“The Thumbnail Sketch”

Have you ever been in a car, or on a bus, riding along through the countryside, seeing out the window a scene of such loveliness that you wished you had a sketchbook and crayon on hand to make a little drawing of the details of what you are viewing? This is an inclination of every artist at some time or another in his or her career might have had. It is decidedly a beginning.

This is something that anyone looking to make their living in some aspect of the Art World needs to become aware of. It is a crucial step into the world of making art…the “seeing with a pencil”. It begins to train the eye to look for details that are worthy of capturing for posterity. Before you begin to even imagine color, types of paint, various supports, or even a place where you might be able to work in peace and quiet…(very necessary to a creator of art, whatever the medium he or she might eventually choose.)

Many times the inspiration to become a painter, an artist, an architect, comes in the classroom at school. Blessed are we who sit before a teacher who has the inspiration to share with students the joys of creativity, whether drawing, painting, or the applied arts are the direction sought. This is a time of experimentation with a pencil, a water color set, a color book, whatever demands the attention of busy fingers and busy minds. Alert parents will pick up on any venture their children seem to be good at and encourage them to pursue that inkling. Some youngsters will even go so far as to take a few classes at some local Gallery, being allowed to experience the fun of putting their ideas into fruition, either successfully or abject failure…it’s all a learning time.

Later on in life this inclination may stay with a person, like a little nudge now and then, to seek a way to go a step further. During school and college young people are given many opportunities to begin to zero in on their choice of how they would like to make a living. I would hope among the many classes demanded of their academic schedule, there would be an opportunity to appreciate the many types of art that have been accomplished in the past…everything from the Architectural wonders of ancient Egypt to the magnificent frescos of Michelangelo in Rome. Every school or college has a permanent collection of various modern art experiments for students to view, or be inspired by, and begin to think, “I could do that, it looks so easy”.

The skill comes from practice, just like playing the piano. “You will never play really well unless you practice”…a familiar line from the movie (and novel) of Jane Austin’s Pride & Prejudice.

One of the ways to become really proficient in sketching comes from a book I read, years ago, called “Drawing from the right side of the brain.” Even after years of drawing, sketching, painting, framing, all the things we do in our art life, I picked up a paper-back copy of that book and skimmed through it one evening and began to apply the principals of this artist to my own pencil drawings, even so far as to using these insights in the initial drawing for what might be a finished canvas…I always remember…”drawing is basic”.

Interior Design is very definitely an applied art…we go so far as to make thumbnail sketches of customers homes in order to bring a “blueprint” of the rooms involved, in order to give the illusion of how a recommended solution might work in a private home. We sometimes go to the extent of building a paper-cut model of a completed home. Many hours are saved by the use of the thumbnail sketch and the initial black and white drawings of the elements involved, thus saving many possible mistakes and “happy accidents” that could be made in the decorating of a home or office.

Have fun in your pursuit of artistic endeavors. Come join us in Teague’s Mezzanine Gallery for a continuing showing of many types and styles of art available in our area today, with local and national artists alike.