Getting Started on That Drawing
Alright, so I decided I needed to capture that key moment from what happened, you know, at that central spot people call ‘brandon ground zero’. It wasn’t about making some grand statement, more about getting the raw action down on paper as I saw it or felt it.
First thing I did was clear my table. Just needed some space to think and work. Grabbed my trusty sketchbook, the one with the slightly thicker paper, and a few pencils – a hard one for light sketching and a softer one, like a 4B, for the darker stuff later. Didn’t really plan much beyond that, just wanted to get going while the image was clear in my head.
Roughing it Out
I started real loose. Didn’t focus on details at all. Just tried to get the main shapes down. Where were the people? What was the main line of movement? It was all about blocking out the composition, finding the energy of that specific action. Spent maybe ten minutes just making light, messy lines, trying to figure out the best angle to show what was important.
- Figured out the main focal point – the interaction right in the middle.
- Blocked in the rough positions of the figures involved.
- Sketched the immediate surroundings very basically, just to give context.
The key was capturing that specific action, that burst of energy or tension. Everything else was secondary at this stage. Lots of erasing and redrawing happened here, just nudging things around until it felt right.
Adding the Details
Once the basic structure felt okay, I switched to a slightly softer pencil and started layering in more detail. This took the longest. I really focused on the body language of the people involved in the action. How were they standing? What were their hands doing? Getting that posture right was crucial to showing the importance of the moment.
This is where I tried to get specific:
- Worked on faces, or at least the suggestion of expressions if they were visible.
- Added details to clothing, but kept it simple so it didn’t distract.
- Started putting in some shadows to give it depth, using the side of the pencil lead.
Had a bit of a struggle making sure the background didn’t overpower the main action. Kept having to simplify it, make it fade back a bit. It’s easy to get lost in details that don’t matter.
Finishing Up
Towards the end, I took that 4B pencil and really went in on the darkest areas and the key outlines of the action itself. Made those lines stronger to draw the eye right where it needed to go. Did some final blending with my finger, maybe not the ‘proper’ way, but it works for me to soften some edges.
Stepped back from it, looked at it from a distance. Yeah, it felt like it caught that specific second, that important bit of movement. It’s not perfect, drawings never are, but it recorded what I needed it to. Packed up my pencils, job done for the day.
