Secrets of field sketching? (1 Viewer)

[Vectis Birder]

Has anyone any field sketching 'secrets' - i.e. hints, tips and advice they'd like to share?

I like field sketching, but have only recently got into sketching in the field so I'd appreciate any input - even down to bog standard do's and don'ts. I guess, being presumptious, that others might like it, too.

Cheers
VB

 

[Jane Turner]

One quick question.... is it your ultimate aim to come up with real, from life material that you can use in "artistic endeavours" or is the purpose to verify identification.

 

[Vectis Birder]

The former - sketches for finished pieces as much as anything.

 

[buzzard12]

Just do it and dont think too much about the way it should look as opposed to the way it turns out. With field sketching the subject will stand at odd angles as often as not and it can be frustrating at first when you feel that the results are not what you feel they should be. Often subjects move and frustrate you, you end up with pages of bits of birds, unfinished as such, heads, outlines, feather details etc. Often though these are most valuable drawings of all in the long run and eventually it all falls together, with time it becomes much easier to sketch whole birds quickly as their features and shape become more burnt into your memory. It takes time and mostly practice...
Try to start with cooperative birds like Cormarants, resting Waders, Gulls, Wildfowl etc. Helps to concentrate one a few species too, whatever is plentiful locally. You can then become famliar with these birds and derive a lot more confidence from that as you improve.
There is no substitute for practice and hours spent drawing what is in front of you. You will learn a lot about the birds you sketch regardless, drawing is the best way to understanding birds appearance and plumage and is very rewarding. Hope this helps a little...

Get out there and enjoy it!

 

[timwootton]

Just a quickie for now - footie's on! - jBuzzard makes valid points - as always. Jane's question back at you is actually an excellent starting point. By using drawings to id species as Jane alludes to - you are made to look at the subject extremely closely - coverts, wing shape, overall jizz, head patterns and most importantly, all these elements relative to each other. If one looks closely at a bird - not any old bird - one individual, and really tries to undrstand that birds by looking and recording what one sees in line & tone. It soon becomes a drawing which can be both relevant to the ornithologist and contain artistic merit. LJ (who else) makes extremely accurate and insightful field drawings as an ornithologist, but it is his eye as an artist which breathes life into them.
In my opinon.
Good question(s).

 

[Den]

Field sketching:
-use an angled scope
-keep both eyes open, look with the right and draw with the left!! Or vice versa
-use a smallish sketchbook at first, especially in hides where you don't want others to see. Go to A4 as soon as you feel confident. It makes you draw from the wrist not the fingers which leads to better/faster sketches. The sketchbook is for you and must not become a 'showpiece' (mine gets verrry messy at times of high action)
-use something that moves quickly over the paper. I prefer .09mm mechanical pencil with 2B leads in. I switch to a watercolour pencil lead in a clutch pencil when its wet so I can continue drawing even if my paper is damp/soaking/covered in grot.
-no rubbers, they slow you down
-if you go wrong ignore it and start a new sketch/page
-don't try to complete a full sketch of a bird at first. Draw bits and start new sketches as the bird moves,, you can come back to them later if the bird returns to the original pose. As you become familiar withthe bird's plumage/jizz your drawing will become more fluent
-Read 'Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards
-draw sat in front of the telly whilst watching wildlife programmes etc
-buy huge quantities of cheap sketchbooks ffrom the local market (99p in mien for A4)

 

[timwootton]

Field sketching:
-use an angled scope
-keep both eyes open, look with the right and draw with the left!! Or vice versa
-use a smallish sketchbook at first, especially in hides where you don't want others to see. Go to A4 as soon as you feel confident. It makes you draw from the wrist not the fingers which leads to better/faster sketches. The sketchbook is for you and must not become a 'showpiece' (mine gets verrry messy at times of high action)
-use something that moves quickly over the paper. I prefer .09mm mechanical pencil with 2B leads in. I switch to a watercolour pencil lead in a clutch pencil when its wet so I can continue drawing even if my paper is damp/soaking/covered in grot.
-no rubbers, they slow you down
-if you go wrong ignore it and start a new sketch/page
-don't try to complete a full sketch of a bird at first. Draw bits and start new sketches as the bird moves,, you can come back to them later if the bird returns to the original pose. As you become familiar withthe bird's plumage/jizz your drawing will become more fluent
-Read 'Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards
-draw sat in front of the telly whilst watching wildlife programmes etc
-buy huge quantities of cheap sketchbooks ffrom the local market (99p in mien for A4)

That as well

 

[Woody]

Hi VB,

A friend of mine would always buy expensive sketchbooks, usually A5, to do her landscape and 'people' sketches in. The problem was two-fold. Firstly she was always worried that her sketches wouldn't turn out to be any good and then she would feel that she had wasted her very expensive paper. Consequently she would hold back and it would take her ages (years even) to fill a sketchbook. Secondly A5 doesn't allow any room for maneuver and was restricting the flow of her hand making the drawings appear stiff and lifeless.

