Composition Tip: Connect the Darks

Early Bird Registration for workshops. And a FREE Zoom Drawing Session.

Welcome to the October (already?) 2024 edition of my newsletter which follows the usual format: Sketching Tips, Workshops, and some random interesting tidbits at the end. Included are the details for a free Zoom Sketching session.

This newsletter is long, and if it comes to your email, it might be cut short: go to the full version on Substack so you don’t miss any of it!

Connecting The Darks

A strong contrast of darks and lights is a good thing. It’s even better to take that one step further and connect those dark shapes into larger masses. There are obvious instances of a large dark mass, like this coastal sketch.

But there are other, more overlooked places to look for big, dark shapes.

• Light and Shade
Light and shade will often create an interesting dark shape. Even if you are varying colors within the shaded side, keeping them all dark will connect them into a bigger mass, visually.

• Don’t Overlook Cast Shadows
Often, a simple, cast shadow creates an interesting shape and connection.

• Pattern Play
Though this piece is a riot of color, the dark tree trunks and limbs form the framework on which everything hangs.

• Negative Spaces
The dark, receding band here pushes the building and sign into the background while pulling the people into the foreground. Darks are not always objects. They can be the spaces in between.

• Connections don’t have to be literal
Dark shapes do not need to literally connect. Our eyes can connect many small shapes into a single bigger one if they are close together, as in the image below.

Look through your sketchbook and you’re sure to find some sketches with scattered darks. Maybe it’s not too late to join those darks together into a bigger shape?

If you know someone who might be interested in these tips, send this to them.

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Workshops: Online and in-Person

SO MANY exciting workshops in the mix, I think I will just mention some new ones here, BUT, details about each of these workshops are on this Workshops Page.

NEW! Mixed Media with Suhita (An Online Workshop)
Enrich Your Daily Sketches

If you love the rich, layered quality that mixed media offers but are overwhelmed by all the different materials out there, this workshop is for you!
Two ways to join the workshop:
$60: live workshop and recording, $50: recorded version only. Signup details here.

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Join Me in Vietnam!
Markets, Food, and Culture: Sketching Experience in North Vietnam

Dates: 14th to 23rd October 2025.
Only 6 spots left. More details here and sign up here!

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DRAW PEOPLE WITH CONFIDENCE IN JUST 4 WEEKS! (An Online Workshop)
People Alive: Sketches Full of Life

This 4-week workshop will move you from a fear of drawing people to feeling confident and excited about sketching people-centric stories.
A great place to start if you find people sketching intimidating, or an exciting place to learn to translate those skills into being able to draw from motion!
4 session on Nov 10th, 17th, 24th, and Dec 8th, 2024: 8 am to 10 am Pacific Time
(No session Thanksgiving Week!)
More details here. Early Bird Pricing passes are limited, get them here. =========================

(Early Bird Discount of $150 ends soon!)
A week in Provence, June 2025 (An on-location workshop)

Details and Registration here.
Sign up before 11/30/24 and save $150! Use the code EARLYBIRD at checkout

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LAST SPACES LEFT:
Color and Mixed Media in Santa Fe, 2025 (An In-person, Mixed Media Workshop)

Details here.

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JUST ANNOUNCED: Mighty-Fine-Workshop-On-The-River-Rhine
with Shari Blaukopf, Brenda Swenson, and Suhita Shirodkar

Dates: July 3-10, 2026
More details here.

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Prefer a Casual Sketching-Together Group instead of a Workshop?

Upgrade your membership to be a paid member to access 12 sketching sessions for just $60. Or try one this month for $7.
Our October session is on Friday the 18th and we will use a series of photos from the farmers’ market to create an interesting composition.

If you’d like to join us, just upgrade to a paid membership and a link with references and Zoom details will be sent to you, as well as a recording of the session.

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Books I’m Loving

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes is an interesting read for every artist who likes to walk. The catalog to the Alice Neel show, People Come First is something I come back to again and again. The show itself was jaw-dropping fabulous . Here are some study-sketches from it.

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Free Zoom Session for Everyone

Thank you for reading through this long newsletter! It’s been one year of the Sketching Together Club on Substack and to celebrate, here is a FREE Zoom session, (in addition to the paid members Zoom) for all subscribers, paid and free. Note: My Zoom only allows 100 people to join so if the room is full, I might not be able to let you in.

What to bring:
• any and all art supplies you would like to use
• a sense of experimentation and fun
• A pre-colored page, a colored sheet of paper etc.
What to expect:
This is NOT a workshop: it is a chance for us to all experiment, and be inspired by each others creativity, and work from the same photo references.
Background:
I had SO MUCH fun working on this piece over a big orange spill of ink at the pumpkin patch with my friend Nina, (you can see our pumpkin patch sketches on her and my Instagram) that I want to do this all over again nd share the experience with you. Once we are in session, I will drop some images from the pumpkin patch into the chat for you to download and use. Bring a fun colored background to work on. I started this one with a big inky precolored background.

Details: Friday, October 11th, 9am California Time.
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81884152824?pwd=5AcallSTKPvzeQdEOaG416sZVEarpO.1