Co-Drawing , an Inviting Art form (Part 2)
In my last post I shared about the unique experience of co-drawing with my five year old nephew. We traded line for line, mark for mark. And being the adult in that situation allowed me to be more of the guide.
Well, a month later, I found myself with an opportunity where the tables were turned a bit.
I have been a fan of Jedidiah Dore’s reportage and urban sketching work for sometime via Instagram. He’s part of a group of artists who were trained by the same mentor and teacher. Their work has a unique look and feel. So when Jed posted about having an opening if anyone wanted to join him for sketching in Brooklyn, NY, I jumped at the chance.
As luck would have it, the other people who signed up had come the previous day, leaving me to a one on one personalize experience learning and drawing with Jed.
As we walked around the area known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and surrounding, we talked about drawing, supplies, and life experiences. We would stop ever so often for a lesson (in things like perspective and visual editing) and to observe our view.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed visually with the NYC skyline across the river, all the building in Brooklyn, not to mention the massive structures of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. (want to feel really tiny? stand between the two and look up). Jed talked about having a cinematic approach, thinking about “where camera is”. He talked about observing the horizon line in perspective.
Most notably, he encouraged me to think before drawing. “What do you want to say?” Jed asked. He continued “many artists find themselves with lackluster drawings because they have failed to ask questions even before they put pen to paper.” We talked about the need to have a “star of the show” in which the drawing is centered around.
Jed also had me do a ton of quick thumbnail sketches to plan out my drawing a bit (think of these like drawings you would see on story boards for movies describing the action).
And at another point we sat and did a drawing trading line for line. The person had to not only identify what the other artist was looking at in the scene laid out before us, but also had to respond in deciding what line would come next. If you have ever played a game where you have a group of people tell a story but the can only use one sentence, each taking turns until the collective story ends – it’s a bit like that, only telling a visual story through a drawing.
Later, we spent some time in color studies, pushing our usual go to color palettes. I alway enjoy taking the dull grey, brown, black and blue colors of NYC and reinterpreting them into vivid colors that more match the cities energy.
And finally, here’s one of Jed’s incredible drawing he created while sitting next to me under the Brooklyn Bridge. He’s a master at capturing NYC scenes.
This day was one of my highlights this past summer, and I hope I get the chance to do it again sometime!
