For this research exercise, I was tasked to look into the work of Sophie Peanut. Her work is developed from doing quite rapid sketches, and her blog posts delve into different aspects of sketching rapidly. I was prompted to visit a particular page first [7], but I expanded my reference to more of her posts too.
Initial observations and Feelings
I enjoy Sophie's work, especially the messy lines of her landscapes. I find her messy washes much more challenging and unsatisfactory. They seem, not imprecise, but... ill-considered. I get the feeling she could do more with less if she thought about where she was going to place her strokes.
I like how she uses pages in multiple ways and is not precious about layering new work over unfinished portions. I particularly like the reportage technique of including overheard quotes, they really give a sense of her work being a snapshot in time.
Working Methods
I feel, looking at other examples of her work, that her 'in situ' pieces like the coffee shop are some of her most successful. They seem to really capture a sense of place, but I question, given the detail (still captured loosely) how 'quick' these pieces actually are.
Sophie predominantly seems to use a combination of wash, pencil and ink but is an advocate of using whatever you have to hand. I noticed she prefers water-soluble pencils to compliment her use of watercolour. I got a distinct impression that she likes to experiment, as shown in her post about lilies [6]. What I did think about that study, however, was that her experiments seem to be constrained to variations of her repertoire of 'disposable' media. I think this actually limits her.
This made me ask some questions:
Has she already made a conscious decision to constrain herself to these media, to facilitate her quick style?
If quick, accessible and 'disposable' are her cornerstones, would she keep the same style if she used digital media to capture things on a tablet or phone?
The content of her demonstrated work seems to cover an even amount of people, place and things. She embraces whatever is in front of her, and as such her family seems to factor heavily in her sketchbooks, either as subjects or the situational catalyst.
I really enjoy her quick landscapes, and have really observed her line work in particular - she manages to capture tone and texture really quickly with a few contours and scribbles. Where she uses colour I noticed from her notes that she puts down the wash first, then adds line in pencil and / or ink. I really like the variety in her line work, especially how she uses coloured pencils. I particularly think that her predominantly wet-on-wet skies are very successful.
Where people are concerned I find that sometimes she seems to suffer from 'same-face' syndrome. There are notable exceptions where she really does capture a unique likeness and expression, but I find a lot of her faces to be very similar otherwise.
Comparison with my work
Since I started this module I have been trying to use my small sketchbook whenever I can, and try and take it with me as much as possible. I still don't have it as an extension of my body, but I am getting better.
When it comes to linework there are a lot of similarities in our work. I think I am really rubbish at capturing faces well, it's something I am trying to work on as it is very frustrating. I am becoming more comfortable with poses and especially folds in clothes. A combination of the right contour outline and appropriate shapes and lines at creases go a long way to give the right feel without being 100% accurate.
I have looked for opportunities to draw people and take my sketchbook when I know there will be people there - waiting rooms and coffee shops have recently proved quite successful.
One of the things I don't get to do easily when out and about is use colour, I just don't tend to carry that much with me. Looking at some of my sketches with pen and wash, I think my approach is more careful, I think it might be fun to take a leaf from Sophie's book and lay down colour before adding on top with line. Perhaps that will let me be more impressionistic than literal? It's something that I can try in my next exercise.
I have enjoyed taking my Red/Blue pencil out with the smaller sketchbook, it actually affords me a lot of ability to capture tone, I think in this way I am still using colour, but it would be nice to have more at my disposal. I do so love colour.
Merits and Pitfalls
There is a lot to admire about Sophie's approach to her work. She will just draw and practice with whatever is in front of her - something I have been trying to do myself. I find it liberating, and is a sure-fire way to overcome analysis-paralysis about content. Working quickly also lets her get things down quickly. The energy and life in her strokes add to the energy of a place and contributes to her ability to capture the sense of place.
I think that working quickly actually complements a love for observation and life, but getting a holistic snapshot onto paper. Working too detailed too often can mean you can't build up a picture of the whole thing.
The downside of this is that details can be missed, and I think in Sophie's case a lot of the time she misses the emotional quality from the people she captures, the features all end up feeling a little robotic. Spending some time to capture that essence would be really useful, and with practice comes speed anyway, right?
There are some things that I can try and take forward into my own experiments:
Try using soluble pencils to experiment with different line qualities
Think about how I can create texture when using watercolour/ink and line art
Other Artists with a Quick Style
David Hockney
I picked up one of Hockney's sketchbook artbooks [8] as part of an exploration of how he captured trees in his sketches (trees being a current focus of mine). I don't know a lot about Hockney, only that my GCSE Art teacher really liked him! In looking at his colourful work I was taken aback in the difference between his sketchbook and his paintings. The sketchbook is so much more simplified, and you can tell how he has worked quickly in watercolour and ink.
I really like how he impressionistically captures the character of a scene through the use of pattern and texture. I also like the still life paintings here and there, and the scribbles and patterns towards the back - it's reassuring to know that even the greats do it!
In thinking about sketching quickly my mind turned to reportage illustration. I referred to a book I have on the subject to see if there were any artists in there that particularly stood out for me for this research. Jill Gibbon was one artist that took my attention. Her sketches are pure simplicity but are so evocative. I love her use of a small concertina sketchbook to capture life around her, and given her sensitive subject matter I expect this helps her to keep things discrete. Everything seems like it has drama!
Veronica Lawlor is another artist I noticed from the book. What sets her apart from some of the other artists so far is that her work seems to still have a quality of detail about it. She often uses spot colour for good effect and I like how her images seem like they have almost been done as a continuous contour drawing. I think that her approach must be particularly adaptable as she seems to be able to capture quickly and effortlessly move to more polished work simply by taking a bit more time for her imagery.
Christoph Neimann
Neimann is probably best known for the way he creates illustrations incorporating everyday objects, but in "An Illustrated Life" [10] we see his work in his sketchbooks. I really love how he captures everyday cityscapes, and I think I like his quick sketches better than those which obviously took a bit more time.
I really love the work of Dan Berry - he has a really loose, almost Quentin Blake-like style, but he is a master of observation. I love how he works almost exclusively in ink, very rarely doing pencil-work first. That means he can work really quickly and then follow up with watercolour washes after.
The big difference for me between his work and Sophie's is his ability to capture likeness and expression amazingly well in his drawing of people.
References
Peanut, S. (2016). Quick Landscape Sketches in pen, Inktense Pencils and Watercolour. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/quick-landscape-sketches/
Peanut, S. (2017). Quick People Sketches - A Lesson in Letting Go by Artist Sophie Peanut. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/quick-people-sketches/
Peanut, S. (2017). Sketch Ideas to Make Everyday Drawing Exciting By Sophie Peanut. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/sketch-ideas/
Peanut, S. (2017). Urban Sketching Techniques Where You Get to Get All Your Toys Out. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/urban-sketching-techniques/
Peanut, S. (2018). Good Sketches - Drawing The Smell Of Coffee by Sophie Peanut. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/good-sketches-cafe-drawing/
Peanut, S. (2018). Lily Flower Drawing and Watercolour Studies - Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: https://sophiepeanut.com/lily-flower-drawing-four-ways/
Peanut, S. (2016). 5 minutes sketches - Benefits of quick, messy sketches. [online] Sophie Peanut - Illustrator. Available at: http://sophiepeanut.com/5-minutes-sketches/
Hockney, D. (2012). A Yorkshire sketchbook. 1st ed. London: Royal Academy of Arts.
Embury, G. and Minichiello, M. (2018). Reportage illustration. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Gregory, D. (2011). An illustrated life. 7th ed. Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books, pp.184-187.
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