Lausette FRANCE, Emily Fong 2010
At Urban Art Binge we teach sketching on location and Mixed Media Painting amongst many other things. Recently I was asked to explain if there was a difference between sketching and drawing and if so why we choose to focus on the former.
Sketching is a process of visualising thoughts onto a surface in an immediate, expressive and honest manner. It is thinking through mark making and not intended to be labored over or contrived in any form. Sketching is a process whereby an artist can quickly record an observation, a moment, a feeling, or an idea to be reworked or transformed at a later stage.
Learning to sketch is a process of learning to LET GO. Letting go of pre-prescribed notions of perfection and accuracy and submitting to the beauty and freedom of PLAY.
Sketching on location is about being present within your environment, engaging with your surroundings & harnessing these observations as an infinite creative resource. It's also about travelling at home as well as further afield.
Drawing is a technically refined version of the description above.
An efficient means of visual expression. Drawing is a language. One with an ever expanding vocabulary and the ability to cross cultures.
For me, it was in choosing to take on French as a second language, that I quickly discovered that my native tongue was actually drawing. This was a powerful moment for me as a person and as an artist.
I speak of depth and perspective with the pressure of my hand.
I express lightness and whimsical thoughts by dancing my wrist.
I suggest texture through varying marks.
But most importantly, the power of my passionate language is in what is not spoken. A sketch offers the gift of imagination when it is not entirely finished. It is not technically perfect. It has gaps where YOU are invited to fill in the blanks.
This is why we teach Sketching on location at UAB.
Em
Sketching is a process of visualising thoughts onto a surface in an immediate, expressive and honest manner. It is thinking through mark making and not intended to be labored over or contrived in any form. Sketching is a process whereby an artist can quickly record an observation, a moment, a feeling, or an idea to be reworked or transformed at a later stage.
Learning to sketch is a process of learning to LET GO. Letting go of pre-prescribed notions of perfection and accuracy and submitting to the beauty and freedom of PLAY.
Sketching on location is about being present within your environment, engaging with your surroundings & harnessing these observations as an infinite creative resource. It's also about travelling at home as well as further afield.
Drawing is a technically refined version of the description above.
An efficient means of visual expression. Drawing is a language. One with an ever expanding vocabulary and the ability to cross cultures.
For me, it was in choosing to take on French as a second language, that I quickly discovered that my native tongue was actually drawing. This was a powerful moment for me as a person and as an artist.
I speak of depth and perspective with the pressure of my hand.
I express lightness and whimsical thoughts by dancing my wrist.
I suggest texture through varying marks.
But most importantly, the power of my passionate language is in what is not spoken. A sketch offers the gift of imagination when it is not entirely finished. It is not technically perfect. It has gaps where YOU are invited to fill in the blanks.
This is why we teach Sketching on location at UAB.
Em
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