🗃️ 29. How do you decide what to sketch?

Mike Lowrey, Tom Froese and Adam Ming's thoughts on sketching.

On Drawing and Making

Yesterday a reader asked how I decide what to sketch. Before I answer that, I want to recommend two people on Skillshare who go deep into this topic. 

If you’re a beginner I recommend all of Mike Lowrey’s classes on sketching. They are light and entertaining, but really make you want to get into the practice without making it seem too intimidating.

If you’ve been sketching for a while Tom Froese’s Drawing towards illustration is a great resource that introduces different modes of drawing and when to use each of them.

(If you need you can get free skillshare for a month)

Okay, so how do I decide:

1. I have a list of 100 items to practice drawing if I’m stuck I start there. It’s good to have a default. The first thing on my list is to draw my left hand in three poses: rock, paper, and scissors.

2. If I feel more creative, I might open up the sketchbook and use the left page to write down any number of ideas or doodles. Maybe I’ll write a question, and list 10 answers. Or I’ll draw 4 boxes and fill them with a comic. Or I’ll do a mind map.

3. If I have a project I’m working on, I might do a warmup for the project. I won’t hit the topic head-on, but I’ll draw around the topic.

Then I set a timer for 30 minutes and draw till it ends. Sometimes I go longer and finish the drawing. Other times I just stop. And I rarely share these sketches. It’s just an exercise.

Related:

10 things to Draw

Another 10 things to draw

How to draw poses