coffee and pastry. If you are in a cafe or restaurant and don’t want to sketch while your food gets cold, draw a dessert. You can simply draw the salt and pepper or sauces, napkins, cutlery.
These tips I use when something goes wrong. When I hesitate what to draw, I don’t draw but I want to and when I feel burnout. Hope this post was helpful. Draw more and have great sketches!
