As a beginner I preferred drawing in the comfort of my home, at my table where my drawing tools were spread out, ready for me to use. This meant that I was scrolling through a lot of photographs to find the right one to draw from. They were great to get into a routine of drawing.
I even started taking photographs of things that I thought was a great subject to draw. But when I come back home and try to draw from it, it almost never feels the same as when I was at the spot, looking at it or clicking a photo.
The role of photographs as reference pictures.
Photographs are a great way to find a good composition to draw from. High quality photographs provide you with the perfect composition, focus, light and other details.
Saying that, we can get lost in the process of trying to get a photo-realistic effect for our drawings. While some people enjoy the process, most of us just want to have some fun creating something simple yet effective.
Some times we also feel frustrated that it doesn’t look like the photograph.
Drawing from life
Our eyes doesn’t see the same way as cameras do. When we look at things, our eyes focuses on one object while the areas around blurs.
Getting outside to draw can feel very daunting. You will find it extremely difficult to find the perfect composition. Your eyes may wander and find multiple things you may want to include in your drawing. The focus changes every time you look at something. It may feel really chaotic. The first time I spend my time drawing outside, I had a severe headache from trying to focus on the thing I wanted to draw.
The picture below show how much I struggled the first time. The proportions were wrong, I concentrated on the things that wasn't my initial focus. I started off sketching the ice-cream stall. But my eyes began to wander and I captured the man sitting by the window in the restraunt above it. Of course he moved and I was left with an incomplete drawing. Also, I was so distracted by the people stopping by for an ice-cream and it made me extremely concious.
Don't be put off by my experience
But it doesn’t have to be that way for you. Over the years, I have discovered a few ways to make things easier.
How to begin drawing from life
As mentioned earlier, your eyes focuses on one thing at a time. So let’s begin with drawing just one thing. Getting outside to draw means that other people can notice you. This can affect your confidence. I would suggest finding a quieter place to sketch. It could start right from the comfort of your home.
Find simple objects around the house to sketch from. I found that round, simple fruits and veggies are the best object to get started. An apple or an orange is a great reference.
Once you have drawn that and feel you need to challenge yourself a bit more, try drawing 2 fruits, place them to create pleasing compositions.
You can even cut them up to create a more interesting composition. You can also experiment with positioning them in different angles and distances.
Here's a tutorial to show how you can start drawing with fruits and veggies.
You can use any toold you like. If you are not keen on painting, you can just stick to a line drawing and some colour pencils.
Things you can sketch at home
Fruits and veg,
pots, pans, cups, glasses, cutlery
house plants
bottles, toiletries
furniture in your house (great start for drawing big cities!)
Pets(great way to start drawing animals)
your family! (great life drawing references)
Tips for getting outside to sketch
Once you feel confident looking at small objects to draw, try moving outside. Begin with a quiet space, like your own garden/ backyard, balcony or simply looking out of your window.
You can even try parks, woodlands and quiet cafes. Most of these places are not busy and offer a lot of beautiful scenes to draw.
Cafes are great, especially if the weather cold. I love spending time in my local cafe when I'd usually sit by the window, watching life go by.
As you ease into sketching from life, you can reintroduce photographs into your tools. I love taking photos of the scene I was drawing. With your experience of observing the scene for a little while and drawing from it with definitely make a huge difference. If you’d like to create a bigger drawing or painting, the photograph and your memory of the place can be combined to create more dynamic and more enjoyable piece of artwork.
The sketch below was done in my studio, referring to a photograph I took when I visited Greenwich. I have been to this pub a few times and have sketched there. This helped me to understand the space and the feel of that place. I included a few details in my sketch like the windy weather almost every time I was there and the depth of the scene.
Use photographs as one of the many tools available to you as artists
I am not saying that you shouldn’t use photographs. But it should only be one of the many resources available to you as an artist.
Some times, the subject you want to draw is not something you will find where you live. So you will have to use a photograph.
With your experience of drawing from life, you will be able to use the photo references in a much better way by bringing in your personal style into the finished art work.
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