Sketchbook, not stress book

Since the day I enrolled an illustration course at Vietnam Academic Illustration, sketchbook has become a friend of mine. I constantly draw everyday. Honestly, still having some days I cannot split any time to draw, yet I keep that spirit in my mind. The process of everyday practice builds an image library for me and helps me to draw more comfortable and natural. Gradually, I do not suffer a thing called artblock anymore. In my opinion, artblock is not about I do not know what I should draw. I got artblocked because I desired to draw for showing off myself. It is not a pure purpose for drawing. Drawing or making art in general should be for ourselves first. We should dive deeply into ourselves because we cannot tell about something we do not have. Therefore, daily sketching builds a habit of connecting with myself through image that I saw and emotion that I captured. It gives me feeling of going deeper into my beings and my thoughts. This routine is not only for developing drawing techniques but also an visual diary that the deeper I look at the more I discover about myself and deepen that connection. In the conversation PICTURE PERFECT / L’ART D’ILLUSTRER, the Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith said that: "I have to draw all the time, because it’s a muscle. It’s a muscle that needs to be exercised”. The same for me, the more I draw, the more comfortable and confident I feel.

Should we sketch with a purpose or retain spontaneity? In my experiences I could say we should consciously combine the two elements of control and spontaneity. At the moment I start to draw, I spend some times to feel clearly what I want to express, what gives a huge impact on me (this is the control our consciousness part) and then I sketch in a spontaneous way. A technique I always apply when sketching is blind continous line drawing. Blind contour drawing is a drawing exercise, where an artist draws the contour of a subject without looking at the paper. The artistic technique was introduced by Kimon Nicolaïdes in The Natural Way to Draw, and it is further popularized by Betty Edwards as "pure contour drawing" in The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. This method allows me capture the spirit of the subject quickly because my eyes have to focus to observe and my hand translates what I see onto paper. Focusing on observing and feeling the paper space forces me to concentrate intensely and leaves no room for the "know things" filter when looking at the drawing object. Practicing this method for a while, sometimes I am not completely "blind" and "continous" while sketching. I sometimes look at the paper and change the way I hold pencil or pastel stick or whatever I am using instead. This little bit of flexibility for me will create a more natural and intentional effect to express the true feelings I have for the drawing object.

I have been to beaches and seen many fishing boats for several times and the sea surface is sparkling. The scene was very fascinating but I could not draw, I just took pictures with my camera. I could not sketch plein air because there were so many things I had to control and my left brain was too scared about it until I learned about blind contour drawing. In the trip to Nhon Ly in July 2024, I practiced with this method to sketch the picture I want long time ago, it was fishing boats on the sea. My eyes and my hand did their best job to effectively catch the scene's spirit. Betty Edward, an art educator suggests that pure contour drawing creates a shift from left mode to right mode thinking. The left mode of the brain rejects meticulous, complex perception of spatial and relational information, consequently permitting the right brain to take over. 

Blind contour drawing has brought me a lot of emotion. It not only helps me to capture the object's spirit and feeling but also makes me believe in myself that I can draw. It encourages me to see through the objects and catch my own sensation.