Drawn on the Way: A Guide to Capturing the Moment Through Live Sketching

Discover how drawing on the way—in-the-moment sketching on a train, in a café, at the laundromat—can improve your drawing skills and let you unplug and engage with the world.

In Drawn on the Way, Sarah Nisbett shares her techniques for creating captivating line drawings that capture moments and moods: a young woman lost in thought, a pair of hands clasped on a lap, a peppy beagle, a pair of jeans-clad crossed legs. Sarah invites readers to see the people they draw with “compassionate curiosity—as more than a stranger, as someone with a story worth knowing or imagining.”

By learning how to create sketches from start to finish employing techniques such as contour drawing, using line work to add texture, and adding spot color, you’ll see how each sketch tells a story. You’ll begin to focus on important details that reveal something about the person you’re drawing: the graceful drape of a hand over a purse, the shy way someone tucks their feet underneath them.

In this book you’ll discover:

How to translate what you see into a compelling drawing
How to silence your inner critic and find joy in drawing what captures your interest
Techniques for drawing figures and creating quick portraits
How key details can take a sketch from plain to captivating
How to draw scenes and backgrounds without becoming overwhelmed
Ways to find the extraordinary in the everyday
How to transform mistakes into likeable elements
Tips for becoming a visual storyteller
Life lessons learned from years of live drawing

We spend most of our lives on the way, rushing and running from place to place, task to task. When we have a spare minute, we usually reach for our phones and shut everything else out. The techniques, projects, and ideas in Drawn on the Way are designed to help you be more mindful about drawing, to capture the people, places, and things you encounter each day. By doing that, you’ll connect with humanity in a deeper, more meaningful way—and discover a lot about yourself.