My first Travel Sketch Class at Crealde School of Art (600 St. Andrews Blvd. Winter Park, FL) had 10 students to start. Since it was during the heat of the summer, we spent much of our time inside the air-conditioned classroom. My goal however, is to get the students out of the classroom eventually to explore the would using sketches. I structured the class so we discussed a premise and did some exercises to explore the drawing skills in the class and then at the end of class we would work outside.
One lesson was in perspective, and I mentioned to the students that I used to put my index finger on the page to remind myself where the vanishing point was in the scene. I would then just point a bunch of lines towards my finger. I was pleased to see one of my students applying the finger lesson on the sketch she did outside. The vanishing point principle is hard to grasp for many students at first. Some think that the vanishing point is always straight in front of them, but it’s position can vary depending on the man-made object like buildings or a tent that is being drawn.
We would cover many principles, but pesky perspective would be returned to again and again until it started to become second nature. One student made it an ongoing joke about how mush she despised perspective, but we worked together diligently to help bring the concept into focus. It became a fun challenge to find new creative ways to help her grasp the principle. She was super fun to work with. It is impossible to cover every principle in just 6 Sunday classes but we have a fun time trying.
Two of my students went on vacation before the last class. One went on a cruise and the other to visit family in her home state. Both took those trips as excuses to apply the travel sketch principles we covered in class. One student set up a social media group chat, and it was fun to see the travel sketches being shared among the students. They were all so gloriously supportive of each other. I do think several of the students caught the bug and will continue sketching to document their travels.