ED / NOTESComposition, observation and the next sketch.

ED / NOTES — An open sketchbook

Between
the marks.

A composition begins with what you choose to notice. Follow a line, leave a little space, and let the next drawing ask a more precise question than the first.

Begin a composition study
A loose line drawing of a vessel, a leaf and a folded sheet Blue pencil-like outlines leave parts of the objects open. A broad empty area and the overlapping edges connect the forms into one composition.
A line can describe an object. A gap can connect it to the next one.

A sketch gives the question
somewhere to become visible.

At first, the scene looks like three objects. A longer look reveals an edge that points, a handle that opens, and a quiet shape between them.

The first drawing may record the objects faithfully while missing that relationship. Keep it. It tells you how the scene looked before you decided which part deserved more attention.

In the next version, give the empty area a clearer boundary. Let part of an object leave the frame or allow a line to stop before the outline is complete. The drawing can become more selective without becoming less precise about its question.

A composition is also a choice about what can stay quiet.

Compare the two versions in the same light and at a similar size. Ask where the eye begins, which edges continue across the space and what the surrounding area contributes to the reading.

The useful result may be a more deliberate crop, a quieter line or a question you had not seen in the original arrangement. A finished picture is only one possible destination of the study.

Entry 02 / Keep the subject, move the frame

The same forms.
A different centre of attention.

A wider view gives the objects their surroundings. A closer crop can make a connection between edges more important than the complete description of each object.

Two line studies compare a wider still life with a closer crop On the left, a cup and a folded sheet sit within a broad pale field. On the right, the cup is partly outside the frame and its handle meets the nearby paper edge.

More of the surroundings.

The wider frame lets the objects take their place in a field. Compare the distance to the edges and the direction formed by the group.

More of the connection.

The closer frame asks the handle, the paper edge and the space between them to carry the composition. Some description is lost while a particular relationship becomes clearer.

Entry 03 / Read the next version

Give the revision
a clear purpose.

A drawing can invite many changes at once. Before altering the whole, choose one relationship the next version should examine more closely.

Keep the format steady while changing the crop, or keep the crop while changing the emphasis of a line. A stable part gives the result something concrete to differ from.

Write a brief note about what became clearer and what remained uncertain. The note can preserve the useful part of a study long after its first visual impression has faded.

The next page can begin with the same subject
and a more deliberate question.

Keep the first sketch.
Let the next one answer it.

The guide brings an observation, a small constraint and a readable comparison into one drawing session.

Open the sketchbook guide