Sketch Book for the Artist

should not try to know how every finished picture will look,

but it is important to be clear why we are making it.

Decide before you start whether you are drawing to

warm up, or to discover the best use of a new material,

to express the beauty in a moment's play of light, conduct

an experiment, make a calculation, shout against a terrible

injustice, or illustrate a dream. Opposite, I drew to

understand the apparatus of flight, while below, Leonardo

drew to invent a machine. Our drawings are annotated

investigations into the mechanisms of nature and of an

idea. We have both covered our paper with focused,

stripped-down parts, drawing in pursuit of our own

thoughts and understanding. My drawings of a house-

martin (opposite top) illustrate the importance of repeated

study. More was learned drawing the bird 18 times than

would have been understood drawing it only once or twice.

Each fresh image reflects growing confidence and the

experience of the preceding study. This also applies if

struggling at length with a larger picture; when it looks

tired and still feels wrong, it may be best to start afresh.

Don't be disheartened; time spent is not lost. It will be

invested through your experience in the new drawing.

VISION