I like the idea of drawing but I’m not terribly good at it. However, this inconvenient fact has never stopped my from amassing art supplies like pencils and notebooks and more recently watercolor paints (that I have yet to do anything with). I’m in a handful of stationery groups on social media sites and even have an Instagram account devoted solely to vintage advertising pencils and there are a couple members who are in urban sketching groups.
Some of the pics they post are very detailed drawings and some are basic line sketches and closer to what I can attempt to do and not do terribly.
Recently I’ve started carrying a pocket sized sketchbook with me and scratching something in it when the mood strikes. The mood struck about a week ago when I was at the library with the Tiny Human. She was playing in the kids area and I was sitting on one of the couches the library generously provides for exhausted parents. From my spot I was looking out a wall of windows onto the courtyard and the parking lot behind it and the backs of the low buildings that face Woodward Avenue.
I have friends who work and have worked in public libraries and have heard some wild stories. So, I got the sketchbook and a pencil out of my bag and started a basic line drawing of the scene. Not perfect by any means but between the sketch and the notes I made with it I can go back later and have an easier starting point to get back into where my mind was when I began writing that story in my head.
On other pages in the sketchbook I have (very) rough sketches of how I imagine the store and apartment buildings that are central to the story look and maps of where they all are in relation to each other in my fictional town. Of course, once I started with the maps I began adding other places that I thought would come in handy down the line. Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. But really, what town doesn’t need a 24 hour pawn shop/laundromat?