Dean Sas

Aside from user-interface sketches and diagrams of computer systems, I don’t think I’ve drawn anything for 23 years – since the moment art became optional at school, and I gleefully threw in the brushes.

At the time, I found art frustrating. I wanted to reproduce the ideas in my head, or the basket of fruit in front of me, and my hands couldn’t do it. The gap between intentions and results felt like failure, I wasn’t interested sufficiently to spend my time skilling-up and didn’t understand that the gap can be the point.

Lately, I’ve felt a growing need to spend less of my time doom-scrolling things I’ll barely remember. Doom-scrolling fills time, rarely satisfying in the moment, and even less so afterward. I wanted to add something, to create rather than mindlessly consume.

The nudge came from my talented colleague Tess, who introduced me to the idea of urban sketching: quick ink lines, a splash of watercolour, and a sense of perfect being the enemy of the good. That permission to move fast, simplify, and embrace mistakes made something click in my head.

I watched a couple of YouTube videos by Toby Haesler, bought some pens and paints, and made the rest up as I’ve gone along. I’m not yet as relaxed about mistakes or as loose as Toby, but I’m happy to be creating. After nearly a week since I started, here are the things I’ve made, proudly fast and loose.