- Use a viewfinder (cut in card, or an empty 35mm slide)to help you 'see' a composition within a view.
- How many different views can you find within the scene? Try landscape, portrait and square formats.
- What is most compelling about the landscape in front of you? Focus on a single point of interest.
- Record the landscape in detail - bark texture, leaves, bricks. Render a speckled pebble in colored pencil, or the veins on a leaf in pen.
- Focus on perspective - where is the vanishing point for each set of parallel lines?
- Look for a human element within the landscape, for scale and interest
- Tell a story: what has just happened in the landscape? What is about to happen?
- Draw an urban environment. Draw a cityscape, or an interesting wall with years of overlaid posters and graffiti.
LANDSCAPE DRAWING PROJECT
Landscape changes over time. Record the progression of time within a certain view. You might record changes over a single day. Pay attention to the direction of the light and the direction and length of shadows.You might even record the passing seasons. For this, if you can, mark your viewpoint (take a photo identifying your position) so that you can return to the same spot each time.
Take care establishing your composition with the first composition. What has changed? What remains the same? Some major elements may change in your landscape: people coming and going, animals moving, cars being parked. Think about light and tone, color, mark-making and texture, as a means to express the changes you observe.
