Being an artist in quarantine is a complicated mess. There are bad parts, like not being able to gather inspiration, because you can't go outside or see your friends (assuming you have friends).
Missing art classes or having to take them online is also a downside. (What's art without cracking bad jokes, flinging paint, and stressing out about drawing from a live model to the point where you can barely draw a single line?).
So yeah, I'd say the downsides to being an artist in quarantine are many. After all, we live and breathe art. Drawing and painting are just our ways of putting it down on paper.
But, despite all the downsides, I'd argue that there are lots of upsides in quarantine for us. The main one being that we have all the time in the world. We finally have enough time to just create. I think we’ll all be pretty fantastic at what we do by the time the world reopens.
And I have an idea to help fix the issue of missing inspiration, and the restlessness of having nothing but time but not knowing how to fill it.
I know we’ve all felt like we weren’t good enough, and compared ourselves to other artists constantly. These comparisons can grow to the point where we think we'll never even come close to doing what we dream of. And if you’ll never be good enough, why even try?
This idea just keeps building on itself, and it creates a lot of art block and anxiety surrounding art. We want to develop a unique style, get really good, and get to the point where we're creating things that we can be proud of.
But our fears get in the way, and we don't know where to start. How do you learn and improve, while finding inspiration and taking up time?
God, I sound like an infomercial. Don't mind me, I just really love sketching.
The answer to my question is pretty simple: sketchbook spreads! If you’re an artist, or I guess if you're me, either you already have a sketchbook you love and would die for, or you have fifteen separate sketchbooks that you keep buying or getting for holidays, and that you’ve started and never finished. Even if you don't have a sketchbook, I bet you have an old math notebook or a bunch of printer paper stapled together. No matter your medium, if you like to sketch, this post is for you.
Let's start with the my first point: learning and getting better. My advice (and take anything I say with a grain of salt because I have literally zero credentials) is to do studies (careful copies) of things you want to learn how to draw.
Say you want to learn how to draw heads and faces better, like I did. You can look up a bunch of pictures of people with different facial expressions, make faces in the mirror and take selfies of you doing different expressions, draw based on screenshots from youtube videos and tv shows, or force one of your siblings to make a stupid face and sit still for half an hour while you draw them.
Overall, I suggest that you use tons of references. I know that snobby people see this as something you shouldn't do, or something that's just for beginners. But I can promise you that even professionals use references all the time. Drawing from life is the best way to improve, hands down.
I like to use Pinterest and Google Images for general inspiration, and lineofaction.com
for poses and faces. I'll also use comics and graphic novels that I have lying around, or set up little still lifes with random objects. You can go out into your backyard and sketch plants, or sit in front of your mirror and sketch yourself. If it isn't closed, you can go to the park and sketch trees or the people around you, or just draw the view from through your window.
Your sketchbook is the perfect place to store all of your worst attempts at drawing, because you can just cram a bunch of them onto one page and call it a social commentary. I love to fill a page with a ton of different sketches, because it really makes the page look complete.
The photo above is an example from my sketchbook, where I was practicing drawing figures and heads with different emotions: if you just use sketchy lines and crowd the page everyone thinks you're Joe Professional himself.
Here's another page from my sketchbook.
The chameleons are all drawn based on screenshots from youtube. I just watched old Cavetown videos, and paused when Caspar (RIP) came onscreen. I like this page a lot: I think the Caspars look very sneaky.
Now onto the second point: finding inspiration when you can't go out into the world. If you want to get inspired, I think your sketchbook is the perfect tool. Everything is low stakes, and it's totally okay to experiment and leave things unfinished.
It's your world, so you can create whatever you want! You can try drawing characters in different styles, experiment with figure drawing, spend a day drawing different types of lizards (or just chameleons), do crappy fan-art of your favorite show, paint in your sketchbook, try out new mediums, draw portraits of your friends, or even cover up pages with a collage! Or don't do any of those things! Don't just do what I say, do whatever inspires you!
I like to add a date to every page, and maybe write little notes about the drawings for the future.
And now onto my final point: taking up time. If you draw every day and really fill up your pages, It'll take up hours and it'll be so much fun. Here are a few random tips I've picked up over the moths that I've had a sketchbook:
You can outline your favorite sketches in color to make them stand out. If you draw a character you really like, experiment with drawing them in different poses! Give them a few outfits, and maybe brainstorm what their story would be.
This goes hand in hand with writing. (Wow, I talk about hands a lot for someone who can't draw them to save her life.) If you write a story, Illustrate it! If you create OCs, draw them in different scenes! Me personally, I'm writing a comic about girls at a creepy boarding school. I'm having a great time working on character design.
If you want to draw every day, here are a few ideas for that.
Draw how you're feeling. (I drew my sadness in that angsty "imfourteenandthisisdeep" page above.) Draw what happened during your day, or what you dreamt about. Bring your phone or camera on a walk, take photos and draw them. Illustrate your favorite book, and draw what the characters look like in your imagination. Or if reading's not your thing, draw an abstract picture of the feeling you get when you listen to your favorite song.
If you do it right, when quarantine ends you'll have a time capsule in your sketchbook of how you were feeling and what you were thinking about during this time.
While you sketch, you can turn on an audiobook, listen to some music (perhaps one of the playlists on this site), FaceTime your friends, or put on a movie to keep yourself company. If you're bored, or sad, or overwhelmed, you can just retreat into your own art world.
You'll never learn if you don't practice, and it might take some time for you to feel inspired. But if you just draw every day, even if it looks bad or is really simple, you'll start to remember why you got into art in the first place.
In the end, a sketchbook is just a tool and a place to collect your thoughts. You decide how to fill it, or if you'll fill it at all. But trust me, it's better if you do. In the wise words of Mark Crilley, the art teacher of the internet:
"Make that thing. Draw that picture you've been wanting to draw. Write that story. Sing that song. Try that crazy idea you've always wanted to try. Get it done. Put it out there, and share it with the world. It may start out bad, but you'll make it better. And then you'll make it great. Because you're an artist.and that's artists what do."
Here's my own sketchbook. It's been through a lot, and it's falling apart, but I love it anyway.
Lastly, I leave you with a quote always helps me when the doubts start to creep in.
"Since I can give up at any time, for now I will just believe in myself."
Good luck with creating! My sketchbook is one of my most prized possessions, and It's helped me so much in improving over the past year. I hope this helped you, or gave you some ideas for art. That's all for now.
- Luna
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