Shall we go sketching together this weekend?

#walktosee

Long time no speak. I took an impromptu, unplanned break from Substack and I am so happy you stuck around. Thank you.

My partner and then my Dad ended up in hospital. Not together, imagine: top to tail in the same bed, sharing bad Dad jokes 😂. So anyway, life. I needed a bit of a break.

Let’s go drawing this weekend!

It’s a bank holiday weekend in the UK, and the weather forecast looks pretty promising ☀️. So let’s get our sketchbooks out! And if it rains, even better, we can draw in the rain. I love drawing in the rain/snow/bad weather, it stops any perfectionism creeping in. You can’t fight the happy/unhappy accidents that happen when it’s raining. I like to find ways to ‘get out of my own way’ while drawing. Bad weather/ limited time/ getting in people’s way are the best tools for your drawing bag!

#walktosee

Years ago, way back when, in about 2016 I think, I started a hashtag on Instagram called #walktosee. I wanted to make a hashtag that would rally the drawing-troops, bring fellow sketchbook enthusiasts together and make a nice place for us all to hang out and connect.

And wow, I am not quite sure how it happened, but the response was amazing. There are 107k contributions so far!

I am nosy and love seeing into people's everyday lives. I found the big drawing hashtags of the time were full of clever perspective drawings of cities and buildings. There is nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to see the personal and the domestic.

If you scroll through #walktosee you'll see people from all over the world drawing their everyday lives: the school run, their washing up, their kids, their holidays. For a nosy person like me, that is way more fun!

Do you want company while you draw? I’ll come!

When we launched Good Ship Illustration in 2019, the first thing we made was The Sketchbooker’s Friend, a free audio guide to get people drawing from life. It was inspired by the #walktosee philosophy of drawing on the hoof in tiny snippets of grabbed time and not needing the best materials but using what you have at hand. 

Take a listen here! You can download it and take me, Katie and Tania with you when you go drawing. 

But be warned! ⚠️ The Sketchbooker’s Friend was the first thing we ever recorded, so excuse my sudden bursts of loud shouting/ laughing (I was a bit over-excited and nervous) and Tania's robot voice over Zoom. In fact, Tania told us we shouldn't put it out because it sounded too unprofessional. Still, Katie and I were too excited and told her people would forgive us, and they did. Phew. 

Have a lovely weekend, and share your drawings with me on Instagram by tagging #walktosee.

Oh and if you search ‘Walktosee’ on Insta gifs you will find some special ‘Draw in the Dark’ ‘Draw in the Rain’ gifs to sprinkle liberally around your stories.

I’ll do a big #walktosee roundup on my stories next week, so it’s a good way to find new followers. And if you follow the hashtag you’ll find lots of fellow sketchbookers too.

Happy drawing!

love Helenx