Good evening, lovely ones!
As amber snow and ice warnings sweep the country for the second time this month, I thought it was time for an “emergency broadcast”, as it were, that interrupts my normal posting schedule.
Instead of this being a panicky message of impending doom, however, this is an excited short post about some serious inspiration that is going to open up a whole new way of keeping sketchbooks and conducting research for me which I wanted to share!
I was recently in one of my favourite places in the world to be- in a large bookshop, in a comfy seat, browsing through lots and lots of different books. I found a particularly special one which I couldn’t just leave behind…
It’s called “Explorers’ Sketchbooks: The Art of Discovery & Adventure” and features the notes, sketches and paintings of a great number of explorers, detailing the essence of what made their trips into the unknown so brilliant. There are drawings from explorers who sat dangerously close to volcanoes, sketching and painting their lava patterns; journals exploring whole civilisations previously undocumented, and flora and fauna from the first voyages to new lands (including some of the first ever drawings made on a deep sea dive!)
For a person like me, whose young self was frightened of so many things, this book would’ve been amazing when I was young- to transport me to places I never felt I could reach. Now, as I grow older, I love it even more; it reminds me how far I’ve come since then, how now I feel more confidence to seek out things which frighten me to conquer, as well as a colossal burst of inspiration for projects to seek out in the future.
It got me thinking; the whole concept of a explorer’s journal is a fantastic lesson for any illustrator or artist- drawing on location, especially in challenging conditions, reveals so much more than drawing retrospectively through photographs. It not only teaches you to be less precious about things that you put in your sketchbook, but forces you to make notes in a different way to how you normally might.
Taking inspiration from some of the explorers I’ve been reading about, I ventured out into the freezing conditions today for a short ‘expedition’, to draw in the blizzard-like conditions which have been storming about. The bitter chill of the wind forced me to keep my very thick gloves on, which made it a lot harder to get the range of movement in my hands which I’m used to. The cold acted as a great pressure not to care too much about getting things perfect, and just concentrate more on gesture and movement.
I’m not yet ready to settle on one subject to study for the rest of my life yet (like one particular animal or place), but the whole concept of exploring shown through the accounts of these incredible men and women opens up a world of new possibilities. As I near a deadline particularly important to me it was good for a moment just to step back for a few hours, look at things from a slightly new angle, and think dreamily about the great many things I’ve yet to study and understand in my artwork.
After all, even if it’s true that I now won’t be the first person up Everest, or under the sea- nobody will, or ever again see those things through my eyes. And that’s a little bit exciting.
The AutumnHobbit
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