BLOG | BACK TO BASICS

by Kevin Preston | 26th December 2015

Desmond and Eloise, from the tv show LOST, both, on separate occasions, once said “The Universe has a way of course correcting…”

The events of the past few months, have proven that no matter what you try to do, you can’t change it brotha! :) If it’s meant to be, it will be. Mum said Nan always used to say that! 2015 turned out to be a year of split focus. At times, I lost my way. I fell out of my daily art routines, instead opting to focus on Sophie time. It was the right thing to do at the time, I needed to find myself, but I can’t let, nor do I want, it to continue this way. I want, and need, to focus on my art.

I know it takes sacrifice to learn a skill. I sacrificed playing videogames in 2013 in order to study realistic drawing. I can’t have split focus if I want to improve my art, so I have to sacrifice Sophie time. There will still be Sophie time, I need Sophie to feel complete, but I won’t let it become the focus. So moving forward I’ve decided to go back to basics. My plan is to spend the first few months of 2016 sharpening up my skills.

I know I’m going to be rusty

I’m going to start the new year by rereading Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson. This was the book I read back in 2013 when I first started drawing. It changed my life. Three years on

  • How will I feel about it now?
  • Will some of Bert’s knowledge, that I wasn’t ready for back then, now make sense?
  • Will old tips I’ve forgotten about come flooding back?

I’m excited to get back into this book. I’ll be blogging about it throughout January 2016, detailing what I’ve learnt each week, sharing notes, showing some of the sketches/ drawings I produce and basically just charting my time with the book.

Once I’ve finished studying from Bert’s bible. I’ll rewrite my two year old review. I’ll call it, the Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson book review 2.0 :) I’ll analyse snippets from my 2013 review, to compare what the book is like to study from for someone who has a bit more knowledge. Back then I knew nothing at all, now I at least know a little bit :) So the two reviews should be quite interesting.

I believe I have my daily schedule worked out, it includes blog / website time and starts each day with a 5 minute blind contour exercise. It also includes a return to daily studying, sketching, gesture drawing and personal project time. Trance music, Cadbury Twirl bars and yogurt raisins will all be returning to the mix too :) You can see what my daily schedule currently looks like below:

I may move some things around once I start the daily routine, but that’s my starting point. I’m unsure at the moment where 2016 will lead, I may get a massive urge to pursue my Lil Sophie web comic idea. I may dive into painting. I may decide to focus 100% on figure drawing, I may return to pencil work. Whatever I do, I will maintain my structure of daily studying and daily sketching.

If, after studying from the Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson book, I decide to go down the path of creating my Lil Sophie idea, I’ll move onto studying from my various Anime / Manga books, most notably the ‘Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley’ book. I may however decide to return to the ‘lifelike drawing in colored pencil with Lee Hammond’ book, or who knows, something totally random may crop up. I’m not going to be so strict in 2016. I’m just to going to see where the year takes me.

No matter what I decide, gesture drawings will be a daily thing. Daily sketches too, if I study from the Mastering Manga book, the daily sketches will most likely be Chibi characters. If I go with coloured pencils, the sketches will most likely be a return to coloured segment drawings.

I’m going back to being focused, but I also want fun. I need to have some randomness in the mix. So Sunday will become my PLAY DAY, a day where I’ll allow myself to do anything I want. Every so often play day will be dedicated to Sophie time, but I may spend the day painting something. Just for fun. I won’t paint it with the idea of sharing it online, I may share it, but play day will be a day for me to just experiment.

Talking of sharing online. I intend to return to my daily Instagram posting. I’ll post a sketch a day, which will keep me honest and mean I stay focused on daily sketching. I’ll also return to playing Jonathan Rector videos while sketching. Sketching without him talking away in the background just isn’t the same!

So I’m excited, I still have some things that need taking care of, both in life and on the website. Once these are sorted, the universe will have successfully course corrected me back to basics.

P.S. Even after all these years, I still massively miss LOST :(

.

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“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Thomas Merton

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