Sketching and doodling sets the mind free. Here is a photo of me killing time and playing with a pen in my sketchbook. nothing here is amazing, it is pretty much a hot mess. The lettering is awful, the designs squished and unbalanced, and overall it is just a technique dump. As atrocious as this is, the time and unattachment to the work develops skill, and allows me to play with creative ideas. See that rose in the middle? It evolved into the finished work I shared a week or so ago. At the time I did this, I had no idea it would evolve. There was no expectation for an outcome. Letting go of having to make something allows you to create.
Not everything created is a masterpiece. DaVinci, Picasso, and many great artists (if not all) had notebooks of ideas and sketches that developed into the finished works we are familiar with today. If the notion of creating is only to complete something perfect, then creativity is lost. Perfection is the role of machines, and factories. The human spirit is comfortable with imperfection, and taking time to explore with no risk is an endeavor where the time spent brings volumes in the improvement of your creativity. Play with techique, media, concepts, feelings, and energy. Sit down, take 10 minutes, and just play.
This little guy is going to end up in my art journal, but for now, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of what is to come. What are you working on at the moment?
This sketchbook page is not particularly demonstrative of anything but the practice. The shadings I did are standard shapes and light directions, but remembering the effect of shading and light on simple objects can help on a larger piece. Breaking it down, with only shades of grey, the power of suggestion with one medium, pencil, is powerful. As simple as it is, the attention to what is put on the page means something. Critically, the 4th square, the cone from above, needs to be reworked. The power in a sketchbook is the ability to leave it undone, to recognize strengths and errors, and let them be. There is a freedom in having a place to explore, and not have the results matter.
This continued for a bit, and I finally told myself that I had to draw the stupid stapler. Which began the stream of Office Space quotes in my head. Drawing a stapler turned out to be harder than it seemed, and a great exercise in perspective and shading. So now I have a drawing of a stapler. And that is how a stapler got me unstuck, which I find funny.
Sketching and doodling sets the mind free. Here is a photo of me killing time and playing with a pen in my sketchbook. nothing here is amazing, it is pretty much a hot mess. The lettering is awful, the designs squished and unbalanced, and overall it is just a technique dump. As atrocious as this is, the time and unattachment to the work develops skill, and allows me to play with creative ideas. See that rose in the middle? It evolved into the finished work I shared a week or so ago. At the time I did this, I had no idea it would evolve. There was no expectation for an outcome. Letting go of having to make something allows you to create. 
I love contour drawing, it is a comfortable place for me. I have managed to spend far less time with shading. Portraiture is especially not a comfort area for me. I intentionally spend sketch time to explore the human face, and to explore the use of shading and tone to express the essence of a person. This sketch is of the squishy face my youngest gives me. The sketch is imperfect, but it definitely is catching the moment. 
