Drawing is my new hobby.
Three months ago, I suddenly found myself with free time on my hands. Heeding the advice of my other half, I have picked up a new hobby: a hobby that satisfies my three basic requirements: relaxing, promotes self-development, and can be done alone. If these 3 requirements are met, there is a possibility that the hobby could be a long-term or even life-long activity (my hobbies exploration record hasn’t been that positive in the recent years).
How to start
How do I get started on drawing? The basic drawing materials are already available at home—a Clairefontaine sketchbook and a set of Faber-Castell pencils that my husband bought more than a year ago for himself. Unfortunately for him, he did not venture further than the first page after attempting to sketch his foot. Hence, I decided to take over the unloved sketchbook.
What to draw
Around the time that I decided to dabble in drawing, I noticed that there were some art tutorial posts on my Facebook (no idea how FB knows about my new hobby. It must be the workings of the Big Brother). These posts break down the different steps in producing childlike drawings of people, animals and objects. The drawing usually starts by using a number or an alphabet. For instance, you can draw a super cute panda leaning against a bamboo by putting the number “9” as a first step. Another example is drawing a smiley dog by starting with “r”. My doodles from these tutorials always brought me instant gratification: the aesthetic aspect (my art standard is not that high, huh?) and the knowledge that these drawings were produced from my hand.
For the first couple of weeks, I just followed these tutorials, duplicating drawings with just a pencil. Soon after, I tried my hand on portrait drawing based on photos of my family. Unsurprising, the portraits did not bear any resemblance to my family members.
Art supplies
I wanted to add colours to my drawings. As the simplest method for me was to use colour pencils, I started watching videos on how to improve drawing with this tool. Through Youtube binging, I discovered the existence of watercolour pencils. You can actually draw and colour through painting! After making marks on the paper with the pencils, you can paint by using a wet brush on the marks. The pigment is “activated” by the water and you can start watercolour painting! In the beginning, I thought that the combination of water and colour pencils had to be a recent invention (recent meaning in the last 30 years since I last touched any art materials). When I was a kid, I took art lessons for a few years and I had experimented with different with various art materials, but never watercolour pencils. However, a quick search on the all-knowing Internet showed that my assumption was wrong; the tool was actually developed as early as in the 1930s!
First purchase
The discovery of watercolour pencils prompted me to make my first purchase of art supplies from Gibert Joseph, a local bookstore. A box of 18 watercolour pencils from Swiss Caran d’ache, an A4-sized French Canson sketchbook for watercolour painting and a set of 5 basic paint brushes. I wasn’t aware of how not-cheap basic art materials could be until at the cashier: €38! Having been the beneficiary of art lessons as a kid, I understand that certain art supplies like oil painting related materials could be expensive. But €38 for 18 watercolour pencils (albeit Swiss), paper (albeit French) and 5 nondescript brushes! To comfort myself, I assured myself that these supplies might just be the only ones I needed and they would last me for a while. Compared to my photography gear, €38 was just a drop in the ocean.
Second purchase
My second purchase came just four days after. I was thinking I might just get myself a box of classic colour pencils for simple sketches and colouring, not painting. In this way, I could save the pricier watercolour pencils for watercolour painting only. In addition, as I saw many artists on Youtube using markers to outline their subjects, I decided to get some too. The markers should be relatively cheap. With a click on Amazon and a dent of €31 on my credit card, my box of 36 Faber-Castell colour pencils and a set of 10 Staedtler felt-tip pens arrived in my letterbox in no time.
What have I drawn with all these art supplies? I have already spent about 70€ in less than a month after I started drawing. Will my drawing enthusiasm fizzle out soon? Will I make more art supplies purchases? Wait for my next article (hopefully soon).