drawanyway.com

Who’s in control of your picture? That’s right, you’re in control. I know it doesn’t always feel like that, but it’s true. So it’s up to you to make decisions about what you’re going to show and how you’re going to show it.

OK, you can sit down in front of your subject and draw everything you see, but where’s the fun in that? You might as well be taking a photograph. The joy of drawing is that if someone’s parked a car right in the middle of your landscape, or there’s an inconvenient road-sign, or some bucolic view suddenly gives way to a Sainsbury’s carpark, you have the power to edit reality.

Don’t be afraid to skip irrelevant details. The benefits are that you get a more coherent picture, plus it’s easier and quicker to draw, too. Today’s task is to size up your subject matter. It might be a view, or it might be a simple still life. Decide what you can do without, and go minimalist.