3 tips for sketching landscapes with movement & energy

Hello!

Today I launched my latest youtube video, all about -as the title suggests- sketching landscapes with movement and energy. This is a very short & sweet blog post to share three of the simple tips that help me match the energy of the landscapes that inspire me - both when I’m out in the landscape, and back in the studio. Watch the latest video here:

TIPS FOR FINDING MOVEMENT & ENERGY

1. Use your whole arm

Give your arms a shake before you start sketching, starting from your shoulders, down to your elbows, down to your wrist, knuckles and finger tips. It’s amazing how much movement is available to us through our arms - and when we open up this wider range of physical movement, it’s amazing how this can be translated to the page!

2. How you use your tools matters

Short, simple and sweet - holding your drawing tools any which way - apart from like how you would write with a pencil - is going to help you access a wider range of marks with much greater speed!

3. Allow yourself a judgement-free zone

I think many of us love sketchbooks for this reason - it’s like a sacred space where our critical mind doesn’t need to show up. The exercises I share in this video above are designed to help you focus on creating over thinking - through techniques like speed and materials. To get the most out of the exercises, we need to be working in a headspace or a physical space that helps us get that sense of freedom and permission - to make “bad” art, to explore, to make a mess - whatever you want to call it. If you find it hard to let go or stop judging your art, then why not have a designated space - sketchbooks, sheets of paper, a corner of your house - where you can specifically go wild? Most importantly, a spot where the inner critic is firmly uninvited - banished with glee, even!

If you’d like to practice working at speed, and sketching with more movement and energy you can follow along with my latest youtube video, and access a free sketching resource - to draw from the moving videos featured in these YT exercises here:

Orla