3. Keep your sketching materials simple, light and portable.
Too much equipment can not only be heavy to carry, it gets in the way of spontaneity. It also attracts attention which is never a good thing. At best it’s distracting and at worst it’s dangerous. A good rule of thumb is take a Sketching Kit which enables you to sketch standing up in the likes of a doorway or on a street corner. This rules out the likes of oils and acrylics, remember this is sketching.
4. You don’t have to travel too far to find things to sketch.
Don’t spend large gobs of time driving aimlessly around. Once the car gets going it’s hard to stop. Especially at the beginning like for subjects in the immediate vicinity.
5. Don’t get distracted by the mundane or your habits.
Most of us don’t sketch by habit, we do other things instead. Especially when on a break, whether it’s an afternoon or a full day, when heading out to sketch forget about stuff like shopping. Get into a rhythm of sketching by making a start first thing. Otherwise it’s going to be another day full of good intentions but no sketches.
6. Shoot a photographic record
In case you don’t get finished, perhaps due to weather, bad light, or just plain fatigue, shoot a reference shot using the same composition and viewpoint you’ve decided on when sketching, plus a series of close ups for detail, using the zoom on your camera from exactly the same place you sketched from.
7. Start exactly where you are.
Your first sketch of the day is the most important. Be willing at the beginning of each day to just get going. Draw the scene on your breakfast table. Draw the view from your house or hotel or whatever. Draw your hand if all else fails, (yes I know you’ve done this before). Just get going. Once started you’re in the flow for the day, you’ve gone beyond the habit mode. This is important.
8. Tell other people you’ll going out sketching and promise them you’ll show them the results when you get back.
Better still, like our group in France, commit on a time and date to go out with a friend, or friends, or Sketching Buddy. A corny name I must admit, but you know what I mean. Like jogging regularly, it’s easier to keep with a plan when you’ve made some kind of a promise with other people.
Let me know your own experiences to add to the list.