How long does it take to sketch?

The best answer is:  It depends.

You can take as long as you want, or as much time as you have.

If you don’t have a lot of time to sketch, do a number of short sessions, and sketch things right in front of you. Choose subjects and scenes that you can finish in a short time. For example, sketch during your commute. Find an interesting person or two or a view out of the window. Sketch another person or two the next day.

Sketch your sketching supplies, or your breakfast, or what’s on your table. Sketch them several times with different supplies and techniques. One time black and white, another time in color and with shading. When you do similar things several times, it becomes faster.

When you know you’ll have an afternoon to spend and you’re not in a rush, you can take time to look around and find a scene that you want to sketch. Walk around to see it from different angles, and then choose one that catches your eye. Start with small thumbnail sketches and lay out the potential views and values. Take time with your initial outline. Then fill in the shadows to give it depth.

Notice shadows and sunlight in your scene. The light will change as the sun moves. For example, if you see shadows that enhance a building, sketch them in early rather than waiting until a couple of hours later when the light has changed.

For my sketching, I travel to New York (City) most of the time. I have a sketchbook, pens and pencils with me all the time. I often do a quick sketch while I have a cup of coffee when I arrive, and then go to areas where I’ll spend more time sketching the buildings and architecture I want to sketch that day. For those sketches, I have another sketchbook that’s best for light watercolor.

If I’ll sketch in a neighborhood, I also take more supplies – more pens, a fountain pen, watercolor pencils and watercolors. It helps me to learn about the buildings and neighborhoods before I go, so I read up on the neighborhood and take a walking tour before I sketch. That way, I have a sense of the area, and choose the scenes and supplies I’ll use to capture the scenes. I often start the sketch and work on it more when I’m back in my studio.

At one point, I decided that I wanted to sketch faster so that I could finish a scene and building in a shorter time. Every time I sketched, I pushed myself to sketch faster. It helped some. Then an idea came to me – if I sketched the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade while I streamed it, I’d have to sketch fast. The floats move past quickly. And then they’re gone.

So that’s what I did. Yes – it was a challenge. And got me to see things faster and put the shapes down on paper quickly. I quickly trained my eye to grasp the basic shapes and colors first. Then the details. And when the float was gone, the sketch was done, even if it wasn’t as detailed as I might have liked. I’ll do that challenge again.

What can you do to sketch faster?