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Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

blog.glenelkins.com

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Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#51

Post by namank »

Excellent! It has an implicit deadline AND its actually relaxing. Surfing the net, unless its social, does a little to relax your eyes, your brain, or your body's posture.

I don't have any physiological proof but moving away from the screen is the first step to a purpose-seving 'break'.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#52

Post by skeletonjelly »

radius wrote: post #37

If you're not into pen and paper, there are a bunch of cool sites that let you doodle in the browser. I've been using this one for a few weeks and it's actually pretty cool: http://doodle.ly/

I'd recommend going down the dead tree route, if only to rest your eyes, also it helps walking somewhere else to sketch to get the blood flowing.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#53

Post by potatolicious »

brador wrote: post #7

Problem with using physical media - STORAGE. Trust me, I have literally 1000's of pieces of paper lying around here with ideas, sketches, the works, built up over 15 years. I'm never going to scan any of it. Get a tablet before it's too late.

Why do we need to archive everything?

I do a lot of photography on film - maybe 5% of it ever gets scanned. I have, at this point, maybe 10,000 frames of images shot on different types of film all sitting around in binders. Most of them will never be scanned.

So what? Most of them don't deserve to be scanned. Save the effort and braincycles for your good sketches/ideas/doodles/etc as opposed to trying to painstakingly archive every insignificant thing that's ever crossed your mind/pen/keyboard.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#55

Post by parallel »

When I was a student I found juggling to be a useful distraction when taking a break. It kept the mind engaged but took my focus completely away from my studies. I think this the key to a good break activity. You want to stay sharp but completely distract yourself. There are probably also benefits that come from using your motor skills, different parts of the brains and even shifting your focus to follow moving objects.

It was also quite rewarding to slowly see myself improving.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#56

Post by mannicken »

I study art and freelance as a designer. As you can tell, sketching is a big part of my life. Doodling, sketching, brainstorming, laying out wireframes on paper, value and abstract studies all involve touching some sort of a pen tool, be it a tablet pen or a graphite stick.

From what I found, I prefer sketching with a 2H pencil to tablets. There is just a lot more feedback, and like the author describes it, I'm a lot less likely to get unfocused when sketching on paper than when sketching in Illustrator.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#57

Post by jhuni »

keithpeter wrote: post #43
jhuni wrote: post #39

Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment and the only desk I have has a computer on it, which makes it hard for me to concentrate on sketching or anything else. I guess I should go to the library more.

hard backed book? Clipboard with a few sheets attached? Window overlooking a street?

Nah. I have a huge hdtv on my only desk, so I always want to put it to use when I am sitting there. I think I will just go to the library or the park when I need to do take a break from my computer, and besides, its nice to be outside at the same time.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#58

Post by davesims »

te_chris wrote: post #48
davesims wrote: post #11

My G&L Tele is out of its case leaning against the wall most all the time for this very reason. 5-10 minutes of working on my Knopfler bends and I'm good. Time well spent.

I've got a g and l asat classic, my favorite guitar ever. It's one from the mid to early 90's, pre Leo's retirement from the company. Such an amazing gat! What type is yours?

It's an asat classic about like this one: http://bit.ly/snDQPZ

Definitely my favorite as well.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#59

Post by davesims »

Fliko wrote: post #40
brudgers wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

G&L was founded by Leo Fender...of Fender fame.

I would go as far as to say that G&L has more of the passion of Leo then Fender does, they are very amazing guitars 'specially for the price you can get them.

Yeah, absolutely correct. Fender still makes some good guitars, but a lot of crap as well. G&L has been making sturdy, quality guitars for a reasonable price for a long time. They definitely have the mantle now.

Re: Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

#60

Post by davesims »

dhimes wrote: post #30
biot wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To save someone else as musically ignorant as I some googling: G&L is a guitar brand. "Tele" is short for "Telecaster", a model made by Fender (who also makes the Stratocaster) which is presumably used loosely for similar models from other guitar brands as well.

Ahh- then "Knopfler bends" must refer to Dire Straights guitarist Mark Knopfler.

Yes, exactly.

Sorry for the guitar geek-speak. I guess for a second there I mentally collapsed the distinction between one of my nerd communities and the other.

Maybe I'll go onto Harmony Central's guitar boards and start using acronyms like DRY and OOP just to balance the scales...

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