Sketching at a Police Helipad. What Could Go Wrong?

PATROL HELICOPTER, 1981, gouache on illustration board, 9½” x 13”.

Here's the story:
A field in Glendale, California, contains what I’m told is the world’s largest collection of police helicopters. It’s a calm, sunny day, ideal for trying out gouache paint. But I’m not expecting what’s about to hit me.

I pass through a gate in the chain-link fence and approach a building. Inside, two women with headphone radios are communicating with police helicopters around LA. One looks up, adjusts her headphones, and asks, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm an art student," I say. "I wonder if I could set up outside and paint a picture of that helicopter." I point through the large windows. "Is that one going to stay there for a while?"

She pauses for a moment, seemingly surprised by the request. "Sure, I guess so," she replies. "That one's not going anywhere for a while. Just stay on the grass and off the airfield." She resumes her work as a call comes in.

Outside, I unfold my stool near the landing area and lay out my paper towels, sketch paper, and extra panels.

I paint the sky gradient and distant mountains. Soon, I hear the faint sound of a helicopter. Like a speck, it grows bigger, approaching until it’s overhead.

Then it hits me—the downforce from the rotors knocks off my hat. Loose papers fly up and disappear behind me. The hot wind dries the paint instantly, and dust and gravel get in my eyes. I clutch onto the painting.

As the chopper shuts down, I pick the loose papers off the fence and pack my things. The pilot gets out and smiles as he walks by. "Sorry about that," he says. "I wondered what you were doing there."

[This painting is reproduced in color in the new edition of The Artist's Guide to Sketching. available in the USA from my little family web store.]

Step-by-Step of the Underdrawing

The Artist's Guide to Sketching isn't really a "how-to" book, but we do have a chapter with a with a step-by-step sequence explaining a method for achieving accurate measurements and perspective.

Here's how you do it: first rough in the big shapes, check measurements and slopes, draw perspective guidelines, then refine the detailed underdrawing.

Chris (CF) Payne says: "While all three of James’ books are profound and valuable, The Artist’s Guide to Sketching may be the best, if not the most important. The lessons are supremely important, and each presented with visual samples and clearly written text. I wish I had this book when I was young and hungry to learn. A perfect book for high school students just beginning their art education, and an absolute must for first year college art students regardless of their art major.”

 

Gang Members as Models

Gang members may look intimidating, but if you catch them in public places, they make great models.

Two Young Gang Members, published in The Artist's Guide to Sketching

This idea applies to goths, bikers, punkers, ravers, metalheads & bodybuilders.
In my experience they’re keenly aware of the effect their appearance has on ordinary, mundane people. They know it’s a costume, either temporary or permanent (as in the case of body modifications).

More on Substack   

Carmel Event March 15

Join me in Carmel, CA on Saturday, March 15 from 12:00-2:00 for a presentation and book signing.

I'll be talking about my friendship with Tom Kinkade and how it led to the book "The Artist's Guide to Sketching."

This will be the only public event in the Bay Area for this book (the other events are at art schools and animation studios), and the first time I've done an event at a Thomas Kinkade gallery, which should be an interesting experience for all of us.

Meanwhile in the Shipping Department

The new edition of The Artist's Guide to Sketching releases today, and I want to thank everyone for your enthusiasm and kind words.

We offered copies for sale in our little web store (sorry, USA only) and so many of you wanted signed copies that we had to enlist the help of the whole family to help us pack and ship.

We have already sent out over 800 copies, and many of you have received them, or you will soon.

If you ordered a copy and haven't gotten it yet, here's the update—we're almost caught up and hope to have every order that we receive by today in the mail by the end of this weekend. 

So please hang in there; it will be worth the wait.

WAMC Radio Interview

Northeast Public Radio's Joe Donahue wanted to know this about sketching:

"Do you do it to relax?"
"What do you see that catches your eye?"
"When does a sketch become a painting?"
"How long can you focus on a subject?"
"What do you consider your main work these days?

This is why authors love to be interviewed by Joe Donahue.
He asks questions you can’t prepare for, which makes you think about your topic in a new way.
Link to Interview

Hopping Freight Trains

 New post about riding the rails.

Sargent Wanted his Models to Talk to Him

John S. Sargent, like most portrait artists of his time, insisted that models moved and spoke while they posed, unlike the contemporary practice of having subjects hold dead still. More here. 

Sketch Carpet

Nathalia says: "I wish you could have captured a quick, cheap digital image of all of the drawing you made and SOLD. Just to have a record. Ya know?"

Hi, Nathalia, this is the closest we've got: a photo of some of the sketches we did around 1980-1981. Most of them ended up on the cutting room floor. We probably had three sketches for every one that made it in the book, and many that have never been seen.

We had no way to sell them at the time, and I'm glad we didn't because it allowed us to rescan them for a much better printing of the new book compared to the first edition.

Sketching Book Reviewed

I’m grateful to Zoungy Kligge for the insightful review of The Artist’s Guide to Sketching by me and Thomas Kinkade.

Zoungy’s coverage includes side by sides of how the art looked in the 1982 edition compared to the way it looks in the new expanded and remastered edition. Here’s a link to his full review on Substack.

Las Vegas After a Fire by Thomas Kinkade, watercolor

If you are waiting for a pre-ordered copy, thanks for your patience. We’re working our way through a huge stack, signing each copy and including a few extra goodies in every shipment. You should receive a notification soon that yours is on the way, too.

Meanwhile here’s what folks are saying about the new edition:

“Every urban sketcher should own a copy of The Artist’s Guide to Sketching. In fact, if I could only have one drawing book on my shelf, it would be this one. It’s packed with that many insights about drawing on location, about everything from perspective to people sketching to nature and animals. But for me, the most brilliant section is about learning to capture motion by training your eye to freeze a gesture so you can record it in your sketchbook.”
—Shari Blaukopf, co-founder of Urban Sketchers Montreal and author of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Working with Color

“This is a marvelous book, filled with the kind of wisdom you’ll never find in a classroom or library. Two artists paid their dues and learned valuable lessons on their cross-country sketching safari. They’ve passed those lessons on to us in a classic book, now expanded and remastered. Their practical pointers about drawing materials and techniques are important, but equally important is the inspiration we get from the story of the two travelers hopping freight trains and sleeping on rooftops, earning their way by the sheer love of drawing. Profusely illustrated, beautifully written.”
—David Apatoff, Art Critic, The Saturday Evening Post

Get your signed copy of The Artist’s Guide to Sketching