There are things that I always wish I took more time to do, and regularly drawing something/anything is right at the top of the list. There's that theory that to be any good at anything you first need to spend a lot of time doing it, so I'm making more of an effort to draw regularly.
For work I spend most of my time drawing digitally, either freehand or with shapes and text to design branding elements. I rarely need to pick up a pencil, so I've missed making marks on paper, and that needs to change.
Enter this idea of keeping a weekly tab on what I've been drawing and if I've made any progress.
Each week I'll collate and scan anything that I've drawn in any of my sketchbooks and post them, with a few words to go along with the images. Some weeks there might be one small doodle, others might have pages of detail; I'm not really sure how it will turn out. One thing I know is that by putting this kind of a weekly deadline in place, I might be a little more motivated to start a new page.
My comfort zone is to spend a lot of time on a piece and really iron out the kinks, so this could also be seen as an experiment in quick and simple drawing. It's all part of sharing the process and providing avenues to create something, so I don't expect them all to be winners. I mean, just look at the drawings I did this week…
I often like to draw while I'm watching TV or a movie, so whatever I'm watching tends to bleed onto the page if I'm short on inspiration. Lately I've been watching a lot of House, so the first drawing is a pretty awkward line-up of the main characters.
They're a rough likeness, but I think you can kind of tell who each of the characters is meant to be, which is half the battle. I find it super hard to quickly draw facial features that look like a specific person, so I'm actually a bit thrilled that these peeps are mildly recognisable.
Of course, I messed up the composition on the right so there's some overlap, but I now know to be more aware of space and placement if I do anything like this in the future.
Another oddly proportioned person to round out the pair for this week. I watched Lonely Hearts, which stars Jared Leto and Salma Hayek, so had a go at drawing old Salma. She's a little squished and clearly out of proportion, but again I'm pleased with the likeness. I know it's not winning any photographic awards, but there's a vague hint of recognition there that someone might be able to tell who it is without prompting.
Not everything needs a reason though, so I can't offer you a clue as to why she is surrounded by various large steaks. Maybe I'm a bit iron deficient and craving red meat or something, but I just felt like surrounding her in a variety of steaks.
Anyway, the Sunday Sketchbook is something that will evolve over time and hopefully become a regular record of random doodles.
It's nice to have an excuse to draw something that has no purpose whatsoever.