I recommended a simple solution; Cheap A3 paper, lots of it, and fill up as much of it as she could. Her sketches loosened up and she lost her fear of 'wasting' paper. She's now back on the expensive sketchbooks but the difference is that she's no longer afraid to make mistakes in them or sketches that she thinks don't work. After losing the fear and with practice you can also learn to use smaller pads again.

I guess the point is the same as Buzz has made so much more succinctly, draw, draw and draw some more! Every sketch is valuable, from the vaguest scribble to the amazing field sketches of some of the top artists we are lucky enough to have here on BF. You'll find that as you loosen up you'll start to produce things that just catch something 'right' about your subject and every time that happens you get a great feeling. So keep on doin' it is 'the secret'.

Woody

 

[Woody]

Field sketching:
-use an angled scope
-keep both eyes open, look with the right and draw with the left!! Or vice versa
-use a smallish sketchbook at first, especially in hides where you don't want others to see. Go to A4 as soon as you feel confident. It makes you draw from the wrist not the fingers which leads to better/faster sketches. The sketchbook is for you and must not become a 'showpiece' (mine gets verrry messy at times of high action)
-use something that moves quickly over the paper. I prefer .09mm mechanical pencil with 2B leads in. I switch to a watercolour pencil lead in a clutch pencil when its wet so I can continue drawing even if my paper is damp/soaking/covered in grot.
-no rubbers, they slow you down
-if you go wrong ignore it and start a new sketch/page
-don't try to complete a full sketch of a bird at first. Draw bits and start new sketches as the bird moves,, you can come back to them later if the bird returns to the original pose. As you become familiar withthe bird's plumage/jizz your drawing will become more fluent
-Read 'Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards
-draw sat in front of the telly whilst watching wildlife programmes etc
-buy huge quantities of cheap sketchbooks ffrom the local market (99p in mien for A4)

Looks like Den beat me to it!

Woody

 

[Vectis Birder]

Brilliant, thanks.

 

[Den]

Vectic Birder, there will come a time in your sketching when you will feel that there is an automatic connection between your eye and your hand. What you see, your hand draws without conscious effort . This is the holy grail. It indicates your dominant, logical, restrictive left side of the brain has been overridden by the creative right. When it happens, it is a revelation and it will happen if you draw,draw every day. It's a great feeling when what you see goes down on paper. Some days I can't get into this state, I might need to sketch for ages, wanting to rub out my pathetic efforts, then suddenly the flow is turned on as the right side of the brain takes over.
Betty Edwards explains it much better than me. I was sceptical at first but no more. Try her exercises, they work and your sketches will take off.
Woody's idea of using plain cheapo A3 paper is bang on. Drawing on bigger paper loosens you up.
Remember to draw what you see rather than what your brain thinks a bird should look like. Keep glancing in the scope because your brain can't hold an image for more than a few seconds before it gets 'coloured' and you start to draw what your brain thinks the bird should look like rather than the shapes that are there.

 

[jomo]

I always keep a sketchbook on hand at all times -- in the car, or my bag, or the sleeve of my laptop case (and if I can't bring the big one, I'll at least bring my nearly-useless pocket sketchbook). You never know when a good opportunity will present itself! Deciding to focus on a particular subject before I head out birding also helps (sketching is such a dedicated activity, and I sometimes get nothing done simply because I can't decide which bird or activity to focus on).

Den, I know completely where you're coming from -- some days things just won't click (actually, that feels like most days!), and then every once in a while you'll get one of those sessions where the struggle ends. Before you know it, three hours have gone by, the sun's nearly gone, and you've just jumped ten feet from that passerby you were oblivious to moments before knocking on your car window to ask what the hell it is you're looking at...

 

[buzzard12]

I once actually, twice, spent a week on a very small, yet special place called Rockabill in Dublin; very special place, Roseate Terns are so loud they keep you up all night! Huge % of the european population breeds here, plus black guilllimot, arctic tern, 1st ever Greenish Warbler for Dublin, record on my birthday!Amazing site. What amazes me still to this day is the results of a weeks intense sketching, got so much done.witnessed Roseate egg laying through the scope. the whole place is the size of a footy pitch, you would never believe how much there is to see there...