Author Interview at Not Compulsory (Tim Pond)

Tim Pond is an Educator, Illustrator and Naturalist with a passion for wilderness landscape and drawing wildlife. His work has appeared in The Guardian and a wide range of publications. Tim's sketching has taken him from Alaska (on expedition) to sketching leaves in the tropical forest of Mexico .

Tim Pond and I have participated in a Question and Answer session. I throw light on Tim's extraordinary talent for drawing and sketching a diversity of animals from tropical fish to big cats, and to allow him the opportunity to talk about his new book The Field Guide To Drawing & Sketching Animals Published Jan 2019 - Search Press.  

TIM POND - Wildlife Illustrator, Educator and Naturalist

1      Question: Where did your love and appreciation for the Natural World come from?

Tim Pond: I was brought up in a small village in West Sussex. From an early age I could often be found drawing, inspired by the nature that surrounded me and illustrating my own stories. We had chickens, ducks, tortoises, rabbits, goats and a donkey. As a child I would never want to leave the beach, looking in rock pools, or the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and really the premise of the book started here. As years later when I was teaching at Richmond upon Thames College I would enjoy taking my A-Level Art and Design students sketching at the zoo. A lot of the sketches in this book are created on these days out.

Diana Monkeys by Artist, Tim Pond

   Question: At school, did you excel at Science or Art particularly?

Tim Pond: My experience of secondary education was not fantastic. I suppose I loved the art room because the art teachers were passionate about their subject. My fascination with science and biology has been a later addition to my learning. I am inspired by academic presenters involved in public engagement, such as Professor Alice Roberts and Professor Ben Garrod as well as of course David Attenborough. They have enabled me to understand what I am looking at for example that a snail, a gastropod, (which means it has its stomach in its foot) is more closely related to an octopus than insects, a group in which they are commonly bracketed, which is misleading. It is these values that are the guiding principles of this sketching and drawing book. I want to put all animals on an equal footing in terms of life drawing and show the inter-connectedness of all life and how we can’t have one species without the other. One of the lessons Charles Darwin taught us 210 years ago, is that we all depend on each other. 

 

Mud Skippers - Tim Pond

   Question: Acknowledging that many of your animal sketches take place ‘out in the field’. How much of a sketch produced is down to prior knowledge about the biology and the physicality of an animal that you already possess, compared to what you actually see in front of you?

Tim Pond: Sketching wildlife from life is a unique and richly rewarding experience. It is also a highly challenging experience; at times you only have a matter of seconds to capture the gesture of the animal in movement. Drawing wildlife is a different kind of life drawing, you can’t ask animals to stand still and you are set at the mercy of their movements. But it allows the sketcher to share an experience with a wild animal and capture something of its spirit. Each time I draw an animal I get to know it closer, the shapes become more familiar and my marks evolve to capture the character of the animal. Understanding the anatomy of what is going on beneath the skin is a satisfying feeling and it really helps in sorting out the angle of legs and in creating shading and grooves for the musculature. Knowing how many toes an animal has got is particularly useful when the subject you are sketching is walking in long grass. For artists in the Renaissance, drawing was a combination of what they saw and what they knew. For this reason, they studied anatomy.

I find a rich, satisfying reward in the value of patience and the repetition of looking. I try to be as curious as possible about an animal's behaviour, for example if I see Mangabey monkeys playing with a fly, I will include that in the sketch. The activity of sketching is to record the encounter is in some respects more important than the drawing itself. I try to capture the movement and feeling of weight as the animal moves through space. I fill a page with quick sketches from many different angles, returning to sketch as the animal returns to that position. It is a challenge that connects me closely with the animal I am sketching.

  Question: What is the main approach you take as a teacher/workshop leader teaching to sketch?

Tim Pond: Unlike seashells, animals rarely sit for a portrait; and nor will they be standing in the animal equivalent of the Vitruvian Man. However, when animals are still such as when they are asleep, the topographical method of taking a line for a walk above remains a great approach. Feel your way around the form, overlapping lines to imply one form is in front of the other. The challenge of the field artist is to record what you see happening in front of your eyes with, honest natural observation.

There is no better way to develop our observational skills and hand– eye coordination than with study sheets. They offer an opportunity to familiarise yourself with the animal or group in front of you; and to investigate its character, posture and movement. Study sheets are about enquiry. The work is not one polished drawing but a series of sketches that act like an enquiry into the animal.

Some study sheet tips​

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·            With your drawing implement create marks that capture the character of form. Delineate marks that bight into the edge.​

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·            Each time your subject moves start a new drawing on the same page. Return to the unfinished sketch when your subject returns to a similar pose. Be prepared to work on more than one drawing at once.​

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·            As frustrating as it is that your model is always moving, but this will give your drawing energy. Work quickly, even though your animal might be standing still, he will soon move! ​

·            Each time you draw an animal you get to know it closer, the shapes will become more familiar and your marks should evolve to capture the character of the animal.  ​

·            Closely observe, don’t make assumptions. Look at the animal more than the page. Start with a side pose, if you can, to familiarise, then get more ambitious at capturing more unusual postures and positions.​

·            Be surprised what you see! Don't dictate. You are combining a series of abstract shapes together as something that can be read as an animal.

WIDGETS AND GIZMOS

Throughout the book: The Field Guide to Drawing & Sketching Animals, I have included examples of

widgets and gizmos that will help your sketching.

These are simple collections of shapes or forms that

are easy to remember and understand, and which

will aid your sketching by providing a quick-start

framework for you to build upon.

Widgets

Widgets are specific combinations of basic three dimensional forms. Easy to remember, you can carry gizmos with you in your head, where they will be really powerful tools to use when sketching from life. These enabling little devices will have a dramatic effect on speeding up your sketching skills, and accuracy when working from moving animals. Using widgets will help you get the underlying structure of an animal (or part of an animal) correct, giving you more time to refine and build the specific individual in front of you when sketching.

Gizmos

Gizmos are essentially flat, abstract versions of the widget. These little devices are more of an aid to understanding than directly relatable to things you wish to sketch; such as this pentagonal dog foot gizmo. Drawing a simple pentagon is much easier and less intimidating than trying to establish the paw

freehand, and it will help you to bring biological facts

about the animal – such as the two front claws being

in front of the others – into your drawings.

Field Sketching Kit - Tim Pond

   Question What artistic techniques do you use to add detail to your sketches?

Tim Pond: Everyone has personal preferences for the sort of materials they enjoy using. Mine are selected both for their qualities and speed of use. The exercises in this book can be achieved in a couple of hours, except the studio pieces, which can take a couple of days work. Here are some of my personal favourites.

Sennelier l’Aquarelle Watercolour Metal Tin of 24 Half pans Classic Set

Faber Castell Polychromos Colouring Pencils

Light grey markers

Canson Mi-Teintes mid tone paper

White gouache

Charcoal and lighter fluid for blending

Watercolour granulating medium

Custom made Telescopic Easel with drawing board

Dip pen and 303 nibs

Masking Tape

Scalpel

A selection of sketchbooks

Putty rubber

Water brush

Natural Sponge

Posca White Paint Pens

Telescopic Easel

This is one of my favourite pieces of equipment. After years of fighting with traditional field easels, I drilled a whole in a lightweight piece of A2 board and glued the camera plate in the centre of the bottom of the board. One of it’s great advantages it that you can sketch at an angle and then lay flat for watercolour

A review for Tim's book in BBC Wildlife Magazine March 2019

  Question: What part of practising your art do you most enjoy?

Tim Pond: Drawing animals from life, preferably outdoors on a Sunny afternoon.

Exhibition Space at The Exchange in Twickenham until April 2019

   Question: Do you regularly exhibit your art works?

Tim Pond: My work is currently on exhibition at The Exchange in Twickenham until April. Details of my next event Wondrous Forms of Life with with Helen Scales at the same venue is on March 14 7.00pm : https://exchangetwickenham.co.uk/event/helen-scales-tim-pond-wondrous-forms-of-life/

The exhibition will be moving into The Norwich Science Festival in October 2019. 

   Question: Have you any other related passions to drawing and sketching animals?

Tim Pond: Taking part in expeditions related to conservation, sometimes on the capacity as expedition artist.

**Ends**

**COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED**

WINNER: Caroline U from Stockport who entered via Instagram @Picture_Personal

Tim Pond is all set to giveaway to one lucky winner an original, signed drawing of Asiatic Lions

Artwork by Tim Pond

How to Enter: Visit http://www.timpond.co.uk View Tim Pond's artwork under the heading ZSL, choose a favourite animal illustration and name it as a comment here at Not Compulsory or on competition posts and tweets at the host's social media outlets which includes Twitter Twitter Facebook 

Alternatively email your name and address with your answer in the subject line - Send to getsmartthroughart@gmail.com

COMPETITION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Competition is open to UK residents only and entrants must be over 18

2. Only one entry per person

3. The Competition will run from Monday 04 March 2019 and will close at Midnight on Sunday 10th March and will appear on multiple platforms over this short duration

4. The prize is an original, signed drawing of lion(s) by Artist and Illustrator, Tim Pond. There will be one winner.

5. The prize draw will be random

6. Participants must agree to be part of any reasonable promotional activity surrounding the competition on social media outlets. Please note however, that the competition is not connected to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and is operated independently

7. It is the responsibility of entrants to ensure their entry meets with entry requirements and is submitted online successfully

8. The winners will be announced on the competition post at Not Compulsory and on the host’s Twitter/Facebook outlets on Monday 11th March 2019

9. The winners will be required to provide information such as a name and address

10. It will not be possible to transfer or exchange this prize for any kind of alternative

11. Not Compulsory reserves the right to exclude from the competition any entry that does not meet criteria, and also to change, suspend or terminate the promotion and entry period at any time. Disqualification of participants will be carried out if, for any reason, the promotion cannot be carried out fairly or if they suspect any person is manipulating entries or results, or who has acted unethically in any other way