How to direct a symphony

Guest post by Isabel Niehaus.

When I started sketching a little more than a year ago,
sketching people was way beyond my skill level. I decided then that
sketches without people would have to do. But recently I began to feel that many of my sketches would be more interesting if they included
persons. So I tried to work out how to draw them and how to include them
into my sketches.

Imagine my surprise last week when I stumbled upon an essay on the USK Chicago Blog by Wesley Douglas which was called: Tuesday Tips & Tricks: How to include people in your urban sketches. It was like the essay had been written especially for me!

The moment to put the tip into practice came
this Saturday when I was attending a concert of one of the local youth
orchestras, the “Orquesta Sinfónica Intermedia”, which my son is part of
at Costa Rica’s “Teatro Nacional” in San Jose.

The
female director gave such a dynamic presentation, I had to start
sketching there and then. Of course, as always when I really need it, I
had no sketchbook with me, only a brushpen. No worries, I took the
half-year-program of the theater and started sketching away happily
thinking all the time of Wes Douglas’ matchstick figures.

And
wow, it worked! Suddenly, the silhouette was exactly as I wanted it to
be and more importantly it transmitted the body language of the
director. That was a great moment.

When the concert was over, I resurfaced totally exhausted and totally happy.

See more of Isabel’s work on Flickr here.