January | 2016 | Secret Forest Studio

I did a few sketches this past Saturday, in an old half-filled sketchbook I had laying around. It may not be my strongest work yet, but I am very happy with it because I did it with no reference, which I haven’t ever really been able to do before! Technically, I had a movie on in the background, and took a few little pieces of reference here and there, but the vast majority was done without.

It was the first time I was able to just put pen to paper and create (and be happy with the result). I could tell that I was, on some level, taking little elements I had drawn in different contexts time and time again, and was using them as building blocks to create something new. Something new also happened: as I began to draw, I began to listen to the drawing. Rather than forcing something presupposed, as I began to see part of the drawing emerge, it suggested a new direction, and each new addition changed the direction, until something surprising resulted. It was quite a nice experience, and wholly new in my practice of art.

I can tell that the more I draw from reference, and the more I practice anatomy and perspective, the easier it will be to draw from imagination in the future, which really was the goal of all of this from the start.

Saturday Evening Sketches (no ref)