I tend to improvise. When I think too hard, art ideas run away from me. But I also like to study and practice a little thing many times—in case I will need it later. I'll have pages of nonsense, then a careful piece, followed by pages of nonsense. I do this in a 9x12 sketchbook and in a tiny travel sketchbook. I would like to be able to fill up a page more regularly. Once a week? I would also like to try and encourage more of those "gut feelings", so I don't have long periods of inactivity. Exploring masters and visiting museums seem like good practices. Taking this course and completing assignments also helps.

Wait what. I had no idea you could press graphite from transparent paper on normal paper with your nail like that! I've been angrily working with my crappy copy machine instead.

Just watched the 12 days announcement and remembered that I had a sketch of James Gurney somewhere. I find it hard to keep one sketchbook and fill it (I tear pages out because of bad drawings). So often my sketches are on loose papers and they vanish somehow. But I found the sketch of James (on Draftsmen)… Here’s an impression of some other sketchbooks I started.

Sketchbooks I've filled since Fall 2022

First of all, I would like to say that I love your sketches, Marshall. They are so powerful and very interesting. Secondly, I would like to say that I don’t know why, but I really enjoy improvisation. Every day, I try to practice some improvisational sketches and bring something from my imagination to life. I usually feel like I did when I was a child, drawing something. Improvisation is like jazz—it’s the hardest category of music, but it’s so much fun.

One area where I can at least excell in quantity if not quality. These other sketches put mine to shame. But I do try and fill up sketchbooks fast. This book I filled from 10/8-11/14. I try to watch sketching videos and imitate people I admire like Kim Jung Gi, Peter Han, or Karl Kopinski. I like experimenting with different materials and paper. I like iterating on similar themes and doing comfortable drawings to warm up.

it makes sense now , that we are focused on "stages and simple to complex " sinced we want to get good at the constructions on things to finally draw from imagination and that it is believable

Sometimes I feel like the “scribbles” are better than the final drawing. Case in point from Birdtober.

I recently started a sketchbook for life drawing with ink. Lot to learn but it's been a blast.

There seems to be wisdom on both sides of the spectrum: the intuitive, expressive 'feel it out' approach and the more calculated 'figure it out' method. Here, I used an iterative process to develop my drawing. I’m really drawn to the cartoon-style Darth Vader. Another thing that helped was refining the idea with each iteration, focusing on different aspects and staying open to adding more details along the way.

Wow! I guess I never realized how my art works... I just did it. As a kid, I always drew from imagination or by watching anime and trying to replicate the characters without stopping the show. I was very creative as a kid I must say. And fearless. But then as I grew older, things have changed. I can't even remember when was the last time I drew without a reference photo, because I like to be precise. Thank you for showing all these spontaneous artworks, I love them all! They inspire me to draw whatever comes to my mind. I will keep a mini sketchbook around so I can draw whenever the inspiration fairy visits me.

Keeping a sketchbook - yes ... but ... fill it with WHAT and HOW? There are so many approaches to drawing! Drawing from imagination, drawing from reference, drawing from observation, brainless habit drawings (doodeling), warmup sketches, anatomy studies, life drawing, master studies, notes during courses, style studies, technique experimentations ... analog ... digital ... ! ... My sketchbooks are all over the place in their approach, contents and also stylistically ... I tried to categorize some but its still a mess. I envy artists that have a unique style that makes them recognizable right away and have sketchbooks that look like carefully pieced together published art books.

Tried sketching random shapes and lines and then letting my imagation take it where ever it wanted.

I’m excited after tripping over those rulers. I’ve got a leg up on improv, it’s my everyday and I can’t wait to get even better

Amazing, Combination of Dedication and magic 🔥.

Really enjoyed this video. Amazing drawings. I love the Carousel drawing with living horses !

This is something I need to work on, I have sketchbooks, but I don't really use them much, and must is just studies and not really playing around much.

Love love love the explanation of this lesson. It's something I often struggle with, to find the balance between methodical stages and improvising on the spot what my mind and hand want to create. I definitely need to follow your example in drawing more in my sketchbook and trust that, with time, the fundamentals will be so ingrained that they'll be there before I realize it. Also thank you for all the brilliant examples used

hi Marshall, just got into your course today, you're a wonderful teacher with positive funny personality :) this will be an amazing journey!