Usuallly travelling on a commuter train in Tokyo is a quiet affair, with most folks still waking up, having a quick snooze, or burying their heads in their phones. However, one day there was a major commotion break out when a guinea pig, that someone had put in a carrier up on the rack, managed to break out and make a dash for freedom. It’s liberty was short-lived as one brave commuter managed to catch it as it plummeted off the end of the rack, and it was soon back in prison.
A lot of commuters feel that their morning or evening train as a bit of a prison, and that the journey is dead-time that they’d rather not go through. We’re going to instead look at how the morning or evening commute can transform into a creative opportunity.
What we're going cover is:
Use the deadtime to draw
Your journey is a natural timer
Use the routine of your commute to establish a drawing habit
Using dead-time to draw
We often regard commuting time as deadtime. It’s time when life is not really happening, when we’d rather not be there and be doing something else instead.
Some of us might read, We frequently spend the journey on social media which we know isn’t good for us, or playing games that don’t mean much.
Instead we could bring this so-called deadtime to life with a little art and creativity. Instead of the commute being something with have to endure, we could actually get to look forward to it as it gives us the time and space to work on our drawing.
Your journey is a natural timer
Your journey acts as a natural timer in several ways.
The length of the journey itself. The journey from home to work becomes your drawing time.
The journey between stops. The gaps between stations acts as a mini-timer, and it can actually help turn it into a bit of a game as you try to complete a section of drawing before you reach the next station.
Drawing while stopped. For more complex pieces of drawing where you require a steadier hand, you can also try doing as much as you can while the train is halting at a station.
Using the routine of your commute to establish a drawing habit
Establishing a new habit is not an easy thing to do. It becomes easier if you can connect it to part of your everyday routine without thinking about it.
As you do your daily commute automatically, if you connect your drawing practice to travel time, then you are guaranteed to get some drawing done.
Establishes a drawing habit connected to your existing everyday routine.
In short: You get on the train, you draw.
But I don’t only want to draw on the train!
You don’t have. This is merely a way to get some daily drawing in.
The train moves about too much.
I realize that it’s less than ideal conditions. The point is that it’s better to get some drawing done regardless of the circumstances rather than to do nothing at all. If you establish the regular habit of drawing on the train, then you’re more likely to draw at other times as well.
In Singapore, there’s a group called Commute Sketchers who share their drawings online, and have even had an exhibition sponsored by the Singapore MRT transport system. Full-time artist Alvin Mark Tan, said that the group’s art allows people to see their mundane, daily commutes in a different light.
Here’s what we covered:
Use the deadtime to draw
Your journey is a natural timer
Use the routine of your commute to establish a drawing habit
So far I haven’t witnessed any more animal escapades on trains, although I have seen quite a few animals brought onto the trains in carriers, including a fair number of rabbits...which made me think of foxes and is why I chose to have Fenix the Fox illustrate this article.
Next Step:
-In the next article we’ll look at how you can also improve your drawing on your commute